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Beautiful numbers

12 November 2008

Dr Burkard Polster

Monash University lecturer Dr Burkard Polster is passionate about teaching maths, using all kinds of unconventional techniques to inspire that same enthusiasm in his students.

Dr Polster keeps a toilet plunger in his office to demonstrate the location of mathematical planes in space.

The prop sits at the foot of a bookshelf crammed with toys, puzzles, origami animals and juggling balls in the researcher, author and The Age columnist's Clayton office.

Each colourful article on the shelf has made an appearance within a Monash lecture theatre as a powerful learning tool.

A veteran of 20 years teaching complex mathematics at university level, Dr Polster has found the best way to make a point is to make it memorable.

"I use toys, gimmicks, movie clips, anything to put the hook out so that the students will remember what I'm trying to pass on to them," he said. "If they remember the plunger they will remember the maths."

That philosophy has led Dr Polster, a semi-professional juggler, to fill his lectures with magic tricks, juggling acts, clips from Hollywood movies and soap bubble sculptures.

His goal is to pass on his own appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, while offering students the added incentive of being able to impress their friends at parties.

"One of the key things I always try to keep in mind before I go into a lecture is that if I can't deliver at least one point that people will remember pretty much forever, then the lecture was wasted." he said.

"That has got to be true for every lecture that you give.

"Using the gimmicks and tricks is a matter of trying to capture the moment, but this is a pretty way of doing it and when people see it in front of them it's a real "a-ha!" moment and they see the beauty of maths."

Dr Polster has marvelled at maths for as long as he can remember and sees it in every facet of life.

"You can look at anything, and when you strip away the non-essential bits, what is left is some beautiful mathematics," he said.

"Like looking at a diamond in a jewellery store and seeing all the facets and symmetries.

"Or juggling where you have these three balls and you've got to fit them together and it only works this way or that. It's basically the same sort of thing that makes things beautiful in mathematics."

For more information on studying Mathematical Sciences at Monash visit the School of Mathematical Sciences website.