OK, I'm an odd (male) duck, but I find it interesting to read obituaries of scientists that summarize their life's work. Here are some recent ones. I will append to this thread when new ones appear. Paul Garabedian, Mathematician at N.Y.U., Dies at 82 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/05/science/05garabedian.html Paul R. Garabedian, a mathematician whose computer computations helped lead to fuel-efficient wings for modern jetliners ... Vladimir Arnold Dies at 72; Pioneering Mathematician http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/science/11arnold.html Vladimir I. Arnold, a Russian mathematician who discovered important theorems that found application in astronomy, mechanics and even weather forecasting ... David Blackwell, Scholar of Probability, Dies at 91 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/17/education/17blackwell.html David Blackwell, a statistician and mathematician who wrote groundbreaking papers on probability and game theory and was the first black scholar to be admitted to the National Academy of Sciences ...

Harvard Magazine: Bye-bye, Blue Books? http://harvardmagazine.com/2010/07/bye-bye-blue-books National Review: Harvard Wimps out on Testing http://article.nationalreview.com/438206/harvard-wimps-out-on-testing/chester-e-finn-jr-brmickey-muldoon It is convenient for both professors and students to make things easier, but why should parents and taxpayers pay up to $50K a year for this?

http://www.courserepository.org/ It is free for individual use and has courses in many subjects. Looking at a calculus lesson http://www.montereyinstitute.org/courses/Introductory%20Calculus%20I/nroc%20prototype%20files/coursestartc.html I see suggested reading from print textbooks, a multimedia lesson, and a test with an answer key.

Does anyone use the Junior Great Books http://www.greatbooks.org/ literature anthologies? I bought one volume at a used book store and it looked good, so I am considering getting others in the series. Many of the books are available inexpensively on Amazon.

To commemorate the recent passing of Martin Gardner, the Mathematical Association of America has assembled on a CD a collection of Scientific American columns -- "MARTIN GARDNERS MATHEMATICAL GAMES" https://www.maa.org/EbusPPRO/DynamicSearch/ProductDetailsAdvancedSearch/tabid/176/ProductId/1585/Default.aspx for $40.

Reading an Amazon list "So you'd like to... Teach Mathematics" by someone who seems quite knowledgeable, I see books from the "Gelfand Correspondence Program in Mathematics" recommended. The six books, all available from Amazon, are (1) The Method of Coordinates (2) Functions and Graphs (3) Sequences, Combinations, Limits (4) Algebra (5) Trigonometry (6) Lines and Curves: A Practical Geometry Handbook Gelfand was a prominent Russian mathematician. Maybe these books would be a suitable supplement for good high school math students. Another WTM thread noted that the books do not have solutions for the problems, although there are many worked examples.

Twenty-five-year-olds should be several years into their careers, perhaps married. They are not "kids". Even people who agree with the NYT about requiring employers to cover employees "children" up to age 26 should recognize that they are adults and refer to them appropriately. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/opinion/27sun3.html A Little More Help for Your Kid New York Times June 25, 2010 Jobs are depressingly scarce for recent high school and college graduates. Jobs with health benefits even more so. One of the few bits of good news out there is that under the new health care reform law, young adults will be able to stay on their parents’ health insurance policies until they turn 26. Companies now generally drop people from their parents’ policies once they reach age 19 or graduate from college or another educational institution. The Obama administration estimates that 650,000 uninsured young people will benefit, only a small dent in the 6.6 million uninsured young adults between the ages of 19 and 25. For families whose policies cover dependents, the new rules should be enormously helpful. <rest of article at link>

It is recommended that high school students take the SAT subject (formerly known as "achievement") tests soon after they take the class. So have your son take the chemistry and physics achievement tests ASAP, to prove that he did study both subjects seriously. Maybe even have him study for the Advanced Placement exams in both subjects, depending on his motivation and current knowledge. His SAT subject test scores could shed light on that.

At the site of the Worcester County Mathematics League (for high school students) http://www.wocomal.org/index_studymaterials.html there are past contest problems for Past Varsity Division meets Past Freshman Division meets Past state meets (MAML) Past New England meets (NEAML) Past Massachusetts Mathematics Olympiads Thanks to Belacqua for the Mathcounts link.

Many math problems (with solutions) from the Intermediate Math League of Eastern Massachusetts (for middle school students) are at http://imlem.org/meetdoc/index.htm , in the areas of geometry, number theory, arithmetic, and algebra. I am interested in other sources of contest problems.

