How Google could select the next president
http://www.wired.com/2015/08/googles-search-algorithm-steal-presidency/
Imagine an election—a close one. You’re undecided. So you type the name of one of the candidates into your search engine of choice. (Actually, let’s not be coy here. In most of the world, one search engine dominates; in Europe and North America, it’s Google.) And Google coughs up, in fractions of a second, articles and facts about that candidate. Great! Now you are an informed voter, right? But a study published this week says that the order of those results, the ranking of positive or negative stories on the screen, can have an enormous influence on the way you vote. And if the election is close enough, the effect could be profound enough to change the outcome.
…One group saw positive articles about one candidate first; the other saw positive articles about the other candidate. (A control group saw a random assortment.) The result: Whichever side people saw the positive results for, they were more likely to vote for—by more than 48 percent. The team calls that number the “vote manipulation power,” or VMP. The effect held—strengthened, even—when the researchers swapped in a single negative story into the number-four and number-three spots. Apparently it made the results seem even more neutral and therefore more trustworthy.
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In other words: Google’s ranking algorithm for search results could accidentally steal the presidency.
http://adequateman.deadspin.com/what-to-do-if-the-pilot-of-your-plane-dies-1722058302
So you’re flying somewhere. Say you’re going somewhere tropical to enjoy your first vacation in years. Then, what do you know? The pilot of the plane goes and dies on you. What do you do? Let’s start with “not panic” and go from there.
Why did I give up on math? Ask my mom
https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/08/04/why-did-i-give-up-on-math-ask-my-mom/
Girls Get Higher Math Scores When Taught By Female Teachers
http://www.ischoolguide.com/articles/20763/20150804/higher-math-scores-female-teachers-researchers.htm
https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/08/04/why-did-i-give-up-on-math-ask-my-mom/
But it’s unfair to pin all the blame on my mother. There were other factors, such as indifferent or incompetent teachers and my growing sense that girls who like math are suspect to boys — and at 12, what boys thought was suddenly very important.
Girls Get Higher Math Scores When Taught By Female Teachers
http://www.ischoolguide.com/articles/20763/20150804/higher-math-scores-female-teachers-researchers.htm
This new study also found that when female students switched from a male to a female teacher, their math test scores increased by 8.5 percent of the standard deviation than the boys.
Meer said he felt that the increased performance in mathematics is due to the girls feeling more comfortable when taught by a female instructor.
What is the meaning of one? It’s a question that has occupied the minds of the greatest thinkers such as Philo of Alexandria, who believed that the numeral one was God’s number and so the basis of all other numbers.
Two millennia later, in the august surroundings of the Royal Courts of Justice in London, three judges in the Court of Appeal last week also deliberated on the meaning of one. They came to the conclusion that one does not necessarily mean one at all – because it can actually include anything greater than or equal to a half and less than one-and-a-half.
http://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/pdf/Mathhorizons/supplement/MH-CoreyWeb.pdf
The most asked question in math class is some variation of "When am I ever going to use this?” In fact, I began typing this question into a search engine, and every one of the
10 popular completions for "when am I ever going to use . . .” dealt with school mathematics. Now, as a student, I know this question is a compelling one. Of course, some students ask it as a challenge to the teacher, using it to mean “Prove to me that I need this in my life.” However, some students ask it sincerely, honestly wanting to know how it might be used in the future.
