Applications of Algebra and Geometry to the Work of Teaching

Designed for precollege teachers by a collaborative of teachers, educators, and mathematicians, Applications of Algebra and Geometry to the Work of Teaching is based on a course offered in the Summer School Teacher Program at the Park City Mathematics Institute. But this book isn't a ``course'' in the traditional sense. It consists of a carefully sequenced collection of problem sets designed to develop several interconnected mathematical themes, and one of the goals of the problem sets is for readers to uncover these themes for themselves. The specific theme developed in Applications of Algebra and Geometry to the Work of Teaching is the use of complex numbers-especially the arithmetic of Gaussian and Eisenstein integers-to investigate some questions that are at the intersection of algebra and geometry, like the classification of Pythagorean triples and the number of representations of an integer as the sum of two squares. Applications of Algebra and Geometry to the Work of Teaching is a volume of the book series IAS/PCMI-The Teacher Program Series published by the American Mathematical Society. Each volume in that series covers the content of one Summer School Teacher Program year and is independent of the rest.