The Life of Fred books are popular on this forum, and my "mathy" son is enjoying the "Beginning Algebra" sequence. He is still in elementary school and has mastered arithmetic, so I buy lots of math books and leave them for him to read if he is interested. Douglas Downing has written a series of math books based on adventures "in the faraway land of Carmorra". The titles are Algebra the Easy Way Trigonometry the Easy Way Calculus the Easy Way One Amazon reviewer of the Algebra book wrote "The device of attaching math problems to a story line, and showing the efforts of the characters to solve them, is the key to this book's unique appeal for younger kids who want to get into algebra (and can handle the abstract thinking required). It captures their interest and can be read relatively fast, though the algebra is not watered-down so the book naturally does require intelligence and careful attention. The story line presentation guarantees that the focus is on insight, a characteristic that sharply distinguishes this "Easy Way" series of books from typical high-school or college texts." There are many other Amazon reviewers, especially adults, who dislike the books because they were not expecting the format. When a book is titled "Life of Fred" the reader has more warning that the book is unconventional. Has anyone tried books in the "Easy Way" series by Downing?

Maybe this TV show will interest parents and kids who want to learn to draw. Are their YouTube videos people recommend? http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2010/06/19/a_public_access_show_in_newton_on_teaching_kids_to_draw_has_been_picked_up_nationwide/ Boston Globe By Don Aucoin Globe Staff / June 19, 2010 They’re making a mark Five months ago they launched a little public access show in Newton, teaching kids to draw. How did it get picked up across the country? NEWTON — Mark Marderosian and Robert Palmer Jr. were tickled when the operators of Newton’s public access cable channel agreed to air “Drawing With Mark,’’ a simple, old-fashioned TV show they created that teaches kids how to draw. They never imagined — even as they worked vigorously to promote the show — that interest would snowball so quickly that as of today, less than five months after the first episode, “Drawing With Mark’’ has been picked up by 105 cable-access channels that serve around 150 cities and towns in 25 states, including Florida, Texas, California, New Jersey, and Michigan. Providing their program free of charge to stations that are hungry for children’s programming, they have created their own ad-hoc version of a national syndication network. The unusual strategy means that at a time when the proliferation of channels has made it harder for TV programs to build an audience, their quiet little show is garnering prime space on many cable systems, including the slot most coveted by producers of children’s programs: Saturday morning. <rest of article at link>

Peter Singer is a professor of bioethics(!) at Princeton, which appointed him even though he has defended killing disabled infants http://www.euthanasia.com/prince.html . I don't want my children taught by such people. Singer is an extreme case, but many in the environmental movement do think people should be discouraged from having "too many" children. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/should-this-be-the-last-generation/ Should This Be the Last Generation? By PETER SINGER New York Times June 6, 2010 Have you ever thought about whether to have a child? If so, what factors entered into your decision? Was it whether having children would be good for you, your partner and others close to the possible child, such as children you may already have, or perhaps your parents? For most people contemplating reproduction, those are the dominant questions. Some may also think about the desirability of adding to the strain that the nearly seven billion people already here are putting on our planet's environment. But very few ask whether coming into existence is a good thing for the child itself. Most of those who consider that question probably do so because they have some reason to fear that the child's life would be especially difficult -- for example, if they have a family history of a devastating illness, physical or mental, that cannot yet be detected prenatally. <rest of article at link>

EM is not popular with homeschoolers as a primary math curriculum. Does anyone use it as a supplement? The hardcover student reference books (available for grades 3-6) are nicely produced IMO and can be purchased used inexpensively. I've bought a few, and my "mathy" son likes to browse them. The books have many suggestions for math games, which my kids may enjoy. The UCSMP middle school math program is described at http://ucsmp.uchicago.edu/Secondary.html . Don't worry, I'm afterschooling with Singapore Math as the primary curriculum :).

I'm an afterschooler and will never need to report what texts I am using. Questions for parents whose kids use "Dummies" or "Idiots" guides -- did your children ever get offended by the titles? Or did they laugh them off? If my children learn from book X, it ultimately does not matter what the book is called. (But they won't learn from books they refuse to read, obviously.) I have bought "Dummies" books for myself in the past but have drawn the line at "Idiot".

