I usually prompt my students with the question “Is your trig sense tingling?” whenever I want them to anticipate the use of some important trigonometric identity. Unfortunately, this morning I tripped up and asked only “Is your trig tingling?”
Almost immediately, a smart-alec from the back of the room answered “No… I put ointment on it already.”
This afternoon I bribed one of my students with a single extra credit point to fetch me a bag of cotton candy from the on-campus circus during my afternoon lecture.
On one hand, this raises several uncomfortable ethical questions regarding the abuse of power.
On the other hand, the cotton candy was yummy, and I didn’t have to wait in line for it.
This evening, a student sent me an email with the following riddle:
Q: What does a Math/Comp-sci valentine look like?
A: “Solve9x-7i > 3(3x-3u)fori.”
Get it? Because the answer is [ i<3u ].
