Hi all,

Next year I’ll be teaching honors geometry to an incredibly advanced group of 8th graders. These are students who will be taking multivariable calculus by the end of high school with the intention of going to Ivy League schools. The class has typically run using the Art of Problem Solving (AOPS) Intro to Geometry textbook which if you’re familiar, isn’t really intended to be a book that you “teach” from. Their books are meant to be self lead by the student, but there is more of any expectation I will be teaching the course. Does anyone who teaches honors geometry to this level of high achieving student haven’t suggestions for me or idea for structuring the class next year? I would also love suggestion for resources or links if you have some things you’ve created of your own.

Thank you!

Rambo

I'm currently taking a course in linear algebra and rational mechanics, and I want to visualize what I'm learning, because that makes me understand things much better. I tried a few different programs, with not a lot of success. The first one I thought of was Geogebra, but it's a little too basic for what I'm doing, so I tried mathematica, which was great for a while, until I created a complex scene in 3D and it started crashing. I asked an LLM for suggestions and it told me I should try pyvista, which is a python library for 3D visualization. Honestly, there are so many options that I just want to know if somebody has figured this out already.

What I'm looking for is a quick, script-based visualization tool for 3D geometry, with an interactive scene that I can modify real-time via code or commands. The problem with mathematica, for example, is that you can't really interact with a scene (except for the very limited manipulate[] command): every time you modify something in the code, you have to re-run the scene. It's not really designed for my use-case. The same goes for pyvista, really, as well as matlab (although I haven't dug into these a lot).

I'm sure that for those of you that work in the field, you often need to visualize stuff quickly, play with numbers, do a visual rundown of what you're doing. Sometimes pen and paper is just not enough. So: what do you guys use?

DOJ filed an Interim Final Rule on Friday (April 17) extending the 2024 Title II web accessibility compliance deadlines by one year:

• ≥50,000 population entities: April 24, 2026 → April 26, 2027
• Smaller entities + special districts: April 26, 2027 → April 26, 2028

Publishes in the Federal Register tomorrow.

I've been seeing a lot of confused reactions to this from non-lawyer folks at institutions — "does this mean we can stop?" — and I think it's worth being clear about what actually changed and what didn't.

What moved: the specific 2024 DOJ technical rule requiring WCAG 2.1 AA by a specific date.

What didn't move: the underlying ADA from 1990. Public entities still have a legal duty to provide equal access to their programs and services. A student denied access to a course or service because of a disability can still sue today — they don't need the 2024 rule to do it.

DOJ even acknowledged this in the preamble: they said they couldn't just decline to enforce the rule because the ADA has a private right of action. Individuals can sue regardless of what DOJ does.

DOJ cited technology gaps as a core justification. The preamble references correspondence from an unnamed member of Congress noting that current tools, including generative AI, cannot reliably automate remediation of STEM materials at scale, and that human oversight remains required. DOJ warned a rushed implementation could produce errors that hinder the dissemination of STEM research.

Disclosure: I run a small tool focused specifically on handwritten STEM accessibility (rosettaSTEM), so this rule is directly relevant to my work. I wrote a longer breakdown on what the delay actually means for institutions — happy to share the link if anyone wants it (will drop in a comment to stay within sub norms).

Does anyone know who the congress person was who entered in the STEM remediation challenges? I'd very much like to contact them. It is not public yet so far as i can find?

Hi, I wrote to chatgpt to make a summary, because it would take a lot of pages to write everthing down.

Hi everyone, I’d really appreciate some perspective from people with more experience in mathematics teaching or research.

I’m a math student, and my friends and I are trying to understand a very unusual situation involving one of our colleagues (let’s call him “M”) and a teaching assistant (let’s call her “D”). We’re not trying to judge — we’re genuinely confused and curious whether this is a known pattern in mathematics education or something more unusual.

Background and timeline

At the beginning of our studies, we had an “elementary mathematics” type course (basically high school review), where D was the teaching assistant.

From the very first sessions:

• M stood out immediately as extremely fast and active
• He would solve problems mentally, often skipping steps
• He was by far the most active student

At one point, D approached him after class (he initially thought he was being accused of making noise), but she actually told him he had been very active.

