Top all-time · #5833
Keith Devlin
Personal blog · devlinsangle.blogspot.commathwriting
Keith Devlin writes Devlin's Angle, a personal blog at devlinsangle.blogspot.com about math and writing. Since 2011, 13 different Hacker News readers have linked it 32 times, most often “The Darwinization of Higher Education”. The last post was in 2019, but the archive is still widely read.
Devlin's Angle is a monthly column sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America. Mathematician Keith Devlin is the Executive Director of the Human-Sciences and Technologies Advanced Research Institute (H-STAR) at Stanford University and The Math Guyon NPR's Weekend Edition.
Most-linked posts?
- The Darwinization of Higher Education3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2012-12-06
- The Importance of Mathematics Courses in Computer Science Education2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2015-04-02
- What is mathematical thinking? (2012)2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2012-08-31
- How multiplication is defined in Peano arithmetic2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-11-01
What Hacker News says?
I'm not an educator or an expert in any way, but I've found many of the pro- Common Core (math, at least) arguments made by Keith Devlin[0] to be very compelling. So far, I can't figure out what the hubbub over Common Core is about, besides the usual "that's not how I learned it" nonsense. Alternative resources welcome! [0]: http://devlinsangle.blogspot.com/
Comment linking /
on “Let’s ban elementary homework”Submitted Most Math Problems Do Not Have a Unique Right Answer as a story · 94 points
HN discussionSomewhat related: The Importance of Mathematics Courses in Computer Science Education http://devlinsangle.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-importance-of-m...
Comment linking /2015/04/the-importance-of-mathematics-courses.html
on “The Math Myth (2016)”Submitted The Importance of Mathematics Courses in Computer Science Education as a story · 92 points
HN discussionExactly. Even the author of this post has argued for "filtering out" the weaker students in a Darwinian fashion with MOOCs: "MOOC education is survival of the fittest. Every student is just one insignificant datapoint while the course is running. Do well, do poorly, struggle, drop out – no one notices. But when the MOOC algorithm calculates the final ranking, the relatively few who score near the top become very, ve…
Comment linking /2012/12/the-darwinization-of-higher-education.html
on “The Importance of Mathematics Courses in Computer Science Education”Submitted What is mathematical thinking? (2012) as a story · 85 points
HN discussionIt's working exactly the way he has argued for in earlier writings: as a way to weed out students and have them memorize meaningless procedures. Two years ago he was arguing that "it's survival of the fittest; the process has no respect for the individual, but overall is extremely effective." http://devlinsangle.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-darwinization-o... And before that, he was arguing that math is basically just a…
Comment linking /2012/12/the-darwinization-of-higher-education.html
on “Mathematics Teaching No Longer Works”Submitted Mathematics Teaching No Longer Works as a story · 39 points
HN discussionIt's interesting to see this blog post from 30 July 2012 submitted here. I have some favorite online references about statistics that I like to recommend in Hacker News comments. "Advice to Mathematics Teachers on Evaluating Introductory Statistics Textbooks" http://statland.org/MyPapers/MAAFIXED.PDF and "The Introductory Statistics Course: A Ptolemaic Curriculum?" http://escholarship.org/uc/item/6hb3k0nz Both of th…
Comment linking /2012/07/cant-we-all-get-along.html
on “Khan Academy Statistics videos are not good”Submitted The Math Gift Myth as a story · 37 points
HN discussionSubmitted How multiplication is defined in Peano arithmetic as a story · 32 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Power of Dots as a story · 6 points
HN discussionSubmitted Letter to a calculus student, the sequel as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted How do you find good math learning apps? as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted Fibonacci and Golden Ratio Madness as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Importance of Mathematics Courses in Computer Science Education as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Recursion: How multiplication is really defined in Peano arithmetic as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Calculation was the price we used to have to pay to do mathematics as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted A Brilliant Young Mind: The International Math Olympiad Goes to the Movies as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Problem with Instructional Videos as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Keith Devlin: What is mathematical thinking? as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Keith Devlin on Khan Academy and Its Critics as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted How today’s pros solve math problems: Part 1 as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted What are universities for and how do they work? as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted The math myth that permeates the math myth as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted PIACC – PISA for grown-ups as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Educational Power of Elementary Arithmetic as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Will Cantor’s Paradise Ever Be of Practical Use? as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Darwinization of Higher Education as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Darwinization of Higher Education as a story · 1 points
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