Random mathematical autobiography
- An autobiography offers the author the ability to recreate history.
- Edward Frenkel's "Love and Math" is a mix of popular maths book, autobiography, and general declaration of love towards mathematics.
- This study examines the K-12 mathematical experiences of U.S. university students via an expressive writing assignment: a mathematical autobiography essay.
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Autobiographies of mathematicians
Hugo Steinhaus: Wspomnienia i zapiski (Memories and notes), (published posthumously in Wrocław, 2002, 1st edition by Aneks, London, 1992).
To my knowledge, not available in English, but there is a German translation:
Erinnerungen und Aufzeichnungen, Neisse-Verlag, 2010
Personal life, mathematics (with motivation and solution of some problems), interaction with other mathematicians (including Stefan Banach, Bronislaw Knaster, but also Steinhaus's students Stanislaw Ulam and Marek Kac, whose autobiographies are listed here, and many others), academic environment in Poland, World Wars I and II, rebuilding of Western Borderlands after 1945- very engaging and insightful (if sometimes opinionated) writing, little "navel-gazing". And not so easy to google up if you did not already know about it, even if you read Polish.
Updated in 2020: After this answer was posted, an English translation appeared (not that soon):
Mathematician for All Seasons: Recollections and Notes, Birkhäuser
Volume 1 (1887-1945) (Vita Mathematica 18), 2015
Volume
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My Math Autobiography
Early Experiences
One of the earliest memories about math that I have are the counting blocks we used in Kindergarten. We had ones, tens, and hundred blocks in which we used to learn to count and add. I remember liking the hands-on way of learning. I believe this started off my enjoyment of math at this very early age.
The best memory I have from math was in grade 5 when we had the chocolate fraction cake. We were first being introduced to the concept of fractions, and our teacher brought us a large chocolate cake to help demonstrate the idea. She asked us questions like how we would split it evenly among different numbers of people and we had to work together as a class to come up with the answers. It was the closest thing to inquiry based learning that I experienced in my math classrooms, even though it was still very guided by the teacher. We would come up with the answers, but since there was only one cake, she made sure that we had come up with the right answer before she actually cut into the cake. And of course, the best part was at the e
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Benefits:
As a tie-in with Mathgen, I am offering randomly-generated mathematics textbooks for sale via Lulu. $5.00 per copy sold will be donated to the American Mathematical Society, for the support of (deterministic) research in mathematics. (The remaining cost of each book goes directly to Lulu to cover printing costs; I’m not keeping any of the money.)
- Each book contains over 300 pages of guaranteed mathematical rubbish, including theorems, proofs, and exercises. Also included is a randomly generated index and an exhaustive bibliography of over 250 non-existent references. Plus, a special cover blurb praising the book with randomly chosen cliches!
- Professionally bound and looks impressive on your desk or bookshelf
- A great joke gift for a mathematically inclined friend
- Use it as the textbook for your next topics course
- Much cheaper than most real textbooks
- Support random mathematical research (and the real kind too, since a portion of each sale benefits the American Mathematical Society)
How can you possibly refuse?
Galois Knot Theory: With Applications to Element
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