After that:

• In courses where D was involved (as assistant), M was consistently one of the best students — often the best
• In courses where she was not involved (linear algebra, analysis early on, analytic geometry), M struggled significantly — sometimes being among the weakest students

Later:

• When D returned in other courses (number theory, linear algebra 2, analysis again), M again became one of the strongest students
• In one case, his improvement was described by an assistant as “unreal”

His abilities

M has some very strong and unusual abilities:

1. Extreme speed on certain problems

In some exams (especially when aligned with D’s style):

• He solves computational or conceptual problems almost instantly (seconds)
• He reads a problem and immediately writes the final solution
• For example, limits, series, or standard constructions — he often finishes in under a minute

2. Proof recognition

Even more unusual:

• When he sees a proof-based problem that resembles something D once showed, he can reproduce the proof almost immediately
• He sometimes recalls very specific past exercises (even exact session and problem numbers), and the structure matches exactly

3. Pattern-based thinking

He doesn’t rely on many separate techniques.

Instead:

• He reduces topics to a few core strategies
• Builds “algorithms” like:
  • “for functional series: do these 3–4 steps”
  • “for limits: reduce to known exponential/polynomial forms”

These strategies:

• work extremely well on real exams
• often match exam problems very closely

He even created written notes and YouTube-style explanations so others can use them.

Teaching ability

• He explains concepts extremely clearly
• Many students rely on him more than on assistants
• He can simplify complex topics into a few key ideas that actually work

Weaknesses and inconsistencies

• He often skips formal steps in proofs
• Relies heavily on intuition
• Performance varies a lot depending on the instructor
• Sometimes fails or struggles badly in courses not aligned with his style
• Occasionally leaves parts of exams blank

The most unusual part: his relationship to D’s teaching

M strongly attributes everything to D.

He often says things like:

• “I’m just following D”
• “This is how D would do it”

More strikingly:

• While solving problems, he says he can visualize D standing in front of a board explaining the solution
• He describes it almost like replaying a lecture in his mind
• He claims that when he reads a problem, the solution “appears” as something D has already shown

Example:

• He reads a problem → instantly says the result
• When asked why → he says “D did this exact type before”
• Sometimes we later verify, and he is correct

Behavior on exams

• When solving tasks aligned with D’s teaching, he is extremely fast and accurate
• He sometimes finishes problems in seconds that take others 20–30 minutes
• He focuses only on a few key methods and ignores others

However:

• He admits he sometimes skips logical steps
• Says he is “willing to risk it” if he thinks the grader is not strict
• Believes some professors “just want students to pass”

Specific example of speed and method

For example, given something like:

• limits involving (x^n) → he immediately converts to exponential form
• functional series → immediately applies asymptotic/logarithmic reasoning + supremum + standard tests
• proofs → recalls structure from earlier exposure and reproduces it

All of this happens extremely fast, often with no visible “thinking time”.

Additional detail

• He has created full “exam systems” (step-by-step strategies) that allow other students to pass efficiently
• These systems actually work — students improve significantly using them
• Assistants are aware and sometimes joke about him being “clever” or “knowing the system”

Our confusion

We don’t understand:

• how someone can be this fast and precise in some contexts, but struggle heavily in others
• how much of this is true understanding vs pattern recall
• whether the “visualization of D” is just internalized learning or something unusual

Questions

1. Is this kind of extreme pattern compression and exam optimization something you’ve seen before?
2. How common is it for a student to be extremely fast and accurate on familiar structures, but weak elsewhere?
3. Is “mentally replaying an instructor” a known learning phenomenon?
4. Would you interpret this as high potential but lack of rigor/discipline?
5. Does this kind of student usually improve into a strong mathematician, or plateau?

We are genuinely curious and a bit confused. Any insights from professors, TAs, or experienced students would mean a lot.

Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone. Here are some facts about me (and are important to the question at hand):

I:
- am in my mid twenties
- am single (and have no kids)
- work in finance (9-5, almost never work past five)
- have (fortunately) no debt

Currently, I hold BS/MS degrees in Economics from a non-target. I am planning on, but have not decided yet to go back to school (hence why I am here) for a BS/MS in Applied Mathematics and Statistics. This school is a non-target, but is a solid and, more importantly for me, very affordable choice for these degrees in the city I am located in. I could just get the BS, but the MS (specifically in theoretical statistics) have 5 classes that I think would benefit the BS, and if I am spending a couple years on the BS, what is another 2/3? As of now, I do not plan on pursing a PhD.

I have checked and confirmed that the school I plan on applying to will accept up to 90 credits from my previous BS degree. So, I will only have to take a minimum of (roughly) 30 credits to complete the BS and another ~15-18 credits for the MS. My main goal here, though, is not to get the degree to progress in my current job; these degrees + my own directed effort would allow me to really take my time and understand foundational mathematical/statistical theories and underpinnings... I think today so many people (including myself) use AI and have just no idea if the outputs are true (at-least for technical questions) unless I ask another agent to verify the outputs which just extends the ignorance, but I digress.

