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2016

  1. A sock came back from "the other side"

    Entry #97
    Brian Winkel
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        I had four pairs of compression socks per my doctor's suggestion so that circulation in my legs would be better. They are not cheap, but do they make me more comfortable as they keep down the swelling. Several months ago one of the socks went over to "the other...

  2. "I don't ask questions any more . . .

    Entry #96
    Brian Winkel
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    . . .  because  I don't like the answers I get."  That is what a woman of a certain age said to the receptionist at the doctor's office today while I was waiting in the waiting room. I got to thinking about what causes us "not to ask...

  3. The real meaning of what we produce and do

    Entry #95
    Brian Winkel
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    Tonight my wife and I attended a lecture performance on Dimitri Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8 as a part of the “What Makes It Great” series offered by Rob Kapilow at the Merkin Concert Hall in New York City. We tend to shy away from twentieth century music because of it...

  4. Issues of coverage raised all the time

    Entry #94
    Brian Winkel
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    We recently re-examined the 3" by 5" feedback cards we collected from attendees at our JMM 2016 SIMIODE Open House and we share them with our thoughts with you. Under the theme "Issues to Overcome" we found the following: How do you fit it in? What do you drop? Do...

  5. Students generating examples

    Entry #93
    Brian Winkel
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    In the current (15 November 2016) posting of the MAA Teaching Tidbits Blog, Dana Ernst, Northern Arizona University, writes, “Who generates the examples?”   Dana is suggesting that students can demonstrate their knowledge very well by creating examples and problems. He...

  6. Let go and take risks

    Entry #92
    Brian Winkel
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    "Let go and take risks."  Advice we give our students on occasion, advice our parents suggested to us (sometimes in frustration and with anxiety), and advice we need to take ourselves. As professors we are always doing just that, "professing." This is a kind of preaching...

  7. Poincaré and the Subconscious

    Entry #91
    Brian Winkel
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    This week I had reason to refer to Poincaré and the Subconscious. Of course, Henri Poincaré was one of the last polymaths who was good at all area of mathematics. He lived in the last half of the nineteenth century and into the early twentieth century. Poincaré believed in...

  8. Life lessons from differential equations

    Entry #90
    Brian Winkel
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    John D. Cook, who maintains a rich blog on things mathematical at http://www.johndcook.com/blog on Solving Hard Problems with the motto “Singular Value Consulting” posted the following material on 23 July 2015. Life lessons from differential equations Ten life lessons from...

  9. SIMIODE Needs Support

    Entry #89
    Brian Winkel
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    For several years now SIMIODE has been fully supported by one family with some help earlier this year from COMAP. We have now realized we need to broaden that base of support and so we have applied for and been grated 501(c)3 NonProfit Educational Organization status by the IRS. This permits us,...

  12. Biking into Trees with SIMIODE T-shirt

    Entry #86
    Brian Winkel
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    We have news from SIMIODE member, Tim Pennings. He  is the author of a way cool article,  “Do dogs know calculus?” about his little dog Elvis which was published in the College Mathematics Journal in 2003 (34(3): 178-182). Here is the abstract, “In all calculus books...

  16. Math Insight - A Place To Be

    Entry #82
    Brian Winkel
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    Probably like many of you, we wander around the Internet looking for good things mathematically and pedagogically. Once in a while we stumble across a real gem and Math Insight is such a gem. The group describes itself  this way, "The Math Insight web site contains both narrative pages...

  19. Checking out what is on the other side of the fence

    Entry #79
    Brian Winkel
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    As I wander the  internet looking for colleagues who are doing modeling in differential equations I stumble upon lots, I mean lots, of peripheral or related materials. One type of material is what I would call review material or prep materials for cognate courses. Often, these are notes on...