Go back

Math department offers “Fractions 101” in order to appeal to lowest common denominator

BURNABY — SFU’s Mathematics is holding a brand new course this semester on the subject of fraction and although it’s been criticized by some as being too simplistic, the department hopes that it will attract students who wouldn’t normally take math.

“Our department has been struggling to keep up our numbers recently, and stupid math jokes alone aren’t really helping us reach out to average students,” explained Dr. Lorne Smith, who’s been assigned the new class this semester “We’re hoping that teaching fractions can help attract dumb art students who might be intimidated by calculus or linear algebra, especially when we cover ‘the fractions of Two and a Half Men’ during week 5.”

While the course is expected to drastically increase the Mathematics department summer numbers, the English department is receiving some residual benefits as this article’s headline is now required reading for a new 300-level course on ‘bad jokes.’

Was this article helpful?
0
0

Leave a Reply

Block title

The AI gender gap should not be mischaracterized as a skill issue

By: Heidi Kwok, Staff Writer “Raise your hand if you use AI regularly in some capacity.” The atmosphere in the classroom instantly tensed — was this seemingly harmless question actually a trap set out by our professor to weed out the academic non-believers? After what felt like minutes, several hands reluctantly shot up. Alarmingly, most of them were from the students who identified as men. Thankfully, the impromptu questionnaire did not lead to a bunch of failing grades and the lecture went forward as usual.  However, it underscored a more pressing issue with artificial intelligence (AI) use: research shows that men are more likely to adopt generative AI tools such as ChatGPT in professional settings than women. This staggering imbalance contributes to the pre-existent workplace gender...

Read Next

Block title

The AI gender gap should not be mischaracterized as a skill issue

By: Heidi Kwok, Staff Writer “Raise your hand if you use AI regularly in some capacity.” The atmosphere in the classroom instantly tensed — was this seemingly harmless question actually a trap set out by our professor to weed out the academic non-believers? After what felt like minutes, several hands reluctantly shot up. Alarmingly, most of them were from the students who identified as men. Thankfully, the impromptu questionnaire did not lead to a bunch of failing grades and the lecture went forward as usual.  However, it underscored a more pressing issue with artificial intelligence (AI) use: research shows that men are more likely to adopt generative AI tools such as ChatGPT in professional settings than women. This staggering imbalance contributes to the pre-existent workplace gender...

Block title

The AI gender gap should not be mischaracterized as a skill issue

By: Heidi Kwok, Staff Writer “Raise your hand if you use AI regularly in some capacity.” The atmosphere in the classroom instantly tensed — was this seemingly harmless question actually a trap set out by our professor to weed out the academic non-believers? After what felt like minutes, several hands reluctantly shot up. Alarmingly, most of them were from the students who identified as men. Thankfully, the impromptu questionnaire did not lead to a bunch of failing grades and the lecture went forward as usual.  However, it underscored a more pressing issue with artificial intelligence (AI) use: research shows that men are more likely to adopt generative AI tools such as ChatGPT in professional settings than women. This staggering imbalance contributes to the pre-existent workplace gender...