Antonio’s Gun and Delfino’s Dream

UNM's Provost chose Antonio’s Gun and Delfino’s Dream by acclaimed Los Angeles Times journalist Sam Quinones as this summer's inaugural work for the Lobo Reading Experience, a summer reading program for UNM Freshmen. So, who read this book over the summer? What did you think about it? What did you think was most successful about the book? Least successful? Was it a good selection for UNM students? Why or why not?

Literature-- Why do we bother?

Not that I don't love Frank's math videos, but it seems time to get some discussion going about non-math topics. So, what about literature? Why do we bother with it? What makes a classic a classic? And why should we read classics at all?

One of my students recently raised this issue and I believe it is an important one-- central in fact to the role of humanities education in this century. Most "great" literature is so far removed from our lives in the 21st century as to be almost in another galaxy. Those of us who teach literature talk about relating it to our students' lives and those students may even tell us that they learned a lot from a text they read. But what do we actually learn about our own lives when we read "classics"? Why is it "good for us" to read such literature? Why does having that kind of background still make people consider us more educated?

In other words, what would we actually lose out on, if we just started studying and/or teaching books we enjoy rather than those works that others have stamped as works of great literature? How many of us actually enjoy the classics and would pick them up to read on our own, without being required to read them for a class assignment? To get specific here, how many of you read Shakespeare before you go to sleep or on a plane trip? Beowulf? Steinbeck, maybe?

Math Made Almost Bearable: Statistics (Made Almost Bearable)

In this episode of Math Made Almost Bearable Frank Kelly explains some of the mathematical AND philosophical techniques employed by statisticians in order to make statistics almost bearable!

Math Made Almost Bearable: Why 30?

In a previous episode of MMAB Frank mentioned that in statistics, 30 is considered a "large" sample size. In this episode of Math Made Almost Bearable Frank will explain the mystery behind the number 30 as it pertains to statistics and will also reveal one of math's dirty little secrets!

Math Made Almost Bearable: The Birthday Problem

The human population on the earth is increasing at what could seem like an alarming rate. Many people would say that if the population continues to increase that this rate that the earth will not be able to support human life for much longer! In this episode of Math Made Almost Bearable Frank examines these and similar claims about population growth and shows that things are not always what they seem!

Math Made Almost Bearable: Population Growth

The human population on the earth is increasing at what could seem like an alarming rate. Many people would say that if the population continues to increase that this rate that the earth will not be able to support human life for much longer! In this episode of Math Made Almost Bearable Frank examines these and similar claims about population growth and shows that things are not always what they seem!