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When I used to teach a class called “Mathematics for Liberal Arts Majors,” the first class began with having students “draw six.¹” I refused to give more explic
by dhosek 5y ago
When I used to teach a class called “Mathematics for Liberal Arts Majors,” the first class began with having students “draw six.¹” I refused to give more explicit instructions. It was fascinating to see the results that came out of this, along with the ideas about numbers that it sparked.
1. I have to confess that the choice of six was not arbitrary.
- andai 5y agoWhy six?
- havernator 5y agoIf any students hear the word wrong, you'll get some really funny drawings. (my guess)
- dhosek 5y agoMathematically, 6 is the most interesting small number. For example, one might represent it as XXXXXX XXX XXX XX XX XX X XX XXX or the sides of a cube, hexagons or six-spoked wheels. Occasionally someone would draw a rectangular prism with sides of length 1, 2 and 3. I often had students who might also draw 六 or 陸 or ٦ or ৬ (I had a diverse student body).
- yoyohello13 5y agoThis is really intriguing. Do you have any examples of what people came up with?
- lax0 5y agoNeed you to expound pretty please