WEBVTT 00:00:02.620 --> 00:00:06.660 Okay, I am not a big fan of shopping, but occasionally 00:00:06.660 --> 00:00:10.599 I'll wander into a store, say a specialty craft 00:00:10.599 --> 00:00:15.199 store, and immediately I will feel totally out 00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:18.320 of place. I mean, I'll look around and have a 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:21.079 difficult time understanding why would someone 00:00:21.079 --> 00:00:24.859 buy most of what they're selling? Now, I'm confident 00:00:24.859 --> 00:00:27.699 there are good reasons. I just do not know what 00:00:27.699 --> 00:00:32.030 they are. I wonder if mathematics can feel that 00:00:32.030 --> 00:00:35.429 way. Of course, one of the most common questions 00:00:35.429 --> 00:00:39.329 people ask about math is, why do I need to learn 00:00:39.329 --> 00:00:44.170 this? And that is a valid question. We have our 00:00:44.170 --> 00:00:48.270 own language, our symbols, definitions, and theorems. 00:00:48.750 --> 00:00:52.850 Even words like rational and irrational mean 00:00:52.850 --> 00:00:55.670 something different in math than they do in everyday 00:00:55.670 --> 00:00:59.170 conversation. And if you've been around math 00:00:59.170 --> 00:01:02.670 long enough, it is easy to forget how strange 00:01:02.670 --> 00:01:07.489 all of this can seem to someone new. Now, Francis 00:01:07.489 --> 00:01:11.950 Hsu uses a word I really like when he talks about 00:01:11.950 --> 00:01:17.469 mathematical community. Hospitality. Now, I've 00:01:17.469 --> 00:01:19.890 usually thought about hospitality as inviting 00:01:19.890 --> 00:01:23.469 someone into my home. But what would it mean 00:01:23.469 --> 00:01:28.200 to practice hospitality in mathematics? I've 00:01:28.200 --> 00:01:30.019 been thinking about that as I've been teaching 00:01:30.019 --> 00:01:33.859 a live actuarial class at Drake. Now, I could 00:01:33.859 --> 00:01:36.700 simply stand in front of the room, work through 00:01:36.700 --> 00:01:39.340 problems, and demonstrate that I know how to 00:01:39.340 --> 00:01:43.239 solve them. But that's really not the goal. The 00:01:43.239 --> 00:01:46.299 goal is to create a space where we can learn 00:01:46.299 --> 00:01:50.239 together. That means someone needs to feel comfortable 00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:55.000 saying, I do not understand. Or could you explain 00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:59.719 that again? Or even, I think you might be wrong, 00:01:59.819 --> 00:02:05.200 and sometimes I am. Parker Palmer describes teaching 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:10.039 as creating a space where a community of truth 00:02:10.039 --> 00:02:14.680 can be practiced. I love the humility in that 00:02:14.680 --> 00:02:18.719 idea. Truth is not something I own and then hand 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:22.539 to someone else. Sometimes I see something you 00:02:22.539 --> 00:02:25.439 do not see, and sometimes you see something I 00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:29.280 do not see. We do need each other. And I think 00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:32.300 that kind of culture is especially important 00:02:32.300 --> 00:02:36.419 when someone is new. A newcomer may not know 00:02:36.419 --> 00:02:41.699 our vocabulary or our customs. They may ask questions 00:02:41.699 --> 00:02:44.360 that seem obvious to us who have been around 00:02:44.360 --> 00:02:47.719 a while. But I've discovered those questions 00:02:47.719 --> 00:02:52.000 can be incredibly valuable. Sometimes a beginner 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:54.659 notices something that the rest of us have stopped 00:02:54.659 --> 00:02:59.139 noticing. hospitality does not mean making math 00:02:59.139 --> 00:03:02.740 easier than it really is, but it means making 00:03:02.740 --> 00:03:07.759 room for another person to enter into it. Perhaps 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:11.360 hospitality begins by remembering what it is 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:15.340 like to be new and then pulling out another chair.