Although I can't name a specific job title I would like to work as in the future, right now I love exploring new concepts in mathematics (mainly combinatorics and provability of axioms/theorems) - two separate domains but I like both of them. I see what AxiomMath.ai and Harmonic.fun are doing and what to get in, but simply do not have the theoretic chops to compete.

There is one large caveat. I will be doing this part-time. I would rather not quit my job, and most of the classes - especially early ones like multivariable calc, lin. alg., prob. theory, etc. - are given at night after work; all the MS classes start around 5:30pm the earliest, so timing will be, if anything, a mild concern. If I take 2 classes per semester, 4 per year at 3 credits per class, this would be roughly 12 credits per year... if everything goes smoothly (it never does, but can't I dream for a moment), a conservative estimate would be 4 1/2 - 5 (a little extra time for Computer Science electives) for the BS/MS. I would be in my 30's by then.

The biggest thing for me is that I do not want to, not necessarily 'waste' the time I have right now, but I do not want to get into my 30's, get married, have kids, buy a house - the lot... and be like, "Ah shoot, I should have pursued what I liked when I had the time."

So, given you like mathematics and statistics and you see a future with these specific degrees and you are me (lol) - what would you do? Please push back and what concerns you would watch out for!

Sorry for this long message! Be well.

TL:DR

Hi,

My son is currently in 9th grade in HS. We plan to do an "Algebra 2" or "Algebra 2 Honors" or equivalent over the summer under dual-enrollment in a college, so that we can go directly to Calculus AB in 10th grade, do Calculus BC in 11th grade, and do a college-level multivariate calculus class in his senior year in HS.

Challenge/Difficulty is not a problem because he has been doing outside classes (Russian Math) that exceed Algebra 2 and crushing them. (He's taking "Trigonometry" and "Precalculus" at Russian Math). If he were to take an Algebra 2 exam right now, I'm sure he would crush it.

The thing is the college (Saddleback/Irvine Valley) doesn't exactly offer a class that's explicitly labelled "Algebra 2 equivalent". Instead there are these two classes, MATH 2 and MATH 8:

MATH 2 - PRE-CALCULUS MATHEMATICS

Clearance from the current placement process or completion of Trigonometry or equivalent course with a "C" grade or better

TRANSFERABILITY***:*** CSU and UC

Topics include polynomial, absolute value, radical, rational, exponential, logarithmic, and trigonometric functions and their graphs; analytic geometry, polar coordinates.

MATH 8 - COLLEGE ALGEBRA FOR BRIEF CALCULUS

Clearance from the current placement process or completion of Intermediate Algebra or equivalent course with a "C" grade or better.

TRANSFERABILITY***:*** CSU and UC

College-level course in algebra that also provides sufficient preparation for success in a brief calculus course.  Covers polynomial, rational, radical, exponential, absolute value, and logarithmic functions; systems of equations and inequalities; theory of polynomial equations.

Which of the above two classes in your opinion is a better "Algebra 2" equivalent in your opinion? My son's Russian Math teacher thinks he should take "Math 2" and says it is actually harder than "Math 8" but more suited for my son's level/challenge, I think because it includes Trigonometry that my son is already doing. I wanted to double-check with you guys on what you think.

UPDATE: So the school tells me that it's "tricky/messy" to use Math 2 or Math 8 as an equivalent for Algebra 2 because they're... ahem... not equivalent. (As some of you have pointed out.) So I'll be looking for some accredited online high school thingie instead with an actual "Algebra 2 Honors" he can take. Thank you for your help.

A quick word: I'm not trying to accelerate my kid for no good reason. (That "Irvine" post made me laugh.) He's smart, and he has a ton of free time which he spends reading manga online. He's truly insufficiently challenged in school. We take Russian Math class outside of school so he already knows a lot of material. And it seems like there's so much redundancy in the high school pathway (like supposedly a big chunk of "precalc" is revising Algebra 2. And I just found out from a few of you that Calculus BC and Calculus AB overlap too.)

Even if we don't end up doing college-level multivariate calculus in his senior year at HS, he could do other classes to expand his mind. It could be non-math. I just don't see the point in him doing what amounts to revision for an entire year. Some of you did Algebra 2 in 9th grade. His school wants him to do "Algebra 2 Honors" in 10th grade... I think he can totally skip that since he did all of that stuff in Russian Math and more.

