Dave Peterson

(Doctor Peterson) A former software engineer with degrees in math, I found my experience as a Math Doctor starting in 1998 so stimulating that in 2004 I took a new job teaching math at a community college in order to help the same sorts of people face to face. I have three adult children, and live near Rochester, N.Y. I am the author and instigator of anything on the site that is not attributed to someone else.

Two Sinusoidal Models

(A new question of the week) Two recent questions involved using trigonometric functions to model real-life (or nearly so) situations, one about breathing, the other about a Ferris wheel. Both can be done by writing a sinusoidal function; the second can be done in other interesting ways as well.

Two Worlds of Relations

Terminology and definitions in mathematics sometimes vary according to context. Here we’ll look at the ideas of relations, functions, and their domains, and discover that they look different from different perspectives.

Trig Identities: Where’d That Come From?

(A new question of the week) Proving a trigonometric identity can be a challenge; sometimes even when we read someone else’s proof, we can fail to see how they came up with a seemingly magical step. We’ll look at two such identities here, and consider how to bridge a gap when we are stuck.

Cartesian Product of Sets

(A new question of the week) I had a long discussion recently about the Cartesian product of sets, answering questions like, “How is it Cartesian?” and “How is it a product?” I like discussions about the relationships between different concepts, and people who ask these little-but-big questions. We’ll be looking at about a quarter of …

Cartesian Product of Sets Read More »

Why Does a² + b² = c² in a Hyperbola?

(A new question of the week) In an ellipse, \(\frac{x^2}{a^2}+\frac{y^2}{b^2}=1\) with focal distance c, parameters a, b, and c all make natural sense, and it is easy enough to see why \(a^2 = b^2 + c^2\). But in the hyperbola, \(\frac{x^2}{a^2}-\frac{y^2}{b^2}=1\), the equivalent relationship, \(a^2 + b^2 = c^2\), is not nearly as natural, nor …

Why Does a² + b² = c² in a Hyperbola? Read More »

What is a Set … Really?

Sometimes the more basic an idea is, the harder it is to define it. It is also very hard to understand a definition in English when you are not a native speaker! We have had some interesting discussions of such issues recently with a student who asks very basic and yet very challenging questions of …

What is a Set … Really? Read More »