Mathematical Mirror -- Earn some extra credit points.

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The World Needs a Mathematician Like Me!

This Discussion Post is for EXTRA CREDIT! You will research one mathematician who is your mathematical mirror. That is, someone who is in someway a reflection of you ethnicity, gender, experience, culture, language, etc.

Note: Not all mathematicians are old white guys!

Here are a few resources to help you research your mathematician. However, you can find lots of other information using the internet.

• Timeline of Mathematics (Links to an external site.) - Mathigon
• Spreadsheet of Not Just White Dude Mathematicians (Links to an external site.) - Crowdsourced from Current Educators and Mathematicians
• Living Proof: Stories of Resilience (Links to an external site.) - American Mathematical Society
• Mathematical Profile Cards (Links to an external site.)- Amplify Math

In the discussion, you need to

• Explain the contribution of your mathematician and little bit about their life. [5 pts]
• Why you chose this person (how is he/she your mirror) [3 pts]
• Once complete, you MUST comment on one other students mathematician who you found inspiring in some way. [2 pts]

You should write in complete sentences. You must have 5 or more sentences. You can include a photo of your mathematician.

You can earn 10 extra credit points (to be entered into your quiz category). If you go above and beyond, you may get more points.

Here is my example:

The mathematician I have chose is Maryam Mirzakhani. She is my reflection because: we are both women in STEM and have battled cancer.

Maryam was the first female mathematician to win the Fields Medal in mathematics. The Fields Medal is regarded as one of the highest honors a mathematician can receive. It has been called the mathematicians Nobel Prize (you cannot win the Nobel Prize in mathematics!)

Maryam was born in Tehran, Iran in 1977. She actually wanted to become a writer when she was young. Ultimately, she got hooked on math in high school. She earned a B.S. degree from Sharif University of Technology and completed her Ph.D. at Harvard University. At the end of her career, she was a professor at Stanford University. The Medal was awarded for her contributions in the field of geometry. She studied surfaces such as spheres and doughnuts! Her work has applications in physics and quantum field theory. Maryam died in 2017 at the age of 40.

Maryam called herself a "slow" mathematician. I hope this inspires students to realize you do not have to be fast at solving problems, but, more importantly, have a deep understanding of the mathematics.

Here is a brief window into Maryam (< 3 minute video): Maryam Mirzakhani: A Tenacious Explorer of Abstract Surfaces (Links to an external site.)