I did not know what to expect when I picked up the book titled Love and Math. Of course, I was hoping for an odd mixture of math and romance because I'm a softy and I love a good chick flick. And oddly enough this book did tell a story about math and love. Not a love between two people, but a man's love for mathematics.
Overall, I thought this book had good insight for a future teacher of math. I had never read a book like this one before, and I think it is pretty unique. This book takes you through the story of Edward Frenkel's discovery of his love for math and explains his struggles with becoming a mathematician and antisemitism in the Soviet Union. I enjoyed reading through the narrative about Edward and his adventures through college and beyond, and the people that had an influence on his math journey. However, Frenkel tries to explain some pretty complex math in the book including symmetry groups, and other modern math ideas. Many of these explanations went way over my head, because I had not done math like this before. It was frustrating to feel like however many times I read over a section, I wasn't going to get the math being explained. I think the author's goal was to explain these ideas in ways that a person with no math background could understand, but even I, a math major, had a hard time with most of them. He did give it a good try though, and I don't think I could've done a better job. I think his explanations were most understandable when he used analogies and used regular objects to describe math related things. For example, he explained math as the Kingdom of Mathematics where different animals make up different parts of math like algebra or geometry and these animals are related in different ways.
Something that I appreciated about the book is that it opened my eyes to the hardship that Jew's went through in the Soviet Union. Frenkel was denied acceptance to a college simply because of his jewish heritage. It is crazy to me that people can be so prejudice against people different from them. I am glad that we have come a long way, but I am not ignorant and I know that discrimination still exists. It is important that I am aware of this and can strive for inclusion in every aspect of my own life.
Another thing that I liked was that Frenkel really appreciated the work of teachers. There was one quote from chapter 11 that impacted me in this area. Frenkel says
"Now that I’ve had students of my own, I appreciate even more what Borya has done for me (and what Evgeny Evgenievich and Fuchs did for me earlier). It’s hard work being a teacher! I guess in many ways it’s like having children. You have to sacrifice a lot, not asking for anything in return. Of course, the rewards can also be tremendous. But how do you decide in which direction to point students, when to give them a helping hand and when to throw them in deep waters and let them learn to swim on their own? This is art. No one can teach you how to do this."
I really like how he explains being a teacher as hard, yet rewarding work. This is basically how I view teaching. I know that it will be hard work, and I have experienced a glimpse of that so far, but I also know that I can have a great impact on my students and I can see them grow and learn. I know that watching them learn will be extremely valuable and rewarding.
Reading this book also reminded me that my students will have a wide variety of strengths and interests when it comes to math. Edward was not interested in math at all until a mathematician introduced him to ideas of modern math like symmetry groups, but once he found the aspect of math that he loved he went to great lengths to learn it. He even scaled walls to get into math lectures at a college! It is important to remember that some students will love physics, some algebra, some number operations, and/or algebra. It is my job to help them discover and pursue the areas that they find interest.
Lastly, Love and Math showed how important collaboration is when it comes to math. Many of the authors projects included help from other professors, scholars, and peers. Math isn't meant to do all on your own and I think that collaborating with others is a great way to be able to work through problems. Frenkel also talks about the value in making mistakes. He explains math as the "productive struggle" and "making mistakes in the right direction." This view of math makes it more enjoyable and less restricting.
I would recommend this book to other teachers interested in math. The book definitely has good insight for teachers and hopefully other math people would have better luck understanding the math that Frenkel tries to explain. I appreciated his efforts, though. Maybe when I finish up my math classes I'll have a better chance of understanding some of the complex concepts in the book. For now I will stick to novels about real love stories ;).
Overall, I thought this book had good insight for a future teacher of math. I had never read a book like this one before, and I think it is pretty unique. This book takes you through the story of Edward Frenkel's discovery of his love for math and explains his struggles with becoming a mathematician and antisemitism in the Soviet Union. I enjoyed reading through the narrative about Edward and his adventures through college and beyond, and the people that had an influence on his math journey. However, Frenkel tries to explain some pretty complex math in the book including symmetry groups, and other modern math ideas. Many of these explanations went way over my head, because I had not done math like this before. It was frustrating to feel like however many times I read over a section, I wasn't going to get the math being explained. I think the author's goal was to explain these ideas in ways that a person with no math background could understand, but even I, a math major, had a hard time with most of them. He did give it a good try though, and I don't think I could've done a better job. I think his explanations were most understandable when he used analogies and used regular objects to describe math related things. For example, he explained math as the Kingdom of Mathematics where different animals make up different parts of math like algebra or geometry and these animals are related in different ways.
Something that I appreciated about the book is that it opened my eyes to the hardship that Jew's went through in the Soviet Union. Frenkel was denied acceptance to a college simply because of his jewish heritage. It is crazy to me that people can be so prejudice against people different from them. I am glad that we have come a long way, but I am not ignorant and I know that discrimination still exists. It is important that I am aware of this and can strive for inclusion in every aspect of my own life.
Another thing that I liked was that Frenkel really appreciated the work of teachers. There was one quote from chapter 11 that impacted me in this area. Frenkel says
"Now that I’ve had students of my own, I appreciate even more what Borya has done for me (and what Evgeny Evgenievich and Fuchs did for me earlier). It’s hard work being a teacher! I guess in many ways it’s like having children. You have to sacrifice a lot, not asking for anything in return. Of course, the rewards can also be tremendous. But how do you decide in which direction to point students, when to give them a helping hand and when to throw them in deep waters and let them learn to swim on their own? This is art. No one can teach you how to do this."
I really like how he explains being a teacher as hard, yet rewarding work. This is basically how I view teaching. I know that it will be hard work, and I have experienced a glimpse of that so far, but I also know that I can have a great impact on my students and I can see them grow and learn. I know that watching them learn will be extremely valuable and rewarding.
Reading this book also reminded me that my students will have a wide variety of strengths and interests when it comes to math. Edward was not interested in math at all until a mathematician introduced him to ideas of modern math like symmetry groups, but once he found the aspect of math that he loved he went to great lengths to learn it. He even scaled walls to get into math lectures at a college! It is important to remember that some students will love physics, some algebra, some number operations, and/or algebra. It is my job to help them discover and pursue the areas that they find interest.
Lastly, Love and Math showed how important collaboration is when it comes to math. Many of the authors projects included help from other professors, scholars, and peers. Math isn't meant to do all on your own and I think that collaborating with others is a great way to be able to work through problems. Frenkel also talks about the value in making mistakes. He explains math as the "productive struggle" and "making mistakes in the right direction." This view of math makes it more enjoyable and less restricting.
I would recommend this book to other teachers interested in math. The book definitely has good insight for teachers and hopefully other math people would have better luck understanding the math that Frenkel tries to explain. I appreciated his efforts, though. Maybe when I finish up my math classes I'll have a better chance of understanding some of the complex concepts in the book. For now I will stick to novels about real love stories ;).