From Kitchen Table Math, I found out that there is a textbook entitled "New York Geometry". It is, unsurprisingly, a textbook for high school geometry to be used in the state of New York. The state of New York has something called the Regents Examinations which are, roughly speaking, standardized final exams in certain subjects. (Not being too familiar with the system, I don't want to say more.)
But is geometry really so different in New York than in other states that it needs its own special book? If it is, I can't tell from the table of contents of the text; it sounds like standard high school geometry.
A random walk through mathematics -- mostly through the random part.
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14 comments:
From what I can tell (having tutored a couple of students in Regents preparation classes), it is basically a ploy to turn two or three years of a NY high-schooler's math education into a stew. Geometry gets mixed up with algebra, algebra II, trigonometry, precalculus, a bit of statistics, and who knows what else, but it's okay because all they're expected to learn is how to pass the tests. Thankfully at least a few students figure out that this is not going to be good for their future mathematics education and come to me for help.
Yer killin' me with the posts on secondary education. Sometimes I think that I should quit my day job and go teach third and fourth graders.
jd's got the story here.
i hope "david" is kidding;
we're well past the stage of
"when they came for the ethnics,
i didn't speak up because i wasn't ..."
v
Maybe "New York geometry" uses the Manhattan distance, also known as the taxicab metric?
Blake,
I thought of making that joke. But the "New York" in "New York geometry" refers to the state, not the city.
The Regents Geometry test is not much different on the Math SAT, which is also trained for by many students.
BTW I was disappointed I thought Isabel was going to YOUTUBE where she breaks into a chorus Eastside WestSide.
Math jokes have to be apt and accurate? Dang.
I realize that I'm speaking from a 40 year long "tunnel", but I grew up with the NYS Regents system. Having now lived in "a bunch" of other states, and having watched my daughter grow up and go to school where we are now, I will state with firmness that I *like* and approve the NYS system (unless those a-holes have ruined in the intervening decades). When I came out of the Public School system and entered College, I was *prepared*.
I can say for sure that New York geometry is different from Boston geometry, wherein no two lines (streets) are ever parallel, and the distance between Somerville and Jamaica Plain is essentially infinite.
wait wait wait hold up..
There's a New York State?
That's right, John, there's a New York State.
There's also a New Mexico, which is a state of the United States. (My sources tell me that some people actually think NM is another country.)
To intrinsicallyknotted: from what you say about the Regents preparation classes, it sounds like a very good idea. Let's face it: mathematics is a stew of different tricks that are fruitful in problem solving. Chopping it up into many different branches and presenting them separately kills the very spirit of the subject. It's like feeding somebody for a month with macaroni only, then for another 2 weeks with chese only, and then for another 2 weeks with tomato sauce only. Not very tasty and not very nutritious.
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