John Allen Paulos, author of
“A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market”, “A Mathematician Reads
the Newspaper” and “Innumerancy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its
Consequences,” will entertain the public – mathematically inclined
or not – at the Morgan Hill Playhouse at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov.
25.
John Allen Paulos, author of “A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market”, “A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper” and “Innumerancy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences,” will entertain the public – mathematically inclined or not – at the Morgan Hill Playhouse at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 25.
The professor of mathematics at Temple University will discuss the numbers that make the news: percentages, ratios, proportions, statistics, equations and other words sure to bring cheer to some hearts and terror to others. He attempts to calm the terror by explaining how and why numbers are a key element in many of the news stories read every day.
Using as examples the Senate, SATs and sex, crime, celebrities and cults, Paulos will tell how the lack of math knowledge can hinder understanding.
“Number stories complement, deepen, and regularly underpin ‘people stories,’” Paulos writes in the introduction to “A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper.” And he goes on to explain why Pulitzer (the supreme prize in United States journalism) does, indeed, belong in the same sentence as Pythagoras (the ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher).
Paulos is an entertaining and provocative speaker whose audiences have ranged from classrooms to stock market forums to NASA and the Smithsonian Institute. He has appeared on Larry King Live, PBS’s Jim Lehrer’s News Hour, 20/20 and David Letterman. He has even been the answer to a question on Jeopardy.
Paulos’ user-friendly talk will benefit the Math Counts program that has enticed students, mainly in grades six and seven but could expand into others, at Charter School of Morgan Hill into the joys and challenges of math. Math Counts is an enrichment program where students prepare for a regional or even national math competition between schools by practicing problem solving strategies.
Both the Paulos evening and the Math Counts program are sponsored by the American Institute of Mathematics. A reception will follow at which AIM’s Executive Director, Brian Conrey, will talk about the Math Counts program and how he wants to expand it to other Morgan Hill schools. It just takes community buy-in, Conrey said recently.
Morgan Hill Playhouse, Monterey Road at East Fifth Street. Tickets at BookSmart, 17415 Monterey Road at West Second Street, 778-6467. $7.50 general admission, $5 students. Details about the talk and the AIM: www.aimath.org
