PART 1: – In a high-tech era, Americans aren't keeping pace in math. PART 2: Controversial math programs: Questions about the approval process • The roller-coaster effect: In math education, who decides what works best? • How a new math program rose to the top • Flaws in the evaluation process • US school, Japanese methods • How Japanese students learn math • Department of Ed's top 10 math programs • Calculators in class: freedom from scratch paper or 'crutch'? PART 3, MAY 30 – What some schools are doing to boost performance SPECIAL FEATURES How US students stack up in Math compared with the rest of the world Solve math problems Readers respond TUESDAY, MAY 16, 2000 Hungry to try some math? LISA HANEY You and some friends decide to order a large cheese pizza. The delivery guy arrives in 30 minutes or less, but tells you the pizza parlor forgot to slice the pie. No problem, you say, wielding a new cutter. Your challenge: Divide the pizza into eight pieces for your friends - eagerly waiting to feast - by making only three cuts. Click here for the answer LISA HANEY An encyclopedia salesman calls at a home. The woman who answers the door says she'll buy something from him if he can give the ages of her three children. The first clue, she says, is that the three ages multiplied together equal 36. He responds that he needs more information, so she says that the three ages add up to the number of the bus that passed by. He thinks for a while and says he needs one more clue. So she says, my youngest child has red hair, and then he is able to answer and make his sale. What are the ages of the three children? (HINT: The salesman needed all three clues to get an answer.) Click here for the answer

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