UriGeva

Hello, my name is Uri Geva and my base camp is located on the San Francisco Peninsula.

My Interests

I am interested in too many subjects but first I need to lay out some basic concepts...

• Logic -- the Art of Reasoning
• Mathematics -- the Art of Studying Patterns and Relationships Using Logic
• Science -- the Art of Figuring Out and Studying the Facts Using Logic and Mathematics

My definitions are concise, necessary and sufficient. I cannot think of an example of something that should be covered by a definition but is not and, conversely, of something that is covered but shouldn’t.

For example, consider the definition of math. Pattern does not necessarily means either repeatable or predictable. For example, Prime numbers and random numbers (both are in number theory), Penrose Tiles (in geometry) are neither repeatable nor predictable patterns. And there is no doubt that we perceive these as patterns. We find patterns in even true random numbers and chaos theory.

Another advantage of these simple definitions is that they avoid the kind of squabbling that mars such articles as the mathematics one.

These keep me out of mischief

• Logic
  • Paradoxes are fun. Some demonstrate the shortcomings of human intuition.

• Math
  • Math education - I am most interested in making math compelling and interesting to all students and anyone else who does not list math among his or her top 5 interests. I find that it is possible to make the math learning and, therefore, the teaching more effective and efficient. To this end, I like to tinker with various tools and technology, mostly low-tech. High-tech is inaccessible (too expensive or requires too much time to learn and maintain it) to most teachers, classrooms and schools. Some of the material I have developed is available at MathVentures.
• Science -- The art of figuring things out, using mathematics. (Another concise definition I made up.
  • Science education
  • Computer Science (CS)
    • Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
    • Computer Security
• Technology -- high and low technologies and tools
  • Design Thinking -- The most common view of design and designers is based on the artifacts that designers produce, from automotive design to web design. For example, the section of the Wikipedia design article that refers to design as a process states [as of Nov. 20, 2005]:

"Design as a process can take many forms depending on the object being designed and the individual or individuals participating." [I added the underline.]

That's not the design I am interested in. Design thinking is how designers think and work, it is the process of designing. In October 2005 Stanford University announced the formation of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford, (a.k.a. d.School), which will be devoted to design thinking, multidisciplinary teaching and learning, radical collaboration, culture of innovation. That's the design I have in mind.

• Visual Arts
  • Photography
  • Motion Pictures (film & video)
• Puzzles, Games and toys -- Although, these can reasonably be placed under technology, I think they deserve to be in a special class. For all categories, from logic and math to science and technology all the way to art and psychology are essential to creating a well-designed puzzle, game or toy.

Contributions

• Original articles
  • Subtraction without borrowing
• Edited Articles
  • Subtraction (added a link to Subtraction without borrowing
  • Israel Tal also in the Hebrew Wikipedia
  • World War I

/My Sandbox

• My Sandbox / Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford

External Links

• My Math Blog
  • My mirror Math Blog
• Ten Ninety (my main web site)
• Stanford Institute of Design (d.School)