Now that you, lucky reader, have encountered the official blog of the Mat-Su College Math Club, you may be wondering what this thing is all about. What could we possibly be talking about? It's only math, after all. Well, as you'll soon discover, math is about a lot more than finding the value of x.
First, we'll be presenting interesting math problems and their solutions. These might be ones that the Math Club thinks up, or ones that frustrated students pose to us, or problems that we encounter in the course of our own learning. I'm not talking about the mundane, normal problems that you'll be doing on typical homework; I'm referring to that rare and utterly satisfying problem. The sort of mind-stretching, skill-testing problem every good math student and teacher craves.
Second, and related to the first, we'll be posting an occasional proof -- I propose Proof Mondays -- of theorems. I myself am only able, at the moment, to prove theorems up to the college algebra, trigonometry, or basic calculus level, but I am sure that more advanced contributors will fulfill the needs of those with higher minds.
Third, we'll be posting interesting mathematical concepts. No, this is not a repeat of the first: I don't mean something that you necessarily solve, or at least not something that we will be solving, but the kind of, for lack of a better word, cool stuff floating around in the mathematical universe.
Fourth, we'll be talking about the more philosophical aspects of mathematics. What math means to us. What it should mean to you. What went terribly, terribly wrong in secondary school mathematics education. Perhaps we will discuss how awe-inspiring, mind-boggling, and fantastic we find math.
Of course, this blog is first and foremost about the Matanuska-Susitna College Math Club. Here you'll find news about our events: bake sales, Thanksgiving gift baskets, elections, and the like.
I know that many of you who might have stumbled upon this blog out of curiosity are thinking that The Tangent will turn out to be the sort of abysmally boring website that promises "Fun Facts" and is the electronic equivalent of a kid's restaurant table mat. I hope you're wrong; I plan on a very exciting journey. Please stick around, and let's find out together.
Before I go, a note to those of you who might want to post a problem in the comments: you can do it much more easily than you think. Simply place, for an inline equation, "\ (" before your equation and "\ )" after, but without the spaces. The result looks like this: \( \sin \frac{\pi}{2} = 1 \)
If you want the equation in it's own line, replace ( and ) with [ and ]. Example: \[ \ln(2) \]
We do this with the help of MathJax, which displays equations using your choice of LaTeX (to which a handy guide may be found here) or MathML (which I am ashamed to admit I know nothing of).
Now, enjoy The Tangent! I hope you'll like it as much as I will.
