Bad Math Pun

The Square of the Hippopotamus

The wives of three English country gentlemen all became pregnant at about the same time. Two of these gentlemen provided the traditional cow hide as a bedcovering, while the third gentleman sent off to Africa for a hippopotamus skin to use as a bed covering for his wife. The first two women each had a boy while the third was blessed with twin boys.

Which goes to show that: The sons of the squires of the hides is equal to the squire of the hippopotamus.

Math Student Bill of Rights

From Math Mama Writes

I have the right to:

• Learn at my own pace and not feel stupid if I'm slower than others,
• Ask whatever questions I have,
• Need extra help,
• Ask my teacher for help,
• Say I don't understand,
• Not understand,
• Feel good about myself regardless of my math abilities,
• Not base my self-worth on my math skills,
• View myself as capable of learning math,
• Evaluate my math teachers and how they teach,
• Relax,
• Be treated as a competent adult,
• Dislike math,
• Define success in my own terms.

Adapted from the Math Anxiety Bill of Rights by Sandra Davis, in Resource Manual for Counselors/Math Instructors: Math Anxiety, Math Avoidance, Reentry Mathematics, ed. by Donaday & Auslander (1980).

I put this into my syllabus for all my lower level classes. I also have it on my office wall.I tell students that schools aren't always the best way to learn math, because they can make it pretty hard to learn at your own pace, if the course is paced faster than you need to learn it.