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Mathematics in Popular Culture Essays on Appearances in Film, Fiction, Games, Television and Other Media Edited by Jessica K. Sklar and Elizabeth S. Sklar Foreword by Keith Devlin Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-4978-1 Ebook ISBN: 978-0-7864-8994-7 25 photos, appendices, notes, bibliographies, index 353pp. 2012

Published 2012 "Circles Disturbed brings together important thinkers in mathematics, history, and philosophy to explore the relationship between mathematics and narrative. The book's title recalls the last words of the great Greek mathematician Archimedes before he was slain by a Roman soldier--"Don't disturb my circles"--words that seem to refer to two radically different concerns: that of the practical person living in the concrete world of reality, and that of the theoretician lost in a world of abstraction."

"Mathematician Shinichi Mochizuki of Kyoto University in Japan has released a 500-page proof of the abc conjecture, which proposes a relationship between whole numbers - a 'Diophantine' problem. The abc conjecture, proposed independently by David Masser and Joseph Oesterle in 1985, might not be as familiar to the wider world as Fermat's Last Theorem, but in some ways it is more significant. "The abc conjecture, if proved true, at one stroke solves many famous Diophantine problems, including Fermat's Last Theorem," says Dorian Goldfeld, a mathematician at Columbia University in New York. "If Mochizuki's proof is correct, it will be one of the most astounding achievements of mathematics of the twenty-first century." See additional commentary at: http://bit-player.org/2012/the-abc-game?utm_src=HN2

New York Times story of Neil Heffernan's creation of a computerized tutor designed to emulate actual teachers, eventually becoming ASSISTments

relationship between "puzzle-solving and mathematical skills"

Study of 6th graders in China using virtual Tangram puzzle to improve collaboration and learning of geometric concepts and problem-solving

Using the MathMind tutorial and observing advantages and disadvantages for students and teachers

"The aim of this article is to illustrate a pedagogical strategy originally introduced elsewhere [8, 9] of linking the application-oriented, computer-enabled experiential approach to K-12 mathematics with the applied, project-based approach to the teaching of university mathematics at the undergraduate level."

Lecture from 2010 ""Mathematics and Art: The Good, the Bad, and the Pretty," "use of mathematics to create realistic art"

Computer visualization, "For each natural number n, we draw a periodic curve starting from the origin, intersecting the x-axis at n and its multiples. The prime numbers are those that have been intersected by only two curves: the prime number itself and one."

An emeritus professor from Queens College questions algebra's role in quantitative literacy and workforce preparation

A response to Hacker's opinion piece in the Sunday New York Times, "Is Algebra Necessary," which argues for its usefulness, calls for better teaching, while acknowledges the difficulties of making that happen. Links to other blog responses to Hacker's piece.

A short video from TED-ed and animation studio Augenblick

Some great (and free!) resources for teachers interested in mathematical puzzles for younger students.

"Mathics is a free, general-purpose online computer algebra system featuring Mathematica-compatible syntax and functions. It is backed by highly extensible Python code, relying on SymPy for most mathematical tasks and, optionally, Sage for more advanced stuff. Get Python if you don't have it already (you probably have it if you're on Linux or a Mac)."

A presentation from the "International Conference on Innovations in Learning and Technology: Asia-Pacific Perspectives", see http://capiconf.uvic.ca/viewabstract.php?id=296&cf=10 for abstract and references