I have left Harvard as of July 1, 2008 to take a position at NYU. This website has been cached and left static. Feel free to browse my new website, aka "What the heck is a Clinical Associate Professor?"

09.20.05

LatexRender Plugin

Posted in LaTeX at 7:56 am by leingang

I’m trying the LaTeXRender plugin by Sixthform. Installation is easy, but at first I got no formulas, only error messages.

Using some of the hints found on the “Path problems in Linux” post, I was able to figure out what was going on.

My server’s “convert” command didn’t understand the “-trim” option. I was able to get reasonable results by using “-crop 0×0″ in the same place. That is, in the file class.latexrender.php, change this line:

$command = $this->_convert_path." -density ".$this->_formula_density.
" -trim -transparent \"#FFFFFF\" ".$this->_tmp_filename.".ps ".
$this->_tmp_filename.".".$this->_image_format;

to

$command = $this->_convert_path." -density ".$this->_formula_density.
" -crop 0x0 -transparent \"#FFFFFF\" ".$this->_tmp_filename.".ps ".
$this->_tmp_filename.".".$this->_image_format;

This doesn’t crop the image to 0×0, but trims to the smallest rectangle that includes all non-background data. See the convert man page

Here is a test: \displaystyle\int_{\partial \Omega} \omega = \int_\Omega d\omega. It does seem to crop a bit off the right of the omega character.

Another test: \displaystyle\int_{-\infty}^\infty e^{-x^2}\,dx = \sqrt{\pi} .

Can I take Math X for medical school?

Posted in Math, FAQ at 7:13 am by leingang

When advising students on choosing their math courses, many are concerned about whether the Math Xa and Math Xb sequence will hurt their prospects of medical school admission. The Harvard Office of Career Services has a great site and a document called Premedical Information for Harvard Students, Courses & Resources. This guide says that the mathematics required for medical consists of one year, including some calculus. It also explicitly states that Math Xab is acceptable.

Math X is not a remedial course; it is an integrated precalculus + calculus course. It’s great for students who need the both. Students finishing Math Xb have proficiency at the level of Math 1a. They can go on right into Math 1b the following fall.

Everything you need to know to succeed in college-level mathematics, but are afraid to ask

Posted in Math at 6:35 am by leingang

The following excerpt is from the article “Teaching at the University Level” by Steven Zucker of Johns Hopkins University. It appears in the Notices of the American Mathematical Society, Volume 43, Number 8..

I agree with the sentiment even if it’s a little curt. I think honest statements about expectations help make the inevitable adjustment from high school to college at least understandable.

  1. You are not in high school anymore! It is absolutely necessary that you
    discard high school notions of teaching, learning and working, and replace
    them with college level notions. Our goal is not simply to coach you to
    reproduce what was said in the classroom.
  2. Expect the material to be routinely covered at a pace that is two to three
    times     as fast as in high school, and expect to be required to demonstrate
    greater mastery of it.
  3. We only have about 40 hours of lecture - that is less than a single work
    week - so we cannot afford to cover every detail. Do not expect to be
    taught everything in the classroom. It is your responsibility
    to learn the material. Most of this learning will take place outside of
    the classroom. You should plan on spending two hours outside of the classroom on this material for
    every hour we spend in class.
  4. The instructor’s job is not to explain everything in excruciating detail,
    but to provide a framework with which to guide you in learning the concepts
    and methods that are the material of the course.
  5. Read the textbook before and after the lectures. Read and study the
    examples, and work them out, along with some other exercises, as you read the
    text.
  6. Ask questions, and work problems.
  7. The purpose of the course is not to program each of you to respond to
    certain problem assignments, but how to think and how to learn within a
    certain mathematical context.
  8. Finally …. your professor is there to help you! Ask for his/her
    help as soon as you need it.

09.19.05

Happy first day of the year

Posted in Math 20, Math 1b at 11:25 am by leingang

As I’ve been saying, September is the cruelest month. Most of the preparation is done, though, and we finally reached the first day of the 2005 Fall term. I had the opening meetings for Math 1b and Math 20, distributed syllabi, and did the meet-and-greet. Though it takes a few weeks to build up my teaching stamina, I’m still looking forward to an exciting semester.

If you are interested in taking one of these courses and missed the first day, please go to the course web sites and download the relevant information. If you have other questions, come and see me or e-mail me.

09.15.05

Bok Center Recap

Posted in Teacher Training at 1:15 pm by leingang

I just finished my Talk for the 2005 Bok Center Fall Teaching Conference and had a great time. It was my first time leading such a large case discussion, and I found out that doing so is easier than it looks. I had lots of great participants, both in math and outside of math, and we learned a lot about interacting with students outside of class and how to teach a class that can head off a grade discussion at the pass.

I’m looking forward to doing more of these studies in the “TUMS II” Seminar for currently teaching math TFs. Luckily I won’t be the only one leading these case studies–some of the other preceptors will be taking turns. But I think the BC Case studies are great for any math teaching seminar.

Oh, and I would be remiss if I neglected to say that the Bok Center food was great as usual!

09.14.05

XML Schema for iCal?

Posted in Computing at 12:25 pm by leingang

I have a bunch of events that I want to collect in a text file and export in a number of formats. That sounds like a job for XML, right? Except it appears the only well-used file format for calendering is iCal, and it’s a non-SGML format. You could almost manually edit iCal files, except for the fact that commas, semicolons, and newlines have to be escaped. I found an XML translation of the iCal specification with DTD, but the web site doesn’t seem to have seen much activity since 2001. The RDF folks have an RDF Calendar Workspace dedicated to round-tripping iCal and RDF, but that too seems to have fallen off around 2004.

I should probably put off this task until a later time, and not worry about unifying the events in a single file. Sigh…

If the IRS had discovered the quadratic formula

Posted in Math at 6:56 am by leingang

Found this via Isabel’s Math Blog: A cute bit by Daniel Vellman called “If the IRS had discovered the quadratic formula“…

The IRS provides step-by-step worksheets to make the application of complicated mathematical formulas to your financial situation simpler. I think they basically do a good job of this. But it is funny to see it taken to the extreme.

09.13.05

Lesson Planning Talk

Posted in Teacher Training at 3:48 pm by leingang

Here’s an online version of the lesson planning talk that I gave today in the Calculus Instructors Orientation meeting.

Upcoming: Bok Center talk

Posted in Teacher Training at 11:33 am by leingang

I’m looking forward to the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning’s annual Fall Teaching Conference.. It starts tomorrow at 9:30am in Sever Hall. The talks are informative and the lunch is great.

I’m particularly looking forward (albeit nervously) to the talk I’ll be giving called “Seeking Points: A Case Study on Teaching and Grading in the Sciences”. Here’s an abstract:

Graders in science courses apply a subjective but authoritative rubric
to determine scores on exam or homework problems. Sometimes students
confuse “subjective” with “arbitrary,” resulting in discussions
ranging from the uncomfortable to the combative. This case study will
explore shifting The Great Grade Debate towards a teachable moment.
Tangential topics include dealing with overprepared students and
writing and grading good questions in the first place.

The talk will be taking place on Thursday, September 15 at 10:00 in Sever Hall 214.

“TUMS II” Syllabus

Posted in Math, Teacher Training at 9:43 am by leingang

The Mathematics is proud to announce TUMS II: a seminar for graduate students currently teaching. The seminar will meet alternate Thursdays, 1:30-3:00pm in SC 232. The first meeting will be October 20.

Read on to see the syllabus or you can download a printable version of the syllabus (PDF).

Read the rest of this entry »

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