mathematics

Joanne Moldenhauer

Joanne Moldenhauer is a mathematics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Joanne Moldenhauer rather than just read about it. In short: Joanne K. Moldenhauer (née Gatz, March 15, 1928 – February 14, 2016) was an American high school mathematics teacher and two-time winner of the Edyth May Sliffe Award.

Key takeaways

Joanne Moldenhauer belongs to mathematics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Joanne Moldenhauer to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Joanne Moldenhauer from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Joanne K. Moldenhauer (née Gatz, March 15, 1928 – February 14, 2016) was an American high school mathematics teacher and two-time winner of the Edyth May Sliffe Award.

Education Moldenhauer's father served in the United States Army. She was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and attended Benson High School in Omaha. She graduated in 1949 from the Iowa State College, with a degree in physics, hoping to go on to a research career in physics was but blocked from that goal because there were few places for women in physics at the time.

Career After graduating from Iowa State, Moldenhauer became a high school mathematics teacher in Omaha, and two years later became a student again at the University of Minnesota. She completed a master's degree in mathematics at Minnesota in 1952, and started work as an electrical engineer at General Electric. Her job there involved the development of fire-control systems for military aircraft. However, bored with her work, she soon returned to high school teaching. In 1955 she became a high school teacher in Schenectady, New York, where she had been working for General Electric, and in 1956 she moved to Davis Senior High School in Davis, California. After 50 years as a teacher in Davis, Moldenhauer retired in 2006.

Contributions and recognition Moldenhauer won the Edyth May Sliffe Award for Distinguished High School Mathematics Teaching of the Mathematical Association of America twice, in 1990 and 2001. She was also a winner of Stanford University's Frederick Emmons Terman Engineering Award, given annually by the graduating engineering students at Stanford to a distinguished high school teacher. She was a two-time winner of Harvey Mudd College's Distinguished Teaching Award. Unusually for a high school mathematics teacher, Moldenhauer has an Erdős number of 2, from her collaboration with mathematician Sherman K. Stein and mechanical engineer Anthony S. Wexler on "Trigonometry and a Wood Bowl".

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Joanne Moldenhauer

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Joanne Moldenhauer claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In mathematics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Joanne Moldenhauer before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Joanne Moldenhauer ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Joanne Moldenhauer

In research: Joanne Moldenhauer appears in mathematics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Joanne Moldenhauer in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Joanne Moldenhauer is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1928 births, 2016 deaths, 20th-century American mathematicians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Joanne Moldenhauer outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Joanne Moldenhauer in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Joanne Moldenhauer means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Joanne Moldenhauer out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Joanne Moldenhauer in simple terms?

Joanne K. Moldenhauer (née Gatz, March 15, 1928 – February 14, 2016) was an American high school mathematics teacher and two-time winner of the Edyth May Sliffe Award.

Why does Joanne Moldenhauer matter?

Because it connects several mathematics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Joanne Moldenhauer?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Joanne Moldenhauer.