Homework reading: Maya numerals

Hardy’s quote about Ramanujan, that “each of the positive integers was one of his personal friends”, aligns with Major’s interpretation of the Mayan head glyphs and other ways that people have imbued numbers with personalities. It suggests a deep, personal relationship with numbers, where each number is seen as a unique entity with its own characteristics and stories.

Introducing these ideas to secondary math students could be beneficial. It could help to humanize mathematics and make it more relatable, fostering a deeper interest and engagement with the subject. Students could be encouraged to explore the stories and personalities behind other numbers, or even to come up with their own interpretations. This could be done through creative writing exercises, discussions, or research projects.

In my personal perspective, the number ‘6’ is often seen as lucky, while the number ‘4’ is viewed as unlucky due to its pronunciation in Chinese, which is like the word for death. Moreover, Monday might be associated with a feeling of tiredness or reluctance as it’s the start of the workweek, while Friday might be associated with excitement or relief as it’s the end of the workweek and the start of the weekend.

Comments

  1. stephalafDecember 10, 2023 at 5:01 PM

    Hi Shawn, your mention of creative writing exercises is so cool!! I encourage you to try that out. It reminds me of math reflection journaling.

    ReplyDelete

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