Mathematics at St. Mary
Recently I have had a chance to learn one part of an American college’s math curriculum. Every year, St. Mary students plan to transfer to our sister schools in the U.S. After two years of study at our school, most transfer students can graduate from the foreign university in two years and get a B.A degree. At an American college/university, mathematics is a mandatory course and part of their core curriculum. At St. Mary College, we are lucky to have Mr. James Herron who studied mathematics as part of his pre-medicine program at Yale University, and who also studied education at the University of St. Thomas. He is super intelligent, smart, and handsome, but most importantly, he is very kind. Not only science, physics, and mathematics, he also teaches conversation, culture, speech, and other courses. I need to inform students who are planning to study overseas what the courses will be like after transferring abroad. In particular, I have really had no idea what a mathematics course is like in an American university. All our Japanese students studied mathematics in junior high school and high school, but for me, it was a long, long time ago. There was one example question about “set theory” in my mathematics studies. The question was as follows: There were 150 students at a school. 64 students took the STEP test and 90 students took the TOEFL test, while 30 students didn’t take either test. In this case, how many students took both the STEP test and the TOEFL test, and how many students took either the STEP test or the TOEFL test?Thinking logically, we can find out how many students took both tests as follows: (64 + 90 = 154) – (150 – 30) = 34 students must have taken both examinations. This is only a simple example, but we can also use set theory to analyze this type of problem. After understanding the symbols of a set: ∪ ⊃ ⊂ ⊇ ∩ ⊆ ∋ ∈ Ø, we can find those who took either the STEP test or the TOEFL test by using the formula for cardinality of the union of sets A (STEP takers) and B (TOEFL takers):
n(A ∪ B) = n(A) + n(B) – (A ∩ B)
= 64 + 90 – 34
= 120 students took either examination
Visualizing this problem using Venn diagrams can greatly help while finding the solutions:
Not only for studying abroad, but all the students can appreciate the challenge of this kind of math problem. Many times, before studying or learning something, we feel it is so difficult or even impossible. But, I believe someone said that studying math is like learning to swim or ride a bicycle. At first, we feel we will never succeed, and the sense of failure becomes overwhelming. However, if we can persevere and continue to learn, we can achieve our goals. So, we must continue to challenge ourselves and not believe that it is impossible. Try something that we might have felt to be difficult and it can be overcome.
James Herron's Profile
James Herron received a B.A. in Neurobiology and Neuroscience at Yale University and completed his M.A. in Teaching at the University of St. Thomas. He previously taught the Sciences in Hawaii public and private schools, where the majority of his students were EFL and ESL. In addition to teaching the Sciences, Speech, TOEFL, and American Studies at St. Mary College, he also teaches an English skills course at 愛知商業高等学校. James strives to ensure the classroom is a respectful community of learning and a comfortable place for all to participate in sharing their questions and personal opinions. In his free time, James is delighted to explore Japan and Japanese culture and is currently studying hard to improve his Japanese skills. He also continues to enjoy exercise and fitness in Japan by playing baseball and learning kendo.
