Questions from Math 49A

On the first day of class, I asked my precalculus class to ask me questions, anonymously. Here are their questions and my answers.

1. Why are you so awesome? Its all in the hair.

2. Were you born with hair naturally like that? No, I have really curly hair. I have to twist my hair almost daily, to keep the dreads from coming undone at my scalp.

3. Have you ever met a really huge celebrity? Not really. I saw Leonardo DiCaprio about 10 years ago (before Titanic) at a diner in LA.

4. What is your ethnicity? My mother is Ghanaian, and my father is white, but I was born, and lived for 12 years, in Nigeria.

5. Where to you live? Mountain View.

6. Do you have a big family? I have two sisters and about 50 cousins (mostly from my mom's side).

7. Does your girlfriend still have the cat? We have had Geordi for about one and a half years now.

8. Ever been married or thought about marriage? I got engaged in November.

9. Whats the answer to # 1a and 1b on the Quiz? You wish I would tell you.

10. Are you left or right handed? Im right handed (were you not looking at the board today, when I was writing?)

11. Will you be teaching math 49B next quarter? I doubt it, but I dont know my schedule yet.

12. What was your major? Mathematics.

13. Do you have any pets? See question 7.

14. What is your favorite food? Red-Red (fried plantain in a palm oil based, bean sauce - it's a Ghanaian dish).

15. Have you ever read "Lolita"? I cant say that I have. Is it good?

16. Would you rather drive a Ferrari F-60 or a Saleen S7? I have NO IDEA what a Saleen S7 is, so I guess I will have to go with the Ferrari.

17. What turned you on to math? My father was a math professor, and I was always really good at it, and I didn't like majoring in engineering, so I switched to what I was good at.

18. What kind of car to do you drive? A Volkswagen Golf.

19. What is cardinal zero? I would say it is emptiness. An empty set has cardinal zero, although I will admit I'm not up to snuff in my set theory, so I could be wrong.

20. Whats your girlfriend's number? You can find her work number by going to her website (which is linked to mine). I'm sure she would be glad to talk to you about sociolinguistics.

21. Why are you teaching this class? Because it was assigned to me.

22. How old are you? Im 29 (I'll be 30 in June).

23. What do you like about math? What is there not to like? Almost anything in the world we live in can be explained using mathematics, and I think that is an amazing thing.

24. What was your favorite toy as a kid? I had a lot of matchbox cars growing up, but didn't have a favorite.

25. Do you have any comments about higher-level math? This question is so broad; I would not know where to begin. All I will say is, there are many branches of higher-level math.

26. How are you? Im fine, thank you very much.

27. Do you own a bicycle? I do, but I never ride it. When I lived closer to campus, I would ride it to work everyday.

28. Is it fun being a math teacher? I wouldn't do it, if I didnt like it. Most days, it's a lot of fun.

29. How long do you intend to grow out your hair? The last time I had dreadlocks, I grew them out for 4 years. I've had these for almost 2 years, so I dont really know. If I start to go bald, I will cut them off.

30. Do you ever use the overhead? I've never liked using the overhead. It doesn't provide the space I like to work with when I teach. When I was at M.S.U., I taught a class with 120 people, and used 2 overheads, but I did not like it at all.

31. Do you take martial arts? No.

32. How tall are you? It depends on what shoes I'm wearing. Without shoes, I'm just under 5'8".

33. Have you ever lectured without a clipboard? I have never lectured with a clipboard. I usually have a notepad, but never a clipboard.

34. Do you watch anime? No. I don't have time to watch much of anything.

35. Do you like Japanese food? I don't mind it. I'm not a food expert, so I don't mind most foods (as long as there is no meat - I'm a vegetarian).

36. Do you enjoy answering questions? That's the best part of teaching; answering questions. At the beginning of every class meeting, the first thing I say is are there any questions?

37. What is your sport of choice? I'm the leading goal-scorer on a soccer team I play for (some people on my team call me MVP), so I'm going to go with soccer. I also was a very good sprinter when I was younger.

38. What is your dream car? I want to be like Sal, so, something that can run on bio-diesel.

39. Do you like to snowboard? I've never been snowboarding, so I can't say if I like it.

40. What is your middle name? I have two: Kodwo and Robert.


Other questions that students have asked me over the past few months...

How long have you been a vegetarian? I've been a vegetarian since June 1, 1999. I became a vegetarian because of a bet, and am still one 6 1/2 years later.

How old are your sisters? My older sister, Affie, is 40, and lives in Ghana with her 4 kids. My younger sister, Emily, is 24 and lives with her husband in Baltimore.

When are you going to get married? Probably in Summer 2007, but we have not nailed down a date yet.

Did you like living in Michigan? At the time, I have to say, I didn't. The winters really bothered me. When I think of Michigan now, though, I have very fond memories. I really think every American should live in the Midwest at some point in their lives. It really is like living in another country (for people who've lived only in the Bay Area), in both good and bad ways.

What is the flag on your door? It's the Ghana flag, where my mother is from. I would put up a Nigerian flag (where I was born), but it's kind of a boring looking flag.