Our recent editorial on the problem of high school math being taught by unqualified teachers (http://machinedesign.com/article/why-johnny-cant-do-algebra-0925) continues to get a lot of comments. Some of them, remarkably, are from teachers who see nothing wrong with algebra classes taught by a gym teacher having no training in math. ...

''Let the material do the talking'' is one of the ideas behind GINA, BMW's concept sports car. Instead of a metal body, it has one made from stretchable material. Thus, designers don't have to worry about, say, smooth continuity between the wheel wells and the body -- the material naturally takes care of a flow. Also, the car's ...

Computer graphic mavens are probably quite familiar with Benoit Mandelbrot. The French mathematician is best known as the father of fractal geometry. In computer graphics, fractals are the method of choice for rendering realistic looking mountains, coastlines, and other natural phenomena. But another part of Mandelbrot’s work has ...

If women aren't going into technology and science career fields, it is not because they lack math apptitude. New research finds no difference between the average math scores of boys and girls in the grades 2 through 11. You can find a link to the study here, along with some interesting commentary on it at the Chronicle of Higher ...

Here's a news flash: People who take higher level math courses tend to make more money than those who do not, regardless of what they majored in. As reported in the blogs of the Chronicle of Higher Education, In raw terms, the two scholars found the usual salary disparities: Nursing and social-work majors earn $48,900 per year, on average, while ...

Readers of my editorials may recall one piece wherein I mentioned the story of a 1980s presidential candidate who reportedly had to ask his press entourage how to calculate the decimal equivalent of 3/7, to help his son with a home work problem. With that tale in mind, perhaps the recommendations of a presidential panel on math education should ...

A few other things gleaned from SolidWorks 2008: -- One conference theme was that of teaching kids engineering through robotics. Robotic contests mentioned included ROBOCON, FIRST, and ROBO Cup. Kids can use 3D ContentCentral, a free service on the SolidWorks Web site for locating, configuring, downloading, and requesting 3D parts and assemblies, ...