Mathematical Musings

  • How to Confuse Kids about f(x)

  • What is “Suzy’s Freaking Pocket Change”?

    One problem with many math textbooks is that the application problems are nothing you would ever do. I call that kind of problem the “Suzy’s Freaking Pocket Change” category because if you had enough information to know that Suzy had $2.37 in her pocket in the form of 17 coins where there were twice as…

  • Direct Proportions

    Hello mathematicians, puzzlers, and other curious people! I mentioned a rabbit trail in a previous MMusing, when I used the word \”group\” about functions in the form f(x)=kx, called direct proportions. I didn\’t run down that rabbit trail that day. Let\’s do it today. In ordinary English, a group is any collection of things —…