I recently did some work on the mathematics portion of an SAT practice test, and I’m told that there’s a lot more work of a similar nature on the way, so I’m looking forward to that. Also, I just purchased the book Flatland by Edwin Abbott online. Here is Amazon.com’s description of the book:

Flatland was published in 1880 and imagines a two-dimensional world inhabited by sentient geometric shapes who think their planar world is all there is. But one Flatlander, a Square, discovers the existence of a third dimension and the limits of his world's assumptions about reality and comes to understand the confusing problem of higher dimensions. The book is also quite a funny satire on society and class distinctions of Victorian England.

The book also includes Sphereland, written sixty years later by Dionys Burger. I’m hoping Flatland and Sphereland give me some good ideas I can use when writing mathematics problems.

Tags: math, mathematics, Flatland, Edwin Abbott, Sphereland, Dionys Burger

The movie Spirit of the Marathon is coming to theaters! On January 24th, 2008, it will play simultaneously at 7:30 PM on hundreds of screens across the United States. Click here for details. This is a one-night-only special engagement, so if you don’t see it at 7:30 PM on January 24th, you’re going to miss it. I’ve already bought my ticket online to see it at an IMAX theater at Easton.

Speaking of marathons, today I ran fourteen miles with the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group and felt very good. I’m becoming more and more optimistic that I’m going to be able to successfully train for the Boston Marathon in April. Also, speaking of the Boston Marathon, I recently purchased the book The Last Pick by David McGillivray online. David McGillivray is the race director of the Boston Marathon, and his signature is on the 2007 Boston Marathon certificate hanging prominently on the wall in my apartment.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Boston Marathon, running, Spirit of the Marathon, The Last Pick, David McGillivray

Yesterday I had to buy a new (used) car, and it was a very interesting experience. I was at a used-car dealership, and I told the salesman my price range. The salesperson then showed me a group of cars that were in my price range. I then chose the one I liked. The salesperson then talked to his boss and told me that the car I chose was not, in fact, in my price range. We then looked again at the cars that were in my price range. I then chose another one that I liked. The salesperson and I then agreed on a price. We then filled out some paperwork, and the salesperson went to talk to his boss.

He then came back and said that he could sell me the car for about $500 more than the price we just agreed upon. I said, “Um, no, that’s not the price we just agreed upon.” The salesperson then went back to his boss, and when he came back to me, he said he could sell me the car for about $300 more than the price we just agreed up. I said, “Um, no, that’s not the price we just agreed upon.” The salesperson then went back to his boss, and when he came back to me, he said he could sell me the car for the price we just agreed upon, but he’d need me to let people know what a great place this used-car dealership was. I agreed, and I got the car within my price range. I think I wore him down.

Tags: persistence

I recently finished the trigonometry chapter I wrote for an ACT test-prep book and am awaiting feedback on that. Since I’m doing a lot more mathematics writing of late, I decided to make a couple computer-related upgrades. First, I finally upgraded the RAM in my laptop from 256 MB to 512 MB. It’s amazing how much faster it boots up now. Also, I signed up for an account at IBackup. IBackup allows me to back up all of my files over the Internet to one of their servers. In addition, it has a component called IBackup Drive that maps a drive to my account on the IBackup server and allows me to save files within Microsoft Word directly to their server without ever even having to save to my hard drive. Pretty neat! Now I just have to look into upgrading my version of Microsoft Word 97. Maybe next year.

Tags: math, mathematics, IBackup

I’m almost done reading the book Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. The book is about Mortenson and his building of schools in the developing world (mainly Pakistan). Mortenson is similar in many ways to John Wood, who wrote Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, and who builds libraries in the developing world (mainly Nepal). Both were mountain climbers (although Mortenson seems to have been more of a climber than Wood), both ran marathons (although Wood seems to have been more of a runner than Mortenson), and now both are directors of big non-profit organizations. (Mortenson runs the Central Asia Institute, and Wood runs Room to Read.)

However, the similarites seem to end there. Wood was a high-powered executive at Microsoft and had a lot of money before he ventured into the non-profit world, while Mortenson was a part-time nurse and had so little money that he lived out of his automobile and showered at the YMCA. Both have done amazing things, though, and I would highly recommend both books.

Tags: book, books, Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin, Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, John Wood, Room to Read, Central Asia Institute

I recently turned in the second ACT practice test that I wrote to the client, and after it was reviewed, I was immediately asked to sign a contract to write a chapter on trigonometry for an ACT test-prep book, so that’s what I’m doing now. The topics I’m writing about include trigonometric ratios, values of trigonometric functions, properties of trigonometric functions, graphing trigonometric functions, modeling/applications using trigonometric functions, trigonometric identities, and solving trigonometric equations.

Also, I recently ordered the book Spook Country by William Gibson online. William Gibson is one of the pioneers of the cyberpunk genre, and he invented the word cyberspace.

Tags: math, mathematics, book, books, Spook Country, William Gibson