Hi Everyone!

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so i’ve been cyber/homeschooled my entire life and im going back to school next year for 9th grade. im honestly really scared because ive been looking at problems that 9th graders do and they are NOT the type of stuff ive been doing in 8th grade or honesty any grade before that. i dont know why the curriculum of my cyber school is so much easier but im honestly really scared because i dont know how to do half the stuff i think im going to have to do next year for 9th grade algebra

the school im going to has algebra ia and algebra ib, i dont know what the difference is (im going to a charter school)

so what should i do?? im planning to try and catch up over the summer so does anyone have a list of everything ill need to already know for 9th grade algebra and maybe some videos that can teach me those things

I'm a current junior in high school, finishing up AP precalculus and going to attempt calculus next year. I've been a good student, A's in all my classes, a high SAT score for both math and English, and plenty of rigorous classes. Math- up until precalculus- has been difficult, but understandable for me.

This year, especially getting into trigonometry and the much more complicated topics, none of the information I've received has been able to be retained. I'm talking, information is almost impossible to absorb during the lesson, and what I do absorb doesn't stay around for more than a day or two. It's been both incredibly challenging and demoralizing because I'll study for hours at a time and forget every single step the next day. Even when I'm at a point where it feels like I could know a concept, I don't feel confident, and I have to relearn it later that week.

I'm not sure how I'm supposed to approach it differently, and I wondered if anyone has dealt with similar issues or known anyone who has. Math is the only topic where this is a problem, and it's only the less physical concepts, such as polar graphs, trigonometry, the unit circle, etc. I'm incredibly stressed about the AP exam coming up, and feel as if every method I try doesn't work.

I'd appreciate any advice you guys have- thank you so much!

hello all,

I live abroad and here it's very expensive to send kids for extra coaching, money is tight for us and I also have a newborn, so m unable to give focus on my 5 year old studies and school hardly teaches anything,

can somebody pls suggest an academy from India which can provide virtual classes and is reasonably priced?

pls i dont wanna do khan academy etc sites , I want a real tutor and a proper syllabus where my daughter can learn properly,

so far, she only can write 1 to 100 and missing numbers, that's it ,nothing more, I am very worries for her studies.

any help will be highly appreciated!

Wanted to set the record straight since most people seem (perhaps blissfully) unaware.

Over the last month or so, I've seen dozens of similar math videos pop up in my feed, usually containing an incomplete math statement in the thumbnail on a dark background, plus a catchy title. These are posted across many different channels.

The videos overall are very "clickable", which is why I was all the more disappointed that these appear to be basically ~100% automatically generated. The script has typical AI-isms, the voice is AI, and based on the rate of upload on these channels (one video a day!), the visuals are likely automated too by letting Claude Code or similar agents write Manim Python scripts, synced to the voice timestamps. At least the music is real, but that's because they ripped it from 3B1B.

Some people have picked up on this on the comments, and I've been part of some threads, but they get swiftly deleted by the uploader sadly. What remains is comments from the blissfully unaware.

Now, the question is of course, is this a problem? If these explain math concepts in an engaging way, does it matter how they are made?

This is for everyone to decide for themselves, but personally, I am bothered by it and won't watch these videos. They drown out the actually human-made stuff, and the videos themselves lack any sort of human touch and therefore original or creative explanations. Since it seems like this is just being done to farm views, watching these videos feels like I'm being attention-mined by some datacenter GPU. And, since these channels are being deceitful instead of disclosing their AI usage, I have no interest in supporting them.

Derivia YT channel uploads

I am teaching a graduate methods course for new math teachers. Does anybody have great math books that math teachers should read? I love "Teach Like a Pirate". I am looking for a few others.

Hi, I need to take the Aleks math placement test soon for college, and I need to pass with a 46 or higher. I need help with knowing what to study. This will be my third time taking it, and I really need resources on what might be expected on the test pr helpful study tips.

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Hi everyone, I used to be one of the top math and physics students in my high school and I also ranked highly in my country’s university entrance exam, which allowed me to get into one of the top engineering schools. However, after starting university, I feel like I’ve lost my abilities and turned into an average student. My grades are usually around average, and I’m especially struggling with calculus. Topics that once felt intuitive now seem much harder, and I can’t solve problems as effectively as before. I’m planning to spend my summer seriously studying and rebuilding my skills, and I’m looking for calculus books that are not too basic but more challenging and thought-provoking. If you can recommend intermediate to advanced level calculus books or share any advice on how to improve, I would really appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

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