MATH MAGIC Richard Zucker ’74, Math Teacher, Irvine Valley College


M


ath Professor Rich Zucker ’74 has a few tricks up his sleeve when it comes to engaging students. An amateur magician, he performs “The Professor’s


Nightmare”—a trick that transforms three different-length rope segments into equal-length pieces—while teaching stu- dents about the need to find common denominators when adding or subtracting fractions. For a precalculus class, he’ll enliven a lecture on probability theory with a card trick called “Out of this World.” “Magic is a great metaphor for math,” says Zucker, who’s been teaching the subject the past 36 years. “On the surface, there is mystery and intrigue and, maybe, confusion and frustration; but, underneath there is a deeply gratifying ex- planation.”


Another trick used in his Irvine, Calif., classroom is the use of media clips. To promote critical thinking, he might share a scene from the “Wizard of Oz” and challenge his stu- dents to find the mistakes in the Scarecrow’s version of the Pythagorean theorem. Named Teacher of the Year in 1993, 1997 and 2008,


Zucker’s innovative approach has won the admiration—and attention—of his students. If you entertain students, you grasp their attention and focus, he says, which may be the most magical trick of all.


On the surface there is mystery and intrigue and, maybe, confusion and frustration: but, underneath there is a deeply gratifying explanation.


SPRING 2011 Har vey Mudd College 20


JEANINE HILL


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