From the Editorial Panel

doi:10.5951/mathteacher.112.1.0004

From the Editorial Panel

Mathematics Teacher ◽

10.5951/mathteacher.112.1.0004 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 112 (1) ◽

pp. 4

Keyword(s):

Mathematics Teacher ◽

Mental Power ◽

Good For

In 1908, in the very first issue of a new journal called The Mathematics Teacher, then editor W. H. Metzler wrote a lead piece called, “Where Shall We Place the Emphasis?” Metzler wrote, “In teaching any subject we must know what it is good for, what powers and abilities it helps to develop. We will then know at what to aim and where to place the emphasis. I am inclined to think that most teachers believe they should teach principles rather than facts, that they should aim at mental power rather than knowledge of details” (p. 2).

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Where shall we place the emphasis?

Mathematics Teacher ◽

10.5951/mt.1.1.0002 ◽

1908 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 2-6

Author(s):

W. H. Metzler

Keyword(s):

Good Reason ◽

Mental Power ◽

Good For

In teaching any subject we must know what it is good for, what powers and abilities it helps to develop. We will then know at what to aim and where to place the emphasis. I am inclined to think that most teachers believe they should teach principles rather than facts, that they should aim at mental power rather than knowledge of details. At the same time many teachers seem lo think they are compelled by one circumstance or another to sacrifice their ideals and best judgment. They claim that the material comes to them improperly prepared from below; that much is poor material to start with; that the demands of the colleges are heavy; that examinations covering certain ground await their students at the end of a given time; that their success is measured by the percentage of those students who pass the examinations; that one must teach in the same class, students preparing for college and students preparing for the various walks of life. All these and other causes conspire to lead too many teachers from those high ideals which they know they should and in most cases would like to follow. The justice of these claims has more or less validity under certain circumstances, but in the main I think there is no real good reason why these ideals should be departed from.

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Applications: Fast Brakes!

Mathematics Teacher ◽

10.5951/mt.82.2.0104 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 82 (2) ◽

pp. 104-111

Author(s):

David S. Daniels

Keyword(s):

Mathematics Teacher ◽

Traffic Accident ◽

Police Department ◽

Ninth Grade ◽

First Year ◽

Square Roots ◽

Local Police ◽

Good For ◽

Ninth Grade Students ◽

Algebra Class

As I was about to begin a new topic on square roots in my first-year algebra class, the question we have all heard popped up: “Is this stuff going to be good for anything?” Instead of some Pythagorean examples that are likely to be of more interest to a mathematics teacher than to ninth-grade students. I wanted a more compelling and forceful reply. Little did I know that help was on its way from the local police department and that I would soon discover enough about traffic-accident investigations to provide motivational applications of mathematics for my students.

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Seti Figure of Merit

International Astronomical Union Colloquium ◽

10.1017/s0252921100015293 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 161 ◽

pp. 711-717 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

John W. Dreher ◽

D. Kent Cullers

Keyword(s):

Figure Of Merit ◽

Qualitative Difference ◽

Current Generation ◽

Detection Range ◽

Sky Surveys ◽

Independent Observations ◽

Good For

AbstractWe develop a figure of merit for SETI observations which is anexplicitfunction of the EIRP of the transmitters, which allows us to treat sky surveys and targeted searches on the same footing. For each EIRP, we calculate the product of terms measuring the number of stars within detection range, the range of frequencies searched, and the number of independent observations for each star. For a given set of SETI observations, the result is a graph of merit versus transmitter EIRP. We apply this technique to several completed and ongoing SETI programs. The results provide a quantitative confirmation of the expected qualitative difference between sky surveys and targeted searches: the Project Phoenix targeted search is good for finding transmitters in the 109to 1014W range, while the sky surveys do their best at higher powers. Current generation optical SETI is not yet competitive with microwave SETI.

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