Re:Approximating Mathematical Constants Using Minecraft
by eesmith on Wednesday December 04, 2024 @09:00AM
(#42317479)
> Is this a stunt to attract US students to mathematics research?
Like how the bowling ball pendulum lab is a stunt to attract students to physics, and the Briggs-Rauscher reaction a stunt to attract students to chemistry?
Sure, why not. Define "stunt" broadly enough and it can include anything which piques the interest.
> Why does it seem that everyone bends over backwards in the US instead of confronting the math education problem head on?
Why does it seem you have no joy?
> don't approximate it with video games, just teach it head on
This is head-on teaching how to approximate the values of four different mathematical constants.
You don't even get to the Minecraft way to approximate Apéry's constant until you've read that it's a special case of the Riemann zeta , and seen two ways to define it (as an infinite sum and as an infinite product), in order to explain why the Minecraft method works.
Like how the bowling ball pendulum lab is a stunt to attract students to physics, and the Briggs-Rauscher reaction a stunt to attract students to chemistry?
Sure, why not. Define "stunt" broadly enough and it can include anything which piques the interest.
> Why does it seem that everyone bends over backwards in the US instead of confronting the math education problem head on?
Why does it seem you have no joy?
> don't approximate it with video games, just teach it head on
This is head-on teaching how to approximate the values of four different mathematical constants.
You don't even get to the Minecraft way to approximate Apéry's constant until you've read that it's a special case of the Riemann zeta , and seen two ways to define it (as an infinite sum and as an infinite product), in order to explain why the Minecraft method works.