College Math Teacher Rule #1: Go to Class!

While reading this blog by a family member of mine and thinking about how funny her students are, I realized that I am a teacher too. Yes, I teach a class. I have 31 students. It's only just started to hit me that Tuesday was my last day of teaching them ever. The last memory they'll have of me is turning in their final exam next week. Maybe I should make it easier than the previous exams.

Anyway, I was thinking about all the funny things her students do and say. Why is it that mine aren't that funny? Is it because I only have 31 of them when I imagine she has a lot more, or is it because my students are on average 4.5 years older than hers? Do kids really mature that much in 4.5 years? Maybe it's just being in college. Or maybe it's because my average attendance rate is 22/31 students and the funny ones choose to skip class.

Whatever the case may be, I've discovered that math tends to be a rather boring subject for many students. After being entirely disappointed that one of my students fell asleep during class, I decided I needed to fix this problem. So, the next class I came up with a question about the TV Show, the office. Here is how I presented the problem during class: After 50 minutes of usual class, I told everyone to stand up and tell two people their favorite TV show. Then we proceeded to work out this question:

The Michael Scott Paper Company has just opened with 3 employees: Michael, Pam, and Ryan. In addition to their regular tasks, there are 3 additional tasks that need to be done each week by any of the 3 employees (copy materials, purchase bulk paper, contact clients). Their efficiencies on these tasks differ, where the time each would need to perform the tasks is given by the following table:

Time needed per week
Copy Materials Order Paper Contact Clients
Michael 5.9 hours 1.8 hours 6.7 hours
Pam 4.5 hours 2.4 hours 6.3 hours
Ryan 5.1 hours 2.2 hours 5.8 hours

Each task should be done by exactly one employee, and each employee can do at most two of the tasks. Additionally, each employee has some requirements: if Pam copies materials, she will not have to do either of the other two tasks; Ryan will not copy materials and order paper combined in the same week; and Michael will not spend more total time than Ryan. Formulate this as an integer program (decision variables, objective, and constraints) to minimize the total amount of time spent on these extra duties per week. Do not attempt to solve.


And to finish up, here are a few random comments from my students:

• Student: What's your last name? (This was the last day of class. I think he knows my first name at least.)
• Student: Can you just give us the exam problems?
• Student: I like the way you taught class. 
• Student: How do you do this problem? Me: Were you  in class on Thursday? Student: No. Me: We did it in class on Thursday.
• Student: My birthday is today! I'm 23! Me: *Not saying anything but realizing that I'm barely a year older than him.*
• Student: Can I miss class tomorrow to take an exam for another class? Me: So you're saying your other class is more important than mine?
• Student: I'm feeling a little lost with the homework. Me: Were you in class on Thursday? Student: No. Me: You should have come to class!
• Student: Don't worry, I love you too. *Looks around awkwardly.* (He said this to me after telling me he loved our TA. I guess he didn't want me to feel left out.)

I guess college students aren't as funny as high school students. And for anyone reading this who is still in college, here is my rule for you: go to class! It's rather annoying when students ask questions that were answered during class.

Super Taster

I always knew my taste buds were different from the average person. During biology class in 9th grade, I remember the teacher handing out small strips of paper that she told us to put in our mouth. About half the class immediately ran to the drinking fountain due to the horrid taste while the other half looked at each other confused. Reason: half the class has a gene which makes them able to taste a chemical that the majority of people cannot taste. I was among the tasters.

Sometime later, I had forgotten about this incident and I was watching a TV show, maybe the discovery channel, about how some people are super tasters. These people often find foods like broccoli to have a bitter taste. At that time, I was thinking, "That's it! That's why I'm so picky. I'm a super-taster!" Over time, I forgot about the show. As time passed during college, I decided I needed to get over my pickiness, and I've slowly started liking foods like onions and peppers. To this day, however, I do not like olives. Yuck.

A couple nights ago, I had some homemade enchiladas with fresh cilantro as a key ingredient. While the enchiladas themselves were really quite good, the cilantro had a flowery flavor I did not like. This bothered me, so I decided to read about it on Wikipedia. Sure enough, many people avoid cilantro leaves due to a "soapy" flavor! After some more research I read about supertasters, and finally put the two stories together. It's official. I'm a supertaster! Finally, I have a scientific excuse when I tell people that I don't like olives, dark chocolate, spicy food or when I add extra sugar to my lemonade and grapefruit. I've also figured out why I much dislike those sugar cookies you buy from the store that some people love. Apparently, supertasters don't like things overly sweet. Suddenly I don't feel as bad about my pickiness. Although, I think I'm learning to enjoy that extra flavor. Maybe our taste buds change over time.

Springtime

Spring has come and nearly gone again. I consider this the second real spring of my life. Being raised in the desert, I haven't often seen trees change from green to orange/brown to white/pink/purple/yellow and then back to green. While we did have a tree in our the yard at our house that had fallen leaves each year, I don't think it grew pretty flowers. And even the dessert has it's share of flowers. I was quite impressed our yard back home being covered in flowers. Still, it doesn't compare to springtime in the lush hills of North Carolina. Here are a few highlights.

These pictures come from a trail near my house. You have to cross a pipe that goes over a stream to get to it. When I took these pictures, the trees hadn't bloomed yet. I wonder what it looks like now!

Yesterday, I walked onto campus. I decided to sit underneath these huge trees with nice pink flowers. Isn't the view spectacular?

Criss-Cross Applesauce

Today during my office hours, several students asked how to subtract the fraction on the right. My immediate reply, "Oh, you just use criss-cross applesauce," and I proceeded to teach them about how to use criss-cross applesauce to subtract fractions. I told them about how it's a neat trick my high school algebra teacher taught me that I still use to this day. While I thought that many people knew this trick, it seems that not even the Internet has heard of it - at least in the math sense. So, I'm going to fix that. Here is the best way to add and subtract fractions with non-matching denominators. Enjoy!

Yes, I am a nerd.