Math Class Then and Now

Bikini Calculus

  • Maintaining Classroom Discipline (1947): Mr. Grimes is the math teacher from hell: watch him berate his students and their small rebellions. Happily, the wise fatherly narrator suggests a better teaching mode and Mr. Grimes magically transforms.
  • Inertia (2004): This math teacher may be more nightmarish than Mr. Grimes but his students’ challenge (and magically transform!) him through dance.
  • Cheating (1952) John gets his friend Mary to help him cheat to pass an algebra test. Soon he’s a cheating addict and poor Mary is his accomplice.
  • Bikini Calculus (2004) This bikini-clad woman won’t help you cheat, but she might help you learn some calculus. In this short teaser for the How-to-Do Girls’ commercial videos, the teacher claims, This isn’t mindless misogynistic fun! Hmmm…
  • If you’re serious about learning math, check out the Archive’s Advanced Placement Calculus courses (levels AB & BC), or video lectures from MIT’s popular course on Differential Equations, or any of the college-level math video lectures from MSRI (Mathematical Sciences Research Institute).

Inertia

— Renata