About Don's Website
9 March 2008
Homeschooling mom emails Don:
"Dear
Don, ..I teach an enrichment math class to 6th and 7th
grade students. I also tutor between 8-10 children a week separately from my
work in the classroom. I am excited by your philosophy and methods. I am not a
certified teacher. I just happen to be a homeschooling mom who was passionate
about preventing innumeracy in my children. I read Marilyn Burns and used Miquon
Math. From there I discovered Harold
Jacobs' books and The Number Devil. I hate timed tests for times tables. I
always want my students to find the pattern and connections between math topics.
I especially want them to get excited and see the beauty of mathematics.
Would it be possible for me to come to learn
from you how to better serve/teach my students. I took Calculus in high school
and college, but I have had no use for it in my life. I would like to learn
Calculus the way I try to teach my classes so that I can make the connection for
my students". Elizabeth came to work with Don in
May. She said one of the things she
really liked on Don's site, was the pictures of his mathroom!
18 March 2007: "Hi Don, I am a college Maths teacher in the United Kingdom
and I am currently working on trying to develop the idea of linking the Maths
curriculum to real life examples where-ever possible. I have been looking at
your website - example materials on the web, it looks great and was wondering
whether it would be possible for me to purchase your 2 disc set about calculus
for young people even though I am in England".- K.W., UK
Of course, and she did!
28 October 2006 Don received this email
from Australia:
Hey Don,
I'm a yr 12 student in Australia and i am doing my final
HSC maths exam tomorrow..
I just wanted to write and tell you that your website has been
much more helpful to me than my whole 13 years of school have!! What you're doing is
fantastic man, Thanks Heaps!!
I'll have to buy you a beer
oneday!
Thanks Again
Mitchell
D.
On
31 October 2006 After
Don thanked Mitchell and asked him what was helpful on his website, Mitchell
responded:
Subject:
No, thank you!
Hey
Don
I
was pretty confident with how my final exam went thanks to your site!!
Studying on the internet, your site was
the best I could have hoped to find. Your hands on and common sense approach to
mathematics really worked for me. You make complex calculations seem easy by
explaining them in a way that anyone can understand! Your work on Iteration,
Binomial Expansion
and
Calculus, which I struggle with, had me understanding complex questions after
one afternoon!
Doing
the sample questions on your site prepared me really well.
Your
different methods were easy to pick up and I prefer them, than the ones I have
been struggling to understand for 6 years of high school!
i
would recommend your stuff to anyone!!
Let
me know if your Ever in Australia I owe you one! Thanks Heaps Mate!! Keep up the
great work! Mitchell D.
5 May 2006 Hi,
I found
your website when I googled for
Rotagram.
I think I recognize you name
and I think you wrote a great little math book. If so, I love your little book.
I used it years ago when I taught your type of calculus to 6th
graders. I did not know you had a website.
Anyway, I have an activity
that calls for this math tool, and I do not know what it is.
I hope you can shed some
light.
Thank you,
C.C.,
CA
See
http://www.mathman.biz/html/anna.html . and to buy some http://www.tarquinbooks.co.uk/default.asp?id=921&productname=
Rotagrams+%2D+Packet+of+10&category=
16
June
2006
Don-
Thank
you. I have already recommended your website to many parents and I will
forward your email [about the 2-disk CD set] to them as well. B. and I were quite pleased with the work
you did with our daughter in such a short time [via IM]. I think you will be happy
to know that she continues to do well in math classes and was a member of her
school's Math Counts team this year. That is a pretty impressive
turnaround for a kid who hated math more than any other subject!
Best
wishes,
J.,
WV
5 September
2005 In an email from JB: "Hi, Don. I am very
impressed with what I have seen on your web-site and would like to know if you
ever do speaking engagements. My [homeschool] support group is always looking
for great speakers. If you are willing to come to the
Chicagoland area, what
would be your speaking fee and when would be the best time for you to come? Our
group meets on the second Monday evening of every month".
5 September
2005 Don emailed JB: "I would do a Q&A
session about what their child did, via IM, after they have used my worksheet
book with their child for a month". He gave JB what he would charge and other
details.
6 September
2005 From the second email from JB: "Would
you be interested in setting up a
web conference?
My husband does this regularly for his job and can get a group rate. Would you
be interested in offering the meeting described in your e-mail more than once,
perhaps 3-4 times over a 3-4 month period"?
7 September
2005 Don emailed JB: "Yes. This is very exciting;
I've thought about doing something like this with teachers at a U where the prof
was using my books, but it never got off the ground. I hope we can pull this
off!
"
5 September 2004:
"Dear Don, I just
wanted to say thank you for helping me with my math problems even though you
actually aren't available for online question-and-answer tutoring service. I did
ask other people at first to help me, however I just couldn't understand the
concepts through their explanations. With your's, I did. So once again, thank
you for your help".
-Katrina
23 September 2004
Don received this email: "Hi
Don,
I just happened to come across your web site. It is great. Very interesting! I
was asked this question the other day and I couldn't find a solution. I think
it is related to binomial expansion/combination somehow but don't know how to
solve. I looked at your section of problems in the binomial expansion chapter
but didn't find similar problems/solution there either. Maybe you can (easily)
help me? Thank you. F.L."
The
problem:
There are a
total of n steps to reach the top. You can go either 1-step or 2-steps at a
time. How many different ways you can go to reach the top?
Don and 2 of his students, independently, worked on this problem and solved it.
Try it yourself
..assume 5 steps, find the
number of ways to get to the top. Then try 6 steps.. look for a pattern!
