MathPlus's definitions

Singapore

Math educators’ promised land that combines the best practices of math education from the East and the West—one such concoction is the “model method,” the problem-solving heuristic that has had global appeal, especially among homeschoolers in the US, in solving challenging word problems that would traditionally need formal algebra for their solutions.

Due to their stand on democracy and freedom of speech, a number of American educators have stood firm in rejecting Singapore math, although they acknowledged that the math curriculum of the “fine” city is a superior one compared to those used in a number of US states in helping to raise the quantitative literacy of the students.

by MathPlus October 3, 2021

Make US Math Singapore Math

When math educators in America are pushing for their states and schools to embrace the Singapore math curriculum, or part of it, to raise the mathematical proficiency of their students—Singapore is often touted as a model for quality math education that is achievable via wallet-friendly good-quality textbooks.

Trump’s white “patriots” and diehard blue-collar supporters in red states are against the “Make US Math Singapore Math” slogan, as they’re allergic to any form of alien math infiltrating their local schools.

by MathPlus October 3, 2021

Chili Math

Fiendish math questions that are likely to get someone mentally constipated, or to make them feel logically disgusted, if they attempt to solving them without any formal training or preparation.

Like olympiad math, chili math should be introduced only to mathematically precocious kids lest the questions prove logically repugnant to immature or young minds.

by MathPlus March 2, 2021

Pi Approximation Day

An annual math event that is commemorated on 22nd July (22/7) among billions of people worldwide, who conventionally write their date in the DD/MM/YYYY format, compared to the millions of folks who celebrate Pi Day on March 14 (3/14).

What is the ratio of the number of math students and teachers globally who celebrate Pi Approximation Day in July to the number of those who commemorate Pi Day in March every year.

by MathPlus July 23, 2021

Math Con-sultant

A symbol-minded person who knows all 64 main intimate positions, including their 200+ variations, but struggles to get a date except with bots or digital dolls.

Guesstimate how many folks in academia, who consult or moonlight for publishing houses worldwide, are in fact math con-sultants, whose names on textbook covers could potentially yield a higher adoption rate among local or regional schools, especially among titles-minded teachers and parents.

by MathPlus May 1, 2023

Ban Apartheid

When high-GDP countries often sans scientific basis would unitedly react irrationally or paranoiacally, by banning travelers from a developing country, where the allegedly deadliest variant of Covid-19 has been caught, which may escape the protection of any WHO-approved vaccines—when their economic supremacy can afford them to act selfishly with quasi-zero penalty in return.

Imagine if the omicron variant were discovered in the UK or the US instead of South Africa, it’s unlikely that most Western and some Asian countries would implement a travel ban on the natural resources-rich nation within hours of the official announcement of the discovery of the mutant—like vaccine apartheid, doesn’t their quick action characterize ban apartheid?

by MathPlus November 28, 2021

Mathematical Steroid

Short-term success in math, whereby exam-smart teachers and tutors drill or spoon-feed students, by getting them to memorize modeled solutions of questions that are likely to appear in the coming examination based on previously set questions from past exam papers.

It’s not surprising that most university students in Singapore, who are reading for a degree in math, struggle with their courses because they grew up on mathematical steroids in high school.

by MathPlus December 7, 2021