Fractal

A fractal is a mathematical object that contains an infinite number of copies of itself. No matter how far you zoom in, you can find a copy of the whole object. This particular fractal is a section of the Mandelbrot set.

Welcome

Welcome to Mater MathWorks, the professional website of Alexa Mater. I provide tutoring and enrichment services in the eastern suburbs of Cleveland in all levels of mathematics, from elementary school through college.

In many people's minds, math is associated with humiliation: being graded and tested on rules, symbols, and procedures. Perhaps you've been told that you "just don't have a head for math" or you're not a "math person". People who know of professional mathematicians and are aware of the work they do may assume that these people must be a little abnormal—or possibly downright crazy.

This is a shame. Mathematicians aren't doing a "harder" version of the math you learn in school. "Doing mathematics" is a three-step process, and every one of these three steps is accessible to any person who wants to engage in this process:

  1. Experiment with data
  2. Find patterns in that data
  3. Prove that the patterns really explain what's going on

The normal mathematics curriculum does not expose students to any of this process, and simply presents math as a completed, finished thing. Rather than "doing mathematics", students are taught to use mathematical algorithms to solve canned problems: a process which is boring, unenlightening, and often useless.

There is nothing magical about the three-step process of doing mathematics. It is what the human mind naturally does when confronted with any sort of complex problem. My goal is to make the pleasures of mathematics accessible to as large an audience as possible.

Alice laughed: "There's no use trying," she said; "one can't believe impossible things."
"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
   —Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

To most outsiders, modern mathematics is unknown territory. Its borders are protected by dense thickets of technical terms; its landscapes are a mass of indecipherable equations and incomprehensible concepts. Few realize that the world of modern mathematics is rich with vivid images and provocative ideas.
   —Ivars Peterson, The Mathematical Tourist