I think math is important.
Because it's very difficult
to walk out the door without running into mathematical ideas.
It really does permeate our lives.
and knowing something about mathematics, is, I think a requirement
to be and educated citizen. My name is
Bernard Gillette.
and I teach at the University of
Colorado at Boulder. My focus on campus
is teaching undergraduate mathematics
courses
in addition I'm also an author and I've
written for climbing guide books to the
climbing opportunities surrounding Rocky
Mountain National Park
I'm also a co-author of a whole suite of calculus books
for the calculus textbook market. I realize
after
many years of teaching that my teaching
impact lives. I'm not sure that I expect
my students to walk out as
mathematicians.
The funny thing is I tell my students when
they ask, "why are we learning this?"
I tell them you're not likely to use it
in your lives. It's the ideas
and it's the problem-solving process that
is most important in a lot of these math classes.
One of the things I find special about CU
is that it's nestled in the mountains and
affords such an
immediate opportunity for outdoor
recreation
which is always been a part of my life. I
love that I can teach in the morning,
and leave class for a noontime lunch that includes climbing
and I come back to my afternoon class is
inspired to get in there with a lot of energy.
I'm not sure that there's a deep level connection,
but it is certainly true that both
mathematics and climbing
involve problem-solving. Mathematicians
are faced with
mathematical problems. Climbing is the
same way:
you take a piece a rock and you start at
the bottom you try to get to the top
there's a successful feeling in solving a
problem that
a particular rock face puts in front of you.
I'd like to be remembered by my students as someone who inspired them to
become
a lifelong learner. And also, I hope that
they saw in me
someone who strives to get a good
balance between work
and the rest of life.
