Math lenses, or the tinkerer's way to mathematics

I enjoy mathematics in much the way I enjoy lenses and other simple optical knick-knacks. I like looking at them, looking through them, and combining them. Homeschooling and Linux are other delights. I like things I can tinker with.

Unfortunately, mathematics is one of the most school-bound of subjects. Weighty, overcommitted teaching institutions lead to weighty, overcommitted curricula. The content and sequencing of mathematics is entrenched. In school mathematics, is sad to see how little change is considered to be revolutionary.

Homeschooling affords one opportunity to free oneself and one's children from these constraints. Adult learning free of school affords another. A distant third, perhaps, are terminal math courses of the sort often taught to liberal arts students.

But if one is going to learn mathematics by other paths than those dictated by the schools, where are those other paths and how can one use them?

That is the purpose of this blog.