Algebra – The Conversation

Our modern lives are influenced by algorithms at every step. We can trace this influence back more than 1,200 years ago – to a Muslim mathematician.

Districts across the country have struggled to improve access and diversity in advanced math classes for years. A new approach offers hope.

Working with moveable pictures can help children learn an algebra rule: Whatever you do to one side of the equation, you need to do to the other. Here’s how teachers or caregivers can lead this.

High school students can blame ancient India for quadratic equations and calculus.

Nearly four decades after President Ronald Reagan proclaimed the first National Math Awareness Week, math readiness and enrollment in college math programs continue to decline.

How did the letter x get its enduring role as a symbol of the unknown? A mathematician explains why it’s hard to say for sure.

Consider a standard pizza box containing a standard circular pizza. How much more would you be willing to pay for a square pizza that filled the box? Clearly the square pizza contains more pizza: but is…

The Algebra Project – a long-standing initiative to teach algebra to Black students who might not otherwise take it – sprang from Bob Moses’ work as a civil rights activist, a historian recounts.

In this professor’s class, there are no calculators. Instead, students learn advanced math by talking, drawing pictures, playing with beach balls – and knitting.

Today, people use complex computing networks to search for prime numbers with millions of digits. But early mathematicians were running these calculations by hand.

This is a story about geometry, algebra and many different dimensions, best read with construction paper, scissors and tape on hand.

Turning zero from a punctuation mark into a number paved the way for everything from algebra to algorithms.

What do Sudoku, AI, Rubik’s cubes, clocks and molecules have in common? They can all be reimagined as algebraic equations.

A new book criticizes how and what American math classes are teaching. Singling out math instruction in this age of high-stakes testing and accountability is unsporting.

When the equation 8÷2(2+2)=? is written properly and includes a multiplication sign before the first bracket, the answer is clear.

The proposed maths curriculum would result in a deeper understanding of key concepts. It expects students to explain their maths reasoning rather than present their answer without justification.

By embracing a style beyond the typical classroom lecture, math education can serve all of our students better.