Reading @LongFormMath's book "Proofs" has been a delightful experience. Not only did I learn a lot about proofs, I also noticed some great pedagogical features that I wish were a part of every math textbook. Here's my list: #mathreads (1/n) 1. Throughout the book, Cummings shows several ways of thinking about the same thing. This is tremendously helpful.
2. Cummings acknowledges when something may be confusing or difficult to understand. This is not only very comforting, it also makes me read more carefully.

I’ve recently read @mpershan's book “Teaching math with examples”. Here’s what I learned, noticed and wondered. Thread. #mathreads 1. Worked examples are completed solutions that we ask students to learn from. They are preferably used in the beginning of the learning cycle.

The book “The unfinished game” by @profkeithdevlin, is a fascinating account of the history of probability theory. Here are a 13 things that I learned: #mathreads #iteachmath

1. Probability theory is often considered to have started with an exchange of letters between Pascal and Fermat in 1654. In the letters they try to solve a tricky gambling problem called “The problem of points”.

2. Before their exchange, many learned people (including leading mathematicians) believed that predicting the likelihood of a future event was simply not possible.

I just finished the book Heavenly mathematics. Here are nine things I learned, and one thing I still wonder: #mathreads
1. The word trigonometry comes from the book “Trigonometria” by Bartholomew Pitiscus in 1600. 2. To describe the position of planets and stars on the celestial sphere, one needs a coordinate system. There are (at least) three different ones, using in turn the celestial equator, the suns trajectory (the ecliptic) or the horizon, as its base. -->

Here are ten things I’ve learned from reading Joseph Mazur’s “Enlightening symbols”: #mathreads #historyofmath
1. Mathematical symbols are relatively recent creations. Many of the symbols we use today took form in the 1400s-1600s. 2. From the beginning mathematics was rhetorical. Even the numbers themselves were often written as words. With time, common mathematical words were abbreviated, by omitting letters, thereby becoming a sort of symbols. For instance, p instead of plus and m instead of minus.