Assignment Details: Personification is the attribution of human qualities of traits to a non-human entity.  This is a naturally occurring human behavior that is used to express emotional relationships with inanimate entities.  For example, it is common for fisherman to give their ships human names and attribute personalities and moods to them.  Similar behavior can be found in young children who commonly name toys and attribute personalities to these toys.  For example, my cousin has a toy truck named Charlie.  Charlie used to be a lot of fun to hang out with, but I think their friendship isnt as strong as it used to be. Theyve been slowly growing apart over the last year.

The following assignment is designed to help you explore your own relationship and personal history of mathematics through personification.  Be sure to put a good amount of thought into your mathematics character.  Being honest and thoughtful with this assignment will be more useful for you with regards to this class and your future in mathematics.  a. Write about who Math is (about 500 words).  This paragraph should address things such as:  How long have you known each other?  What does Math look like?  What does Math act like?  How has your relationship with Math changed over time?  These questions are intended to help you get started.  They should not constrain what you choose to write about. b. Now that you have created a Math-character, write a script for a dialogue that you might have with Math (about 500 words).  Here are some examples of questions you might want to think about.  As before, these questions are intended to help you get started and should not constrain what you choose to put in the dialogue:  Are there things you want to tell Math that you have not said before?  Are there things that you think math wants to tell you?  How did you and Math get along in a recent mathematics course that you took?  Was the relationship during recent courses different from the relationship you had years ago?  How do you suppose that Math turned out the way they did?  Do you think Math can ever change?  Do you want Math to change?  What kind of relationship would you like to have with Math? c. Using one 8.5×11 sheet of paper (please do not use paper with lines), illustrate your Math-Character.  Include as much detail as possible.