Title: Masters of Mathematics: The Problems They Solved, Why These Are Important, and What You Should Know About Them.
Author: Robert A. Nowlan.
Publication info: Rotterdam, The Netherlands : Brill. 2017. eBook.
Location: Academic Search Complete.
Description: The original title for this work was “Mathematical Literacy, What Is It and Why You Need it”. The current title reflects that there can be no real learning in any subject, unless questions of who, what, when, where, why and how are raised in the minds of the learners. The book is not a mathematical text, and there are no assigned exercises or exams. It is written for reasonably intelligent and curious individuals, both those who value mathematics, aware of its many important applications and others who have been inappropriately exposed to mathematics, leading to indifference to the subject, fear and even loathing. These feelings are all consequences of meaningless presentations, drill, rote learning and being lost as the purpose of what is being studied. Mathematics education needs a radical reform. There is more than one way to accomplish this. Here the author presents his approach of wrapping mathematical ideas in a story. To learn one first must develop an interest in a problem and the curiosity to find how masters of mathematics have solved them. What is necessary to be mathematically literate? It's not about solving algebraic equations or even making a geometric proof. These are valuable skills but not evidence of literacy. We often seek answers but learning to ask pertinent questions is the road to mathematical literacy. Here is the good news: new mathematical ideas have a way of finding applications. This is known as “the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics.”
Hi CNU Library Users,
My name is Francis Francisco, and I am the librarian at the Rancho Cordova campus of CNU! I wanted my first blog post to be an opportunity to introduce myself to those of you who haven’t yet gotten a chance to meet me. I’m originally from Canada, specifically Vancouver, British Columbia, but I grew up for most of my life in San Francisco, California. And yes, putting two and two together, that would make me "Francis Francisco from San Francisco." Pleasure.
My experience working as a library professional started as early as my undergraduate years, when I worked as a student library employee for UC Davis’s libraries. There, I earned my BA in Film Studies with dreams to move to Southern California and work in film production. Spoiler alert: it did not work out. But that’s ok! Be that it may, I realized my love for libraries has always been my North Star. I fell in love with libraries, not just because of their reliable wealth of information available to us, but for their unwavering way of fostering community for any individual who steps into its spaces. I believe it was Ron Weasley from the Harry Potter series, who said, “When in doubt, go to the library.” There’s truth to that statement. For me, libraries have always provided me with the support that I needed in various points of my life. I wanted to “give back” in a way. Ultimately, my devotion to this cause led me to a career working for academic libraries while earning my MLIS at San Jose State University in 2024.
Today, now here at CNU Library, I intend to instruct information literacy and research-finding skills, which I am most passionate about in librarianship. My work is driven by the current information environment that we live in. I aim to lead instruction with the intent of teaching users how to recognize good information from bad information, especially when combatting misinformation/disinformation, as so much of it is littering our lives, affecting not only in how we live it, but our relationships with one another. Information through AI use is another topic that fascinates me. I believe there is enormous potential for it as a teaching tool, however, like many new concepts, it still needs further refinement and understanding.
My goal here at CNU is to contribute my knowledge, expertise, and ideas, with the hope that I can be of some use to our users and their academic pursuits. Librarianship requires continuous learning and thoughtfulness as the field is always evolving due to technological changes in how information is communicated, as well as the changes in information behaviors from users themselves.
-Francis
Commenting on blog posts requires an account.
Login is required to interact with this comment. Please and try again.
If you do not have an account, Register Now.