mathematics

Sol Garfunkel

Sol Garfunkel 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 Sol Garfunkel rather than just read about it. In short: Solomon "Sol" Garfunkel born 1943, in Brooklyn, New York, is an American mathematician who has dedicated his career to mathematics education. Since 1980, he has served as the executive director of the award-winning non-profit organization "Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications", working with teachers, students, and business people to create learning environments where mathematics is used to investigate and…

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Solomon "Sol" Garfunkel born 1943, in Brooklyn, New York, is an American mathematician who has dedicated his career to mathematics education. Since 1980, he has served as the executive director of the award-winning non-profit organization "Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications", working with teachers, students, and business people to create learning environments where mathematics is used to investigate and model real issues in our world. Garfunkel is best known for hosting the 1987 PBS series titled "For All Practical Purposes: An Introduction to Contemporary Mathematics", followed by the 1991 series, "Algebra: In Simplest Terms", both often used in classrooms.

Early life At the age of 24, Garfunkel received his PhD in Mathematical Logic from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. While in attendance he worked with Howard Jerome Keisler, Michael D. Morley, and Stephen Kleene. Garfunkel then worked at Cornell University and the University of Connecticut at Storrs. Garfunkel continued his work advocating for the improvement of mathematics in public school systems. He coauthored the article "How to Fix Our Math Education" with David Mumford, emeritus professor of mathematics at Brown University. Since published, this article has been credited with successfully bringing new awareness to the topic. The article has become a topic for a vast number of blogs, and has been translated into several languages. Garfunkel has served as project director for several National Science Foundation curriculum projects, and in 2009 was awarded the Glenn Gilbert National Leadership Award from the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics. Most recently, Garfunkel co-founded the International Mathematical Modeling Challenge.

References

External links https://web.archive.org/web/20060902004846/http://itech.fgcu.edu/faculty/fmaa/1998program/plenary.html https://web.archive.org/web/20191204001016/http://www.comap.com/product/?idx=746 Archive of original site that sells For All Practical Purposes hosted by Sol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBeBHy72wek&list=PL9n195Q8MdMgGACoKTurcoXhB7xh7rbss COMAP Video Library: For All Practical Purposes: Introduction to Contemporary Mathematics http://www.learner.org/resources/series66.html Algebra Video Course hosted by Sol

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sol Garfunkel

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sol Garfunkel 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 Sol Garfunkel 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 Sol Garfunkel 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 Sol Garfunkel

In research: Sol Garfunkel 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 Sol Garfunkel 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: Sol Garfunkel is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1943 births, 20th-century American mathematicians, 21st-century American mathematicians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sol Garfunkel 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.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Sol Garfunkel in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Sol Garfunkel 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 Sol Garfunkel out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sol Garfunkel in simple terms?

Why does Sol Garfunkel 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 Sol Garfunkel?

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 Sol Garfunkel.