The material in this reprint, with minor editorial changes, is from the chapter "Doing the Impossible" in MONKEY BUSINESS by Irving Adler. This 25-page booklet contains brief accounts of historical attempts to prove impossible problems in mathematics. The mathematical recreations in this booklet of geometric constructions include the trisection…

This manual is a collection of materials and teaching strategies to motivate the development of mathematical ideas in secondary school mathematics programs or in beginning college mathematics programs. The unit is written for the instructor with step-by-step procedures including lists of needed materials. The exercises in this unit also appear in…

This volume, a part of the Elements of Mathematics Program (EM), contains 200 problems which require no special training beyond elementary mathematics, but often careful analysis and some ingenuity. The statements of some problems involve functional notation, but most are stated either in prose or prose accompanied by illustrations. Problems are…

Using this guide and the four popular books noted in it, a student, working independently, will learn about some of the classical ideas and problems of topology: the Meobius strip and Klein bottle, the four color problem, genus of a surface, networks, Euler's formula, and the Jordan Curve Theorem. The unit culminates in a project of the students'…

At puberty differences in ability and interest in mathematics between the sexes appear, and they increase with age. This paper describes a special algebra workshop for gifted seventh-grade girls which was designed to improve their competence and accelerate their progress in mathematics, and to increase their awareness of career opportunities in…

The ten chapters in this booklet cover topics not ordinarily discussed in the classroom: Fibonacci sequences, projective geometry, groups, infinity and transfinite numbers, Pascal's Triangle, topology, experiments with natural numbers, non-Euclidean geometries, Boolean algebras, and the imaginary and the infinite in geometry. Each chapter is…

This collection includes 50 mathematical games and puzzles for classroom use at all grade levels. Also included is a wide variety of activities with cubes, flash cards, graphs, dots, number patterns, geometric shapes, cross-number puzzles, and magic squares. (MM)

A questionnaire survey was used to gauge the opinions of mathematics teachers about some history of mathematics materials recently developed for use in the classroom. Teachers' opinions of the materials were generally favorable, but a sizeable proportion responded that they would not use the material in their own teaching. (Author/MN)

Generating functions for the columns in Pascal's triangle are constructed through algebraic and geometric interpretations. (JT)

The mathematics curriculum should be imbedded into the cultural environment of the student. Discussed is the mathematical educational potential of decorative motif. (PK)

Annual mathematics talent searches for 12-year-old students were conducted in Hamburg, West Germany. One-hundred-fifty students took part in a long-term Saturday enrichment program to train them in problem finding and problem solving. The philosophy of this program is explained and illustrated with preliminary data. (MNS)

Offers a teaching technique that proposes to enliven instruction of statistics for mathematics students. This activity focuses on questions and associated calculations pertaining to wildlife in captivity. Directives for the lesson as well as a complete listing of questions and answers on captive wildlife are included. (ML)

Brief articles are included on creating in first-year algebra, making a Moebius hat, and graphing cubics. (MNS)

Example of magic tricks that can be used as an integral part of various lessons in arithmetic and algebra are given. Their mathematical basis is also discussed. (MNS)

The use of real (professional) bingo sheets for a math bingo game is described. The game can be adapted to many levels of learning for a variety of concepts by using different calls. A sample of these calls is given. (MNS)