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/books/31book.html Looking for a "New" Narrative of Founding Fathers By DWIGHT GARNER Published: May 30, 2010 It’s one of the curiosities of American history that there is no definitive single-volume chronicle of the Revolutionary War, the kind of serious but approachable book that would grasp the conflict in the way that James M. McPherson’s “Battle Cry of Freedom†grasps the Civil War. “One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests,†the founding father Thomas Paine thundered. This war still awaits its great popular educator. It’s not that the American Revolution hasn’t produced entire platoons of excellent surveys, including — but far from limited to — Don Higginbotham’s “War of American Independence†(1971), Robert Middlekauff’s “Glorious Cause†(1982), Gordon S. Wood’s “Radicalism of the American Revolution†(1992), Joseph J. Ellis’s “Founding Brothers†(2000) and John Ferling’s “Almost a Miracle†(2007). But no real consensus has anointed one of them. In terms of sheer narrative thwack, historians have had better luck breaking off small slices of the period, as David McCullough did in “1776†and his biography of John Adams. Into this hot fug comes Jack Rakove’s new book, “Revolutionaries,†which bears the subtitle “A New History of the Invention of America.†Mr. Rakove is a professor of history, American studies and political science at Stanford University. He was also the winner, in 1997, of a Pulitzer Prize for his book “Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution.†He sounds like an interesting man, the kind who sometimes gets his boots muddy. He has been an expert witness in Indian land claims litigation. <rest of article at link> I am interested in comments about the books mentioned.

My 2nd-grader son likes the book "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?", by Michael Benson, based on the TV show. Are there other quiz books you recommend? The TV show itself moves pretty slowly IMO, but I like Jeopardy, and my son enjoyed watching a Jeopardy Kids Week episode -- one episode is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btZiG8tCTNg . How would a child prepare to get on this show?

What is the name of the math/science magnet high school, may I ask? Are you referring to the Morris County Academy for Mathematics, Science and Engineering , described at http://district.mhrd.k12.nj.us/morrishills/site/default.asp ? Thanks.

Test message.

Admissions standards to colleges in the U.S. are low enough that not everyone who attends is smart enough to get a college degree. Dropping out early may be the best option for such students.

