I Think Therefore IB » Math

Articles to Read, Things to Know

ithinkthereforeib — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:39:04 +0000

Although I realise that you might be ignoring my postings at this point (though you do still get a grade for commenting), I will continue to share. I don’t believe that knowledge and learning stop once a particular deadline has been met or a report card has been issued. Plus, some of these articles are likely to contain excellent examples for your ToK essays!

So, peruse at your own leisure:
Mathematically Calculating Love: Yes, you have read correctly.
Gay Divorce Still Legal: Legal Messes….
Moving to Raze an Ancient City: Uighur Kashgar: I’m not sure what example there is in this – but it is an interesting, though saddening read. If nothing else, this article is to share with you some of our amazing human cultural heritage that, if you have the chance, you should go visit before it is destroyed.
Retouching Beauty: The Socio-cultural impact of photoshopping celebrities.
Human Language Gene Changes How Mice Squeak: Absolutely fascinating research into areas we know so little about…

More to come soon!

Protected: Syllabus Questions: Mathematics

ithinkthereforeib — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:11:03 +0000

Why Numbers No Longer Win Arguments

ithinkthereforeib — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 01:04:10 +0000

An article from the BBC, that sort of pre-introduces the AoK of Math (which we will tackle in approximately a fortnight, hence the “pre-introduce”).

Math Puzzle

ithinkthereforeib — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:33:03 +0000

I thought some of you math lovers would enjoy this:

New Daily Math Puzzle in the NYT

Takes somewhat more brainpower than Sudoku!

Various Articles from Various Sources

ithinkthereforeib — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:36:34 +0000

Since we are studying emotions at the moment, I thought this article would be perfect for sharing with you:

Babies Know Happy from Sad Songs

And here is one quite unrelated to our current studies, but still worth reading:
Mathematical Beauty

Mathematical Gut Instinct, Feeling Music, and the Scientific Method (Brain Food)

ithinkthereforeib — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:15:43 +0000

Every day I peruse newspapers and magazines online, just to keep myself properly informed about happenings in the world. Frequently I encounter articles for ToK – and quite often these relate to the sciences. There are many, many absolutely intriguing articles on scientific progress out there and I would highly recommend you start reading some of them!

Here is one I came across today, relating to a new development in headphones-technology. Unfortunately, it does not explain all too much about the science behind this invention (which is what I personally find most interesting):

Really Feeling the Music

The New York Times also recently published a fascinating article on the role of ‘gut instinct’ in math. Here too a number of Knowledge Issues are raised:

Gut Instinct in Math

Finally, I have number of webpages I would like to share that relate to the scientific method and “scientific proof” (or lack thereof). I include these as the natural sciences have come up a number of times in class and I have noted that several of you have some misconceptions about this AoK. I hope that you will address these misconceptions in your respective science classes (ask your teacher!) – I myself distinctly remember learning in one of my first IB Biology classes that “you can only disprove things in science”. (-:

We will discuss this AoK in detail next semester, but I do suggest you at least skim these webpages not only to get a headstart but also to avoid erroneous comments in ToK presentations:

Scientific Method/Scientific Proof 1

Scientific Method/Scientific Proof 2

Scientific Method/Scientific Proof 3

Scientific Method/Scientific Proof 4

So, always remember: There is NO such thing as scientific proof, only overwhelming evidence that provides highly probablistic knowledge.