Math Book

All Exonians have faced the problems, both baffling and enlightening, enclosed within the mathematics problem set books that are unique to Exeter. The change from traditional textbooks to the problem sets occurred in the early 1990s when the faculty decided that teaching mathematics around the Harkness table with textbooks was less than ideal.“After discussion in the mathematics department about our curriculum, it was decided that a group would meet over the summer to think about a syllabus,” math instructor Thomas Seidenberg said. “During the fall of the next school year, the department, after much discussion, voted to go ahead with the project, beginning during the winter term.”Although laced together by the entire department, there were three key writers involved with the making of the first Exeter math problem set. Late mathematics instructor Richard Parris, Seidenberg and math instructor Szczesny Kaminski wrote many of the problems seen in the Math 2 and Math 3 problem sets.“Mr. Parris felt that traditional texts got the order wrong: they give formulas and then lot of exercises with the formulas. Historically it was the other way round. Problems arose which were solved piecemeal. Then they were generalized and the formulas were the last aspect to be developed,” mathematics instructor Philip Mallinson said. “So we start with lots of numerical examples and then generalize.”Topics such as vectors, 3D geometry, and transformational geometry were not usually included at depth in high school mathematics, according to Seidenberg. The department created the problem sets to encompass a variety of ideas that were not included in traditional textbooks. “We identified some tenets that we believed important to learning mathematics - techniques of problem solving, reading and translating English to mathematics, drawing diagrams, measurement, and conceptual understanding,” Seidenberg said.When the project was first underway, Kaminski, Parris, and Seidenberg volunteered to write the problems and teach a section of Math 210. “Then, during spring term, we continued with 220 while a new set of teachers taught 210 with the new materials, making comments and edits,” Seidenberg said. “This process continued through Math 340.”It didn’t take long for more writers to join in and contribute to the Math 4 and Math 1 problem sets. “Subsequently, the entire department has been involved in one way or another,” Seidenberg said.The process of revising the problem sets continues to this day, with an editorial committee that takes suggestions from members of the department and makes appropriate changes to the material.Mallinson and Seidenberg explained how the problem sets are conducive to a Harkness-style math class. “Each problem set deals with several different strands, not just eight examples of the same type of problem,” Mallinson said.“Textbooks give lots away, leaving little to actually discuss,” Seidenberg said.