I teach high school math, and I incorporate math history informally. I don't teach lessons specifically about math history, but I often use it as context for wh

I teach high school math, and I incorporate math history informally. I don't teach lessons specifically about math history, but I often use it as context for whatever I'm teaching. For example, if I'm showing students how to find the area of a circle, I ask them if they know where pi comes from. Many students have no idea that people had to discover the value of pi, and how it can be used in formulas. To many students, pi and formulas are just things that have been around forever, that they have to learn in school. I draw a square around a circle and ask what the area of a square is. I draw a pentagon and a hexagon, and ask them what will happen if we keep adding sides. Students spend most of their time focusing on the practical aspects of math, but they come away with an understanding that math has been a human endeavor of discovery, and that many of the pieces fit together in beautiful and surprising ways. When we have a little time at the end of class, or during transitions, I pull up little snippets of math to show them. Math videos are great; for example, I love showing students that ∞ + ∞ = ∞. [0] There are lots of little things we can do to make math more alive for students, and sharing some math history is certainly one of them. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faQBrAQ87l4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faQBrAQ87l4