[Edu-sig] Math + Python: reviewing some themes (long)

[David MacQuigg]

kirby urner wrote:

> More to the point is wanting to render pre-existing well-established
> mathematics in a more accessible, hands-on, and intelligible
> format, without losing any backward compatibility.
>
> List comprehensions *illuminate* ideas about functions, do not
> detract from them.  Creating a list of (domain, range) tuples
> using "zip" is kind of interesting, gives a hands on component
> to what's in the book.

I learned about list comprehensions from Mark Lutz's "Learning Python".  
Like everything in that book, it was slowly, carefully explained in 
terms so easy, even a non-programmer like myself could follow every 
step.  I never used them much, however, because it just seemed like a 
complex syntax that I could do more easily with a simple for loop.

Then I read Michel Paul's "Manifesto", and it hit me like lightning.  Of 
course, its just set notation - simple, elegant, and executable!!  What 
could be simpler than saying the factors of N are all n <= N//2 such 
that N % n  == 0.  You don't need any "programming" to understand that.

This is how we will get kids (and teachers) into computational 
thinking.  Not a massive overhaul of the curriculum, but little things 
like this that are clearly useful or elegant, or that lead to insight, 
or that are just fun and relevant to the subject being taught.  
Introducing programming into our existing classes needs to be done in a 
way that does not push aside current topics, does not require a big 
commitment, and does not threaten teachers who have seen only the 
intimidating side of programming.

-- Dave