Paul Lockhart Knihy

For seven years, Paul Lockhart’s work enjoyed a samizdat-style popularity in the mathematics underground, leading to its 2009 publication and widespread acclaim. This impassioned critique of K–12 mathematics education highlights how students are shortchanged by an improper introduction to math. Lockhart presents the positive side of math education, illustrating how mathematics can be an artful way of thinking and living. His conversational prose reflects his passion, making mathematics accessible without oversimplifying. He embraces the challenges of mathematics while showcasing its beautiful intensity. Using plain English and visuals instead of jargon and formulas, he makes complex ideas about shape and motion intuitive. His elegant discussion of mathematical reasoning and classical geometry underscores his belief that mathematics illuminates both art and science. Lockhart invites readers into a universe where beautiful designs and patterns inspire curiosity and creativity. As we explore concepts like symmetry, circles, and cones, we realize that almost anyone can engage with math in a way that yields emotional and aesthetic rewards. This work encourages readers to embrace the playful excitement of mathematical exploration.

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A brilliant research mathematician who has devoted his career to teaching kids reveals math to be creative and beautiful and rejects standard anxiety-producing teaching methods. Witty and accessible, Paul Lockhart’s controversial approach will provoke spirited debate among educators and parents alike and it will alter the way we think about math forever.

Educator Paul Lockhart's goal is to demystify arithmetic: to bring the subject to life in a fun and accessible way, and to reveal its profound and simple beauty, as seen through the eyes of a modern research mathematician. The craft of arithmetic arises from our natural desire to count, arrange, and compare quantities. Over the centuries, humans have devised a wide variety of strategies for representing and manipulating numerical information: tally marks, rocks and beads, marked-value and place-value systems, as well as mechanical and electronic calculators. Arithmetic traces the history and development of these various number languages and calculating devices and examines their comparative advantages and disadvantages, providing readers with an opportunity to develop not only their computational skills but also their own personal tastes and preferences. The book is neither a training manual nor an authoritative history, but rather an entertaining survey of ideas and methods for the reader to enjoy and appreciate. Written in a lively conversational style, Arithmetic is a fun and engaging introduction to both practical techniques as well as the more abstract mathematical aspects of the subject.-- Provided by publisher

A joyful and intimate celebration of the beauty and creativity of algebra from one of the foremost math educators of our time.For many of us, algebra conjures up memories of dull classes spent wondering when we’d ever have to solve a system of equations or factor a polynomial. Indeed, most of the time, if we need to plan a budget or figure out how early to leave the house for work, common sense or a quick, seat-of-the-pants approximation is good enough.But as mathematician Paul Lockhart argues in The Mending of Broken Bones, once we stop thinking of algebra in terms of its practical applications, we can appreciate it for the beautiful and gratifying subject that it is. In his hands, algebra is the delicate craft of untangling numerical puzzles to reveal the hidden patterns and often surprising behaviors of the numbers themselves. As Lockhart traverses numerical systems, slips into and out of higher-dimensional space, and delights in the intimate connections between algebra and geometry, we come to see the discipline from his not as the mundane exercises of our school years, but instead as an art form whose beauty lies in its elegant simplicity.Written in Lockhart’s charming and conversational prose, The Mending of Broken Bones is an impassioned and deeply personal celebration of algebra that helps us experience the profound joys of mathematical discovery.

«Rien ne relève plus du rêve et de la poésie, rien n'est aussi radical, subversif et psychédélique que la mathématique... " Dans cet essai engagé, aussi drôle qu'instructif, Paul Lockhart se désole de la manière dont les mathématiques sont enseignées aux élèves et perçues par le grand public. Tout en dénonçant avec vigueur les manquements de l'école, cet amoureux des maths partage sa vision passionnée de cette " aventure de l'imagination. Un livre savoureux qui nous fait (re)découvrir cette discipline joyeuse, exaltante et accessible à tous.»-- Quatrième de couverture