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Leaders is not the right word. Rulers, perhaps?

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And I just hit 70 two days ago.

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That's definitely beyond my lifetime. Hmm, I guess you're a young whippersnapper compared to me. (I think I'm 30 years older than you. Shocking.)

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Sue VanHattum @suevanh.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I always hated that the textbooks gave that mnemonic. There is no reason for it, and students try to memorize then, instead of understand.

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A comma would have helped a bit. Knowing the Mem Fox book probably would have helped. I can imagine a math(s) sheep. But what is a play sheep? Or is play a verb here? (Yep, the word play was confusing here.) Sorry if my confusion was disappointing to you. Did Australians all get it right away?

Sue VanHattum @suevanh.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

My absolute favorite part of writing this was reading David Butler's story, Maths Sheep Play Sheep, late last night. I was cackling... (@davidkbutler.bsky.social)

Sue VanHattum @suevanh.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Oh, I'm sure I've shaken my butt at them many times for just that reason.

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Sue VanHattum @suevanh.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

#iteachmath Tomorrow is Math Storytelling Day. What's your story?

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Reposted by Sue VanHattum

Sue VanHattum @suevanh.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Calling all math lovers. Playful Math Carnival 186 needs you. The theme is Math Stories. Got one? (Stories, comics, articles about stories, links to story videos all welcome, whether yours or one you love.) Got a link? Please send it today.

naturalmath.com

Math Storytelling Day Toolkit – Natural Math

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Sue VanHattum @suevanh.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

This will appear on Friday, September 25, National Math Storytelling Day.(naturalmath.com/math-storyte...) 9-25 is also headed towards being 9-to-5 day in honer of Dolly Parton. She sure loved spreading the joy of stories, and I can certainly imagine her delight at the idea of math stories.

naturalmath.com

Math Storytelling Day Toolkit – Natural Math

Sue VanHattum @suevanh.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

naturalmath.com

Math Storytelling Day Toolkit – Natural Math

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Sue VanHattum @suevanh.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

#iteachmath I made a little thing in desmos, to play with while thinking about slopes of curves. I'm trying to make a little thing in desmos for each chapter of Althea and the Mysteries of Calculus. Do you like it? www.desmos.com/calculator/m...

desmos.com

ch6 slopes of a curve

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Sue VanHattum @suevanh.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Please identify these Black artists.

Sue VanHattum @suevanh.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

This gave me shivers. The post didn't identify these singers. Who are they?

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Sue VanHattum @suevanh.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

He apparently spoke today, about how he helped get funding for something at U of Kentucky.

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Sue VanHattum @suevanh.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Nah, I was playing it at 18, I'm pretty sure. And I signed up for Medicare over 3 years ago.

Sue VanHattum @suevanh.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Thank you for sharing that. I am horrified, though not terribly surprised. I'm sorry that happened to him.

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Sue VanHattum @suevanh.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Want more? I made a few more, but they're kind of silly. Nowhere near as cool as this one.

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Sue VanHattum @suevanh.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

This is part of Althea and the Mysteries of Calculus. Her friend, Aiden, started to drive his tiny imaginary car after her Mom mentioned the headlights & taillights image. I finally made it in Desmos last night.

Sue VanHattum @suevanh.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

#iteachmath How do we define a tangent to a curve? It's hard, actually. My favorite image is a tiny (perhaps infinitesimal) car on a curvy road. It's headlights and taillights are the tangent line. I made a simple little animation in Desmos: www.desmos.com/calculator/i...

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Sue VanHattum @suevanh.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

As a student, I would not have wanted to get an official disability accommodation, but my handwriting SUCKS. In classes where I'd want to do good notes, I would want (now at 69) to type them.

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Sue VanHattum @suevanh.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

I'm curious what she got wrong. (I was a community college teacher. I retired because of covid - I didn't want to be in a room with 40 students, nor did I want to teach online after 3 years of it.)

