On Venn diagrams

Author(s): Timothy Chambers

Source: The Mathematics Teacher, Vol. 97, No. 1 (JANUARY 2004), p. 3
Published by: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20871484
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Misinterpretations can Students easily discover the following Correction

sometimes be a good thing embarrassing corollary: things that we can On page 175 of "Variations on a View Tube"
measure and deal with are not real: in the March 2003 issue of the Mathematics
"Misinterpretations Can Sometimes Be a
Good Thing," on pages 446-49 of the Septem (MnD)nR = 0. Teacher, the second formula in the left col
ber 2002 issue of the Mathematics Teacher, umn should have read as follows:
reminded me of a question that a student But to echo Alice, matters quickly get
"curiouser and curiouser." We next add the
once posed. I was teaching from an algebra
and trigonometry textbook that contained an plausible premise, "All things we can mea
exercise that asked students to find the height sure are things we can deal with (M q D)." The published article has (y + x) in the
of a diver jumping off a cliff. After assigning The resulting premise-quartet entails a numerator.?Ed.
the exercise many times to dozens of classes striking conclusion: nothing is real (R = 0).
with no problem, I was surprised one year Timothy Chambers
when a student asked, "Why would the Department of Philosophy Easy squares and
diver's height change?* Brown University their neighbors
Gene Zirkel Providence, Rl 02912 The approach that I describe below could be
genezirk@optonline. net called a supplement to "Reader Reflections:
Westlslip, LI NY 11795-2502 Mental arithmetic?finding squares," by
Bonsangue and Gannon respond: Tbuch?! Another view of the Owen Byer, on pages 406 and 432 of the
September 2002 issue of the Mathematics
view-tube problem Teacher. In it, Byer said that his method
We are three seniors taking discrete mathe
On Venn diagrams would be most appropriate for an advanced
matics at Green Farms Academy. Our
Since Venn diagrams are a mainstay of math first-year algebra class. This method is for all
teacher, Mr. Dietrich, liked the problem
ematics education, I thought that readers the other students who might need to compute
found in the article "Variations on a View
might welcome an amusing exercise. The a square quickly. It is simple and can be used
Tube," by Jane Reiser, on pages 170-76 of
inspiration is a passage from Ralph Estling's the March 2003 issue of the Mathematics by any student in an algebra or prealgebra
article "It's a Good Thing Cows Can't Fly in class. Most of its operations are addition or
Teacher. We solved the problem theoretically subtraction.
Mobile" (Skeptical Inquirer, November
but then decided to find the area of the shape
December 2002): lb use this method effectively, we need to
on the wall. We discovered this shape to be
be able to compute squares of numbers that
Positiviste such as [Stephen] Hawking tell an ellipse, whose area, like that of all el
end in 5 easily and quickly?fortunately,
us that reality cannot be dealt with... lipses, is nab, where a is half the height that
such a procedure exists:
[and that] we can only deal with what we we just found and b is k(r/l) sec x.
can measure in some way.... This seems
Our excitement led us to take this problem
sensible... until we watch as our physicists 1. If we write a number ending in 5 in the
to another dimension, specifically, to find the form 10 + 5, we obtain
slowly slide down the slippery slopes...
volume of the solid determined by the lines of
[and] tell us that only the measurable is
sight to this ellipse. This solid is a pyramid, (lOn + 5)2 = (10n)2 + 2(10nX5) + (5)2
real. (p. 58)
whose volume is (1/3) A ^ ? height; hence, = 100 2 + 100 + 25
Estling's leeriness is wise, especially once V = ai2)7tabk. = n(/i + 1)100 + 25;
we subject the "positivist's" premises to Venn This article acted as a springboard for
analysis. To wit, we can draw a typical dia that is,
what became a very enjoyable and challeng
gram bearing three sets: real things (r), ing set of problems. 652 = (6X7)100+ 25
things we can measure (AO, and things we can David Koch = 4225,
deal with (d). Next, we shade the diagram Jonathan Rotner 352 = (3X4)100 + 25
according to Estling's trio of "positivist"
Drew Camp = 1225
premises:
chd@gfacademy.org 552 = 3025,
"Real things aren't things we can deal with Green Farms Academy
(rod = 0)." 852 = 7225
Green Farms, CT 06838-0998
"Only things we can measure are things Individual members can find "Variations on a 2. Find the difference between consecutive
we can deal with (d q AO." View Tube" online in the March 2003 issue of
squares and squares that are two digits
"Only things we can measure are real the Mathematics Teacher on the NCTM Web
apart:
things (??JIO." site, www.nctm.org.-Ed. (Continued on page 32)

Vol. 97, No. 1 ? January 2004 3

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