I've found that Roxbury Latin, a prestigious private boys school in Boston, uses "Dolciani" texts until calculus, as described at http://www.roxburylatin.org/school_life/math.aspx and http://www.stanford.edu/~meehan/xyz/rls.html . An excerpt of the Roxbury Latin site is below. Pre-Algebra is designed to give boys a strong background in basic mathematical concepts and skills. Students study arithmetic operations with fractions, decimals, and signed numbers before examining percents, ratio, proportion, and divisibility rules. The course also covers fundamental geometric concepts including perimeter, area, and volume. Basic probability and statistics are taught as well. Finally, in preparation for Algebra 1, students learn to solve elementary equations and word problems. The text for the course is Dolciani, Pre-Algebra, An Accelerated Course, supplemented by Bridgess, Exercises in Basic Mathematics. Algebra 1 Algebra 1 presents a comprehensive overview of the fundamentals of algebra. The course emphasizes algebraic techniques, particularly factoring, solving equations, and analyzing linear functions. Strategies for solving problems form an important component of the course, and an assortment of word problems are taught throughout the year. Other topics covered include real numbers, operations with polynomials and algebraic fractions, variation, inequalities, systems of equations, radical expressions, and quadratic functions. The text for the course is Brown, Dolciani, Sorgenfrey, and Cole, Algebra Book 1. Algebra 2 extends the foundation in algebra begun in Algebra 1. Students explore the classic elementary functions, namely polynomial, rational, exponential, and logarithmic functions. Other topics studied include conics, sequences and series, and triangle trigonometry. Students also become much more adept at using the numerical and graphing capabilities of their calculators. The text for the course is Brown, Dolciani, Sorgenfrey, and Kane, Algebra Book 2. Geometry provides an introduction to geometric techniques and ideas. Though different sections approach the subject in different ways, all sections develop results involving lines, planes, inequalities, triangles, circles, polygons, perpendicularity, congruence, similarity, area, and volume. Algebraic techniques are revisited through topics such as inequalities, proportions, and coordinate geometry. Mathematical writing and axiomatic reasoning form a natural component of the curriculum. Further topics may include vectors, constructions, and similarity transformations. The text for all sections is Brown, Jurgenson, and Jurgenson, Geometry. Teachers also rely on problem sets developed both internally and externally. Trigonometry has its roots in the relationships between the sides and angles of a triangle. Students derive equations involving the sine, cosine, and tangent functions, and then investigate a wide array of real world applications. Further study focuses on identities, analytic properties of the trigonometric functions, and features of their graphs such as periodicity, symmetry, amplitude, and phase shift. The text consists of relevant chapters from Brown, Advanced Mathematics. Analysis continues the development of topics studied in Algebra 2. Exponential, logarithmic, polynomial, and rational functions are revisited in greater depth. Students have by now become proficient with their calculators, which aid them in their study of these functions and their graphs. Other topics include sequences and series, probability, conic sections, and polar coordinates. The text is relevant chapters from Brown, Advanced Mathematics. Upon completion of this course, students will be prepared to take the Mathematics Level 2 SAT Subject Test. Statistics is the science of collecting, analyzing, and drawing conclusions from data. Both the Advanced Placement and regular Statistics courses cover four major topics: exploratory data analysis—students use graphs and numbers to describe and analyze data; experimental and sampling design—students discover the proper ways to collect data via sampling and controlled experiments; probability—students learn fundamental principles of random variables and sampling distributions; and statistical inference—students draw conclusions from data using confidence intervals and tests of significance. The text is Bock, Velleman, and Deveaux, Stats: Modeling the World. Calculus is one of the masterpieces of mathematics. In this course students extend the concepts of slope and area to all the non-linear functions they have studied. This Advanced Placement course is offered at two levels: AB and BC Calculus. Both sections study the derivative and integral in depth, covering topics such as tangent lines, curve sketching, related rates, implicit differentiation, slope fields, optimization problems, areas, volumes, and differential equations. The BC Calculus class also covers advanced integration techniques and Taylor series. The text for the course is Finney, Demana, Waits, and Kennedy, Calculus: Graphical, Numerical, Algebraic or Larson and Hostetler, Calculus. Advanced Topics in Mathematics is comprised of three units: linear algebra combined with operations research; multivariable calculus; and game theory. The first unit explores the application of linear algebra (the study of vectors, matrix mathematics, and systems of linear equations) to operations research—a branch of mathematics concerned with finding optimal solutions to real world problems, gradually shifting focus to vector mathematics in two and three dimensions and the applications of vector functions (such as velocity and acceleration, arc length and curvature). The second unit, multivariable calculus, is a continuation of calculus. Vectors and the geometry of space, vector-valued functions, functions of several variables, and multiple integration from the Larson, Hostetler, and Edwards text, Calculus are covered. The course finishes with a unit on game theory, in which we analyze two-player games of perfect information using tree diagrams and induction proofs, games of imperfect information, games with dominating strategies, mixed strategies, Nash Equilibria, and zero-sum games.

The best students don't aspire to go to a community college. If my son is a very good student in high school, I would want him to be with the same crowd at college -- at an Ivy if we can afford it and he gets in, at a flagship state university if he does not. Professors can teach at a higher level when the students are better. If there were a community college with average SAT scores comparable to those of more prestigious 4-year schools, I would consider it, but I wonder how many such community colleges exist.

Naive question: My professional career has been in quantitative areas, and I have never used a graphing calculator. I use spreadsheets and interactive programs such as R and gnuplot, and I write my own programs. I wonder how important a skill using a graphing calculator is. Is it useful for taking standardized tests?

A 4-year college degree should not be necessary for many career paths. Well-prepared pre-meds should be able to complete the needed courses in science and math in 2 years. In India, students specialize in the equivalent of 11th-12th grade, and doctors finish medical school at age 23, not 26, as would be typical here. Lawywers should be admitted to the bar if they can pass the bar exam, without being forced to get a 4-year B.A. and then go to law school. Lincoln didn't go to law school. The American educational system is in large part a credentialing scam. As a practical matter I will have to push my children through it, but I will try to speed up the process, for example by having them earn lots of A.P. credits before joining college, so that they can finish in three years. Students who aren't smart enough to go to college are the most likely to flunk out or earn a "soft" degree that does not help them get a job. Too many people are going to college, encouraged by the "everyone shoudl go to college" ethos and by colleges that want the government financial aid dollars that come with those students.

A link to Stiles' reviews is http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703315404575250451003452566.html , but a subscription may be required to read it.