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Sue VanHattum @suevanh.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Do you mean Barbara Kingsolver's Unsheltered? Or something else?

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Ban trading stocks, definitely. They don't need to be paid much better. $174K (plus travel and food allowances) is at the 80th percentile (80% of people in the U.S. make less).

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That doesn't do much. Currently at 654K per rep. Wyoming pop = 600K.

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No one needs $1 million a year. They could get the same travel and food allowances the others get and then be at $250K. Pres should be at $300K. No one needs more than that to live on. Even that seems excessive to me.

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Sue VanHattum @suevanh.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

I think that's too many to function well as a group where all have equal voice. Perhaps 15 or 21, at 5 or 7 years each, 3 elected each year.

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facebook seems to be down from here (using a browser). Others seeing that too?

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I'm writing something up myself. It's just a bit shocking that we never put those two things (limit and derivative defns) together.

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This is for an online bonus chapter for Althea and the Mysteries of Calculus. (When I explain the definition of limit in my calculus courses, I always use a lovely exercise I call the Cookie Crispness Index. I am *shocked* to see that I haven't written that up before.)

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I found nothing online. Perhaps I need to look in a real analysis textbook. (I wonder if I have one gathering dust somewhere?) I'd love to compare what I'm writing up to what other people have written.

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Sue VanHattum @suevanh.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Have you ever seen a definition of derivative that also deals with the epsilon-delta definition of limit? When you try to talk about them together, you need to rename a few things. The f(x) in the limit defn is not the same thing as the f(x) in the derivative defn (for one example). #Iteachmath

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I suppose this piece is a way to divide the 'left'.

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Sue VanHattum @suevanh.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

I can't read this, but I want to thank you for Math Girls. It has inspired me to write my own math fiction books. I am still revising. (sites.google.com/view/altheas...)

sites.google.com

Althea's Math Mysteries

Book 1: Althea asks her mom if there's a square root of -1. Mom tells her about some crazy history, and they play with imaginary and complex numbers.

Sue VanHattum @suevanh.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Let me know if you'd like to read these books to give me feedback. (Sadly, the AI bots are here in droves. I'll have to figure out if you're a real person who really likes reading math stuff.) Email me at altheasmathmysteries@gmail.com sites.google.com/view/altheas...

sites.google.com

Althea's Math Mysteries

Book 1: Althea asks her mom if there's a square root of -1. Mom tells her about some crazy history, and they play with imaginary and complex numbers.

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Sue VanHattum @suevanh.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

I left it at that for well over a year. Today I picked up Tristan Needham's Visual Complex Analysis (again) and re-read his proof. It makes so much sense! I made an activity for readers. I might have to re-write 3 chapters. That's ok. 2/3

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Sue VanHattum @suevanh.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

#iTeachMath ♾️ I'm writing a series of young adult novels / math books, Althea's Math Mysteries. There was an error in a proof in Althea and the Mystery of the Imaginary Numbers. I couldn't see how to fix it. So her mom mentions Andrew Wiles and the flaw that took him an extra year. 1/3

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Reposted by Sue VanHattum

Gabe Ortíz @tusk81.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Hoffman “was first arrested and charged in 2022 for repeated instances of sexual abuse with a 10-year-old boy, a first-degree felony, and was facing life without parole.” Corrupt Ken Paxton is endangering children.

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Reposted by Sue VanHattum

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 28/05/2026

i feel like this is probably the best time in recent american history to be a criminal because the justice department doesn’t give a shit, it’s too busy going through the president’s burn book www.cnn.com/2026/05/27/p...

cnn.com

Exclusive: Justice Department launches a criminal investigation into Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll | CNN Politics

The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, the former magazine columnist who accused President Donald Trump of sexual assault, according to multiple sources fam...

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Sue VanHattum @suevanh.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

...their own units. 'Mom' then tells them that's what radians are. Their 'definition' for the units might not be perfectly smooth. But they sure get what radians do, even though it's a weird kind of unit. (I need early readers. Math folks, email me if interested.)