Patterns... (was: Re: [UbuntuWomen] Introducing myself...

[Clytie Siddall]

On 18/03/2006, at 12:07 AM, || vid || wrote:
>>
>> I think Maths is one of the most beautiful things in the world. It's
>> so closely related, in my mind, to language and music. Intriguing
>> patterns in the mind.
>>
>
> I loved Math too but disliked the way it was taught to us.

Oh, definitely! "Follow the formula and don't ask questions." :(

When I started teaching Maths, I realized how bad that type of  
teaching is. Especially when teaching women and girls (but this also  
works better with men and boys), I found discussion, relating things  
to real life, practical work, and encouraging people to find their  
own patterns and ways of describing things worked so much better.

I don't tell students what Pi is, I send them out to measure the  
circumference and diameter of as many round things as they can find,  
of any size. Then, when they come back to the next lesson, I ask them  
what they think about their results. It's fascinating, and very  
rewarding, watching them discover "there's a pattern here, there's a  
particular number that seems to be about round things" all for  
themselves. :)

I love teaching!!! :D

I miss it so much.

> Much later,
> I discovered that it is closely related to language* and music. Indian
> classical music has a precise structure and form which (I daresay) is
> mathematical but to my knowledge this has not been scientifically
> proven.

All language has mathematical form. It's just a very complex and  
continually changing pattern. Idiomatic language is more like  
improvisation. ;)

But I know what you mean: some older languages, in particular, seem  
to have a mathematical base. There is evidence that this language was  
used in key religious practices, and the mathematical nature of it  
was essential to the ritual. Egyptian hieroglyphs show this, too.
>
>>> I'm in my first year in linux, with a debian sarge. I am working
>>> developing an application for local administration with free  
>>> software.
>>>
>>> I hope we can interchange many interesting things :D
>>
>
> Sure we can :)  We are in the initial stages and have a lot of TODO
> stuff to get our hands dirty ... the UW web-site, UW logo, short
> courses, (re-)writing tutorials / how-to's, ... Feel free to post your
> ideas, suggestion/s here or on the wiki[0] and we can take it from
> there.
>
> [0] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWomen/Ideas

That's for sure!
>
> ciao,
> || vid ||
>
> * Some opine that a combination of consonants and vowels was used as a
> mathematical tool rather than numbers (like we currently do) using
> Sanskrit language, as the precise grammar rules and conjunctions
> facilitate this. However, today its usage is mostly classical (like
> Latin) in nature, being used only for cultural studies.

Something that has its own beauty will never really die. It lives on  
in the people who experience it.

from Clytie (vi-VN, Vietnamese free-software translation team / nhóm  
Việt hóa phần mềm tự do)
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/vi-VN