THE TEACHING OF MATHEMATICS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2184, 24 June 1914, Page 8

THE TEACHING OF MATHEMATICS.

§ir, - There havo recently appeared, in , iiip Press from .members of University goverrttiig bodice 'criticisms' of Professor Pick-on as i teacher. J?vcii if tlip.Fß . liad been any foundation for these criticisms, dio.y would not iia.vo- ■ bccii very fteiiereus, for Proiefsftr-Pickpn bas bctn ; appointed to s;!ccecdl)i:, M'fWa.nd, .an ■oteUietft.educatiojjHist, as Head of Ormoiul Collcce, Melbourne University.. ! To those ivho liiKhxstsnd. the importfflco .ami influence in /UisSralia ipf this Pfefc the appointment brings honour tp ,: \ ictofia 0(il!ef»o. and New Zealand University. ' It, is hardly then the occasion ;■ .For these criticisms. , ' | Manv will no), attach undue imporiaoca to. criticisms of a lcadrng Uriiver- , sity reformer coming from thoso Who hold that, the lorm. Theso critics, I tindorstan.d, say ; /mathewateitl teaching at Tictoria C'ol- ; lego lifts suffered duting ©rofessoj' Jpie,kflto'B tenure ef tire chair j that while ho , is a competent mathematician,- ho can- ■ ; not teach. Now, a man usually fails , : tA toscli because liG' is ignorant of his ; sterisot, is ■ cjisctirsfve., : is. iilogißai, or i lacking judgment . and common-sense,, i ho teaches above his students. it. is , Kiinecrssary to state • that Professor . Pickcn has not tho.se faults. The whole. tioubie arises because ta'refiises . to be a _ijtamni«>r; i? discretlible tit tlio positiaji is disfcWqibie to our I'jii- ■ \erstt\ s.vstcni. not to Professor Pickcn, . whoso life .Wo.t,k" li;aS. .'beoft .to improve. mathematical teaching, ■ Your readers might consider vit-l; the criticisms in , question the following ..opi'iiipM' of ittp i; an <!; iikanxiiiq ro#>'?Titiie-second .o.f- his toscli.iw. at Gfaigo#! - "Mr. I). Iy. Piekmi has done well io ~ direct; attention to. the. unsatisfactory : iiaturo of tlio elcnrefifary discussion of ' tlio simplo pondulufa, current in the text-books. What is usually passed off ■as_ a, prftof rs a tJbJMrrfjjhi wicked , poit. a.t;d deserves the serious attention . of the" advocate of rigour,, when iic can ■ spare {imp to look '.elsetvbevd.:, bey.SU.sl a fundaments! axiom nr. a convergem-v text."—Sir George ftrwmlnlk in. the : Mathfima.tieal Gazette. December. 1013. In his capacity as Chanrellor oi Glasi cow T'liiiersity, Lord Kelvin wrote of , : Professor Piekoit ift 1.90": "I have good reason, to know that lie has been very «u(!Pf>ssf.ui ill gfiod practical leaohi'nir of the highest developments of modern mathematics."—l am, etc.. T H. I Am.