Education: Math Made Interesting

Perhaps the happiest of Stanford's new captives is Yale's Edward G. Begle, 46, a math professor and father of seven who once spent his days hammering topology into graduate students and his nights wrestling with juvenile homework. The nights were worse than the days. When Daughter Sally bogged down in percentages, Papa Begle blew up. Sally's math book explained percentages three ways without touching on the common principle. "It was dull, terrible, uninteresting," growls Begle. "It was so revolting that I had to do something."

What sad-eyed Professor Begle (pronounced beagle) did was to become the foremost disseminator of math reforms in...

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