12 May 2004:
Don received this email:
"Many
years ago I built a wooden model of what was called a Trigtractor.... a circle
of wood with two rulers one at 0 degrees and one hanging out at the end of a
radius arm. Sort of like the initial settings for your
sixtrigfn.html page (created
by IES
in Japan). It has always fascinated me and I used it in my mind all the time to
keep the different functions straight. Recently I needed to verify that the
secant was the value I wanted in a little shop problem... I found your site and
it just blew me away.
I have
sat and played with it numerous times. Such a simple thing but so well done. It
is great way to teach the fundamentals of trig... and how it really works. I
have two 12 year olds coming into my life soon and I know I will be helping them
with math.
Just had
to let you know that you did a good thing. Thanks.
John"
You can now see Don's ideas in
seven Java applets in Japan- one
is "Iterating I^(I^(I^I)).." from ch. 11- a WOW!!, transformations1,
and transformations2
, and
as
of March 2, 2003 the new one by IES on
Don's website here
at
"Changing
Shapes With Matrices" ,
"The
six trig functions"-all at one time!, the Japanese version of this
at http://www.ies.co.jp/LoveMath/kihonjikou/sixtrigfn-j/sixtrigfn-j.html,
and see the IES version of Maggie's difference of two cubes at http://www.ies.co.jp/math/java/misc/magbox/magbox.html
and Click here to see all their wonderful applets.
October, 2002 'What is attractive about your website is the tone, like a nice,
kindly, Dutch uncle who tinkers with his inventions in the family room; not
intimidating. Then you see you are tutoring young children in math we think of
advanced, and they can get it, and that is so valuable'. Ann L.
August 30, 2002
Found on Buzzle.com
(Intelligent Life on the web) Science
and Technology - Mathematics and Problem Solving
"Choose Sample Problems
View an introductory lesson here on mathematics that includes materials on
functions, solving equations, and the sums of infinite series.
http://www.mathman.biz/html/chapters.html
Ranking
(5 bees- top rating)
'Often we think about patterns in math as just part
of basic geometry, but patterns could be considered to be an important part of
all of mathematics. Here at the Patterns
in Mathematics website there are numerous examples of patterns in numbers,
graphs, shapes, infinite sequences, infinite series, nature, algebra, daily
life, integrals, derivatives, games, puzzles and matrices. After seeing these
examples, students will be able to think of many, many, more...'
January
25, 2002- a day Don
will remember- all emails:
1. A Mom in Malaysia wants
Don to work with her 9 yr. old daughter.
2. A Mom in Scotland wants
Don to work with her 12 yr. old daughter.
3. A Mom in New Zealand
ordered Don's worksheet book for her son.
4. Jacqueline in Seattle sent work
she's been doing in Don's worksheet book.
5. Grace in Chicago sent work
she's been doing in Don's worksheet book.
6. A Mom in Michigan inquired
about his books and Math By Mail/Email.
7. The Mom of 3 of Don's local
students wanted him to know they were coming to his house the next afternoon for
class.
What
a day!!
NEW:
Math: Top Site - 10/29/01
|
 This
site has been awarded the Education Planet
"Math Top Site Award" by our teacher/reviewers for its quality
content and usefulness to Math educators and students.
Patterns
in Mathematics - Often we think about patterns in math as just
part of basic geometry but patterns could be considered to be an important
part of all of mathematics. Here at the Patterns in Mathematics website
there are numerous examples of patterns in numbers, graphs, shapes,
infinite sequences, infinite series, nature, algebra, daily life,
integrals, derivatives, games, puzzles and matrices. After seeing these
examples, you and your students will be able to think of many, many,
more... [Thank you, Education Planet!
]
|
October 12, 2001 via email: "The pages on your website helped a great deal in
getting started. We had some fun with Lesson 1, and now I feel a little more
confident. This material and the whole concept is great! "- Pam T., mother
of 12 year old who is working in Don's worksheet book
3/26/01
"Hi! Nice to hear from you.
I
found you through the Swarthmore Math Forum site. I had searched on
"infinite series" to find something good for a class I'm teaching of
5th grade gifted math students, and ran across your site which I find
fascinating! I am eagerly looking forward to using the children's
worksheets. I have been a high school math teacher, and am currently teaching
gifted kids in 4th and 5th grade at different schools as well as doing some high
school tutoring, including calculus.
My children are 13 and 7; the 7 year old is very interested in numbers and finds
math quite easy. He naturally has mental methods for adding large numbers
and is beginning to understand multiplication and fractions. He can also
add negative/positive integers. OK, enough bragging, but I really have fun
playing math with him! I thought your program would be something
stimulating for us to do this summer.
Thank
you for sharing your work on your website--it is inspirational to other
teachers!"- Kris McCoy
As of January
29, 2001, Don's site here, was highlighted in The
Math Forum Internet Newsletter (issue 6.5)! A
great honor, thank you!
Take a look at The Math Forum and do a 'library search'
for mathman. There are at least 33 links, from these pages of their search
results:
sequences and sets, sequences and series, Video, coordinate plane
geometry, multimedia, Lesson Plans and activities, IMP & cookies,
h.fraclessons, m.fraclessons, e.fraclessons, About Compound interest to Pi and
e, About Continued fractions and infinite continued fractions, About Fractions
and infinite series, About Pi and Square roots, About the binomial expansion and
infinite series, About Area under curves-The Integral, About The Fibonacci
Numbers, Pineapples, Sunflowers.., About The Snowflake Curve P & A, Solving
Equations, Dr. Math resource for Pascal's triangle, resources for students, and
calculus puzzles and problems.
But more importantly, they have links to the sample problems in
every chapter of my books, at Don's web site!! He feels honored about
that.
The Math Forum -the
finest math education website in the world.
How
other sites use Don's ideas & his website
Don's
Favorite Places on the WWW
Links
to this website- how many now?
This
award is from Study Web as of 1/25/98
To order
Don's materials
Mathman home