EDUCATION REPORT - The Math Forum at Drexel

EDUCATION REPORT - The Math Forum¹ at Drexel
By Jerilyn Watson

Broadcast: Thursday, January 15, 2004

This is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Education Report.

Many students and teachers of mathematics visit a Web site provided by Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The site is called the Math Forum at Drexel. The address is mathforum.org. The site says it receives about four-million visits a month from people around the world. Some services require membership. But other materials are free of charge.

The Math Forum at Drexel includes an Internet Mathematics Library. This is a library that collects and organizes thousands of other Web sites related to math. Another area is called Ask Doctor Math. Visitors can ask an expert a question at any level.

 
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A number of experts give their time to choose and answer interesting problems. More than five-thousand questions-and-answers are organized by subject and level. Visitors can also search by terms.

Ask Doctor Math contains a page of almost fifty commonly asked questions. For example, it explains how to make a Pascal's Triangle. Mathematician³, scientist and thinker Blaise Pascal developed this triangle made of numbers in the seventeenth century. It is used in algebra⁴ and to find combinations in probability.

Another page at the Math Forum at Drexel is called Classic Problems. For example: In a family with two children, if one child is a boy, what are the chances that the other child is a girl? Ready for the answer? The answer is ... two-thirds. Why two-thirds? The example shows what is called a conditional⁵ probability tree to explain the answer.

Another part of the site is called Teacher2Teacher. This area permits math educators to share opinions, suggestions and issues. They trade ideas for classroom activities and teaching methods. Master teachers answer questions and offer suggestions. These teachers have won top awards for their teaching of mathematics.

And there is a Teacher Exchange area. Math teachers around the world can share their own materials. For example, there are materials by Suzanne Alejandre, a well-known middle school math teacher in the United States. She has prepared lessons and activities designed mainly for students between the ages of eleven and fifteen.

Again, the address of the Math Forum at Drexel is mathforum.org.

This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Steve Ember.

1 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

2 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

3 mathematician   

n.数学家

参考例句：

• The man with his back to the camera is a mathematician.背对着照相机的人是位数学家。
• The mathematician analyzed his figures again.这位数学家再次分析研究了他的这些数字。

4 algebra   

n.代数学

参考例句：

• He was not good at algebra in middle school.他中学时不擅长代数。
• The boy can't figure out the algebra problems.这个男孩做不出这道代数题。

5 conditional   

adj.条件的，带有条件的

参考例句：

• My agreement is conditional on your help.你肯帮助我才同意。
• There are two forms of most-favored-nation treatment:conditional and unconditional.最惠国待遇有两种形式:有条件的和无条件的。