Tow #1: How to Fall in Love With Math

The article, How to Fall in Love With Math published in NY Times, describes the purpose and enjoyment that can be found in math through an enthusiastic mathematician. Manil Suri is a math professor at the University of Maryland as well as a decorated fiction author. The writing style in this article is very similar to that of Lynne Truss, author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves. Both Truss and Suri are very passionate about their topic and wish to provide a better understanding of their topic as well as display its importance. The one main difference between the two was that Truss blamed technology for the downfall of grammatical accuracy and Suri credited technology for providing mathematics in a fun and unrecognizable way. He uses comparisons to intrigue a more vast audience by using analogies of art, music, literature and magic. Through his writing, he is able to show his engagement in math as well as his desire to spread the love of math. Disappointed in modern schooling of math and students inability to recognize the importance of mathematics; in hopes to compensate for the lack of interest in school, Suri wrote this article to students failing to see the greatness of math along with other math enthusiasts to help to encourage more interest in the subject. I believe that he accomplished his goal to the best of his ability, meaning his purpose is not an easy thing to accomplish. For the most part those who dread math are not likely to read this article and change their outlook more or less, or even read it for that matter. The upbeat tone in the article allowed for the topic to be a bit more playful, however, getting the target audience to read the article is an entirely different task. Writing wise, Suri was brilliant, enthusiastic and got his point across.

Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/16/opinion/how-to-fall-in-love-with-math.html?ref=opinion

Love Math
URL: http://www.math.ucsd.edu/~x2peng/teaching.htm