Famous Unsolved Math Problems as Homework
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Famous Unsolved Math Problems as Homework
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Re: Famous Unsolved Math Problems as Homework
#2[deleted]
Re: Famous Unsolved Math Problems as Homework
#3The most important part of this was, "When I use these problems for in-class work, I will typically pose the problem to the students without telling them it is unsolved, and then reveal the full truth after they have been working for fifteen minutes or so."
Any professor who handed out that assignment to an undergraduate class without fair warning, would likely face a full scale revolt, possible threats of violence, and almost certainly a significant portion of the class immediately dropping him.
[Edit - to be clear, I'm commending the instructor for not hanging their students out to dry by giving a mission impossible homework assignment]
Re: Famous Unsolved Math Problems as Homework
#4The most important part of this was, "When I use these problems for in-class work, I will typically pose the problem to the students without telling them it is unsolved, and then reveal the full truth after they have been working for fifteen minutes or so." Any professor who handed out that assignment to an undergraduate class without fair warning, would likely face a full scale revolt, possible threats of violence,…
Seriously? You think students would revolt after being given an interesting problem to think about for 15 minutes?
Re: Famous Unsolved Math Problems as Homework
#5The most important part of this was, "When I use these problems for in-class work, I will typically pose the problem to the students without telling them it is unsolved, and then reveal the full truth after they have been working for fifteen minutes or so." Any professor who handed out that assignment to an undergraduate class without fair warning, would likely face a full scale revolt, possible threats of violence,…
The important part of this was:
* Students are forced to depart from the “answer-getting” mentality of mathematics.
* Students are forced to redefine success in learning as making sense and increasing depth of understanding.
* Students are able to work in a context in which failure is completely normal.
If your class tends toward revolt, they have been way too far strayed from the first point, and that may be the professors fault.
Re: Famous Unsolved Math Problems as Homework
#6As a student in 1939, the mathematician George Dantzig once arrived late to a lecture. He mistook the unsolved problems on the blackboard for homework, and solved two of them.
Re: Famous Unsolved Math Problems as Homework
#7The most important part of this was, "When I use these problems for in-class work, I will typically pose the problem to the students without telling them it is unsolved, and then reveal the full truth after they have been working for fifteen minutes or so." Any professor who handed out that assignment to an undergraduate class without fair warning, would likely face a full scale revolt, possible threats of violence,…
I have done that occasionally. They complain, but only in jest.
Re: Famous Unsolved Math Problems as Homework
#8The most important part of this was, "When I use these problems for in-class work, I will typically pose the problem to the students without telling them it is unsolved, and then reveal the full truth after they have been working for fifteen minutes or so." Any professor who handed out that assignment to an undergraduate class without fair warning, would likely face a full scale revolt, possible threats of violence,…
Cambridge used to do this routinely. Your university may vary.
Re: Famous Unsolved Math Problems as Homework
#9The most important part of this was, "When I use these problems for in-class work, I will typically pose the problem to the students without telling them it is unsolved, and then reveal the full truth after they have been working for fifteen minutes or so." Any professor who handed out that assignment to an undergraduate class without fair warning, would likely face a full scale revolt, possible threats of violence,…
Seriously? You think students would revolt after being given an interesting problem to think about for 15 minutes?
"Without fair warning"
That's the important part of this - the instructor didn't give it as homework. And yes, I've seen students freak out on their instructor en-masse for far less than a mission impossible homework assignment.
Re: Famous Unsolved Math Problems as Homework
#10The most important part of this was, "When I use these problems for in-class work, I will typically pose the problem to the students without telling them it is unsolved, and then reveal the full truth after they have been working for fifteen minutes or so." Any professor who handed out that assignment to an undergraduate class without fair warning, would likely face a full scale revolt, possible threats of violence,…
I have done that occasionally. They complain, but only in jest.
You've handed out a math assignment that was an open unsolved problem and not told your students what you had done prior to them leaving for the day?