Welcome.html

Jim Loats, Ph.D. Professor of Mathematical Sciences

Metropolitan State College of Denver, Denver Colorado

My Office Hours are being held as scheduled unless I announce otherwise HERE on this webpage. I urge you to check this spot before you come in, just in case I have had to make some last minute changes to my schedule.

Office Hours: Tuesday & Thursday 12:15 - 1:45pm and 4:00 - 5:00 pm

Office Hours By Appointment: Tuesday & Thursday 9:00 - 10:30 am

Other Office Hours: Other times can be available. Email me to set up a time.

My Office is Science Building Room 1056.

Phone: 303-556-3109Fax: 303-556-5381 Email Address: loatsj@mscd.edu
Mail Address: Campus Box 38, P.O. Box 173362, Denver CO 80217-3362
Education: B. A. Oklahoma State Univ., M. S. Ohio Univ., and Ph.D. in Logic & Set Theory, Univ. of Colorado Boulder
Areas of Interest: Mathematics

SPRING 2012

Click here for MTH 2620 Integrated Mathematics II materials.

Click here for MTH 3100 Introduction to Proofs materials.

Click here for MTH 4640 History of Mathematics materials.

SPRING HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS BOOK INFO - ACT SOON TO SAVE MONEY.

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I'd like to introduce you to the books I have co-authored:

Algebra Unplugged is a fun, easy to read, non-text for beginning algebra. It is a lively introduction to the concepts of algebra for readers who like to laugh while they learn. It has lots of stories that explain the basic ideas well but without any of those annoying exercises. A great gift ... after you finish reading it yourself. If you are a teacher, experiment with recommending sections of the book to your students. While many of us (especially math teachers) learned math by listening to our teachers and doing problems in the textbook, often some of us learn best by reading well crafted and interesting explanations. This book has those explanations! That was our main reason for writing it the way we did.

Calculus For Cats provides a vivid introduction/review of the topics in beginning calculus using silly stories and analogies involving cats, mice and other animals. Its style is similar to Algebra Unplugged - both supply all the words that are missing from most math textbooks. Some readers who had already taken calculus, reported gaining insight about what it was all about! Enjoy.

Some other items that are available:

On October 9, 2009 at the Fall 2009 CCTM conference I gave a talk on "What is real number?" The link is to the power point for that talk. And here is a rough draft of my spoken parts in that talk.

This page of Principles of Mathematical Thinking is one of the best descriptions of my goals for math students of all ages.

Here is the set of QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS TO USE from NCTM that has been very helpful to me in learning to teach a student-centered classroom.

Here is a collection of materials that I have assembled for teachers of mathematics.

Here is a link to a slide show on the Babylonian Tablets like Plimpton 322.

The best way to reach me is by using the email address: loatsj@mscd.edu
If you get no response, my email system may be down. In that case, feel free to use jim.loats@gmail.com.

Thanks, Dr. Jim

Ready for a break?

Sit back and listen for 5 minutes: Stand By Me.

Astronomy Picture of the Day is always worth a glance: APOD

Each day the "Daily Dose of Imagery" posts a cool photograph from Toronto. I love the geometric feel of many of his shots.

A little bit of DixieLand Jazz and Cows....Great TUBA !

The cartoon XKCD is often very funny. And this link... is just too fun: http://vihart.com/doodling/

Here are some fun mathematical limericks.