I understand that for many people math is boring and that if it weren't a required class many students wouldn't be there.  Inspired by The Cartoon Guide to Statistics by Gonick and Smith, I decided what my courses needed were some cartoons to liven them up a little while illustrating some of the course material.  I am not an artist, but I found one who accepted the challenge of making math cartoons out of my ideas.  If you are interested in contacting the artist, please email me.

The first cartoon illustrates the topic of a statement and its converse, as we ponder whether "If Mary is applying lipstick at 5 pm, then she has a date," also implies "If Mary has a date, then she applies lipstick at 5 pm." 

The second cartoon illustrates a Goodness of Fit test in statistics where the woman expects she will fit into a size 1 dress, but my observation does not equal her expectation. 

The third cartoon contains a lot of complicated (and meaningless) algebra, but I tell the class the algebra we do will not be so complicated. 

If the students come away with a smile, and perhaps a little more understanding of a math topic, then I will be happy.

Faculty Spotlight:

Jerry Tuttle has a Bachelor's degree in math from Queens College and a Master's degree in applied math from the University of Virginia. He is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society and he works as an actuary for an insurance company across from Ground Zero and the World Trade Center in New York City.

In addition to teaching math courses for GCU, Jerry is the webmaster for a non-profit organization that reads the daily newspaper aloud for low-vision people and he writes fictional short stories. Neither his three sons nor his girlfriend have the slightest interest in math.