Scott Simon is my all time favorite radio host, and his commentaries on Saturday Weekend Editions are my favorite minutes of radio all week (when I get to hear them). I especially enjoyed this commentary about his wife's job as a stay at home mom, and how he contributes---I felt as though he'd been watching my life. My favorite line: "She has four minutes a day to herself and eats only Cheerios that fall on the floor." I also like the recognition that there is no vacation from being a parent. Hope you like it!
Why you should study the history of math In the mid 1300s a fad made its way around Italy. Mathematicians would challenge each other to “mathematical duels”. They would post problems for their opponents to solve, sometimes along with their solutions in coded poetry. The winners would get support and funding from rich patrons, the losers would descend into obscurity. One such contest, between Fiore and Tartaglia, involved a new method for solving the cubic. In order to win, Tartaglia worked day and night to find Fiore’s method---unfortunately, Fiore did not do the same and only knew his own method and no others. (*Recall that the formula for solutions to quadratic equations of the form use the quadratic formula, Giorlamo Cardano---physician, philosopher, astrologer and mathematician---convinced Tartaglia to share his method and promised never to reveal it. Then Cardano figured out a more general method, and wanted to share it, but was blocked by his promises. Fortunately (for Ca...
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