Teaching math
A question for y'all:

Elementary mathematics (say, anything below calc) is a hard subject to teach because there are very few applications. It's like several years of grammar without reading a single good book. I'm trying to find some good topics that can get a student interested in the subject, without requiring extensive background knowledge. So far, I've thought of:

• Classifying strangely shaped polyhedra, and thence into problems in geometry,


• Computability theory - recursion, Godel's theorems, and so on, maybe using Godel, Escher Bach as a text


• Something involving fractals - but what?


• Probability, and teaching them why not to draw to an inside straight.

Each of these seems like they would only work for a fraction of students, and all seem a bit half-baked. Those of you with math backgrounds, or those of you who have recently been taking classes at this level, or for that matter everyone: What are the topics in math that interested you the most that don't require full command of differential equations?

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Things worth reading
Three important things from the news:

1. The Washington Post has posted the full text of the DoJ memo suggesting how torture of detainees abroad "may be justified," along with some related memoranda and transcripts of recent press conferences and senate hearings of interest. All very interesting reads.


2. Next Monday, at 0630 PDT, the SpaceShipOne will attempt to become the first private manned spacecraft. It looks like it will probably work. (Knock on wood!) This is very possibly the coolest single thing on the planet at this time.


3. And on a related note, on July 1st, the Cassini-Huygens probe is scheduled for orbit insertion around Saturn. Its route will take it straight through the rings, going through the F-G gap, then up close by the planet (snapping pictures all the time) and into an elliptical orbit. This is going to be extremely neat.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

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