From: John Dybala <jdybala@holly.ColoState.EDU>
Newsgroups: alt.humor.best-of-usenet
Subject: [alt.society.generation-x] Re: The New Math
Date: 21 Oct 1997 19:20:40 GMT

Subject: Re: The New Math
From: aross@efn.org (Andrew Ross)
Newsgroups: alt.society.generation-x

In <623r79$ie7@knot.queensu.ca> 3mpa@qlink.queensu.ca (Marco Anglesio) writes:

>: "Feminist algebra"?
>:
>: Could you explain this, Marco, please, before my brain's silly-center
>: explodes?  Thank you.

>There's no silly-center in it. Mathematics are largely taught by men for
>men. Additionally, there is a certain "here is the equation, I'll prove
>it, and you can't damn well argue about it" attitude to mathematics
>pedagogy, which culturally suits men more than women (who, in general, are
>more suited to negotiation [1]).

Um...huh?

Does this mean that in a feminist algebra class, you say the square root
of 144 is 12, and I say it's 15, and we negotiate our way to 13.5? Isn't
that what's happening in the University in Doonesbury? Or do I just not
get it?