Why this Japanese chalk is being hoarded by mathematicians

Windex does a good job, as do Magic Erasers. Black is usually not a problem, but red marker tends to stain if left up for more than a few weeks. Covering it with black marker and then erasing that usually works. But cheapo whiteboards can be more of a headache than the nice ones. (I work for a whiteboard company so I have to deal with lots of client complaints)

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Overhead projector!!!

Sorry.

Masochist!

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powerpoint!

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I used one extensively this semester; colleagues made fun of the fact that I even knew where the slide blanks were. (I like to have definitions and statements up on the screen sometimes while I work at the board, and I was teaching in a room which did have an overhead but didn’t have any other AV equipment. Just using the overhead was easier than lugging a projector to class every day.)

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Mathematicians do math, and also teach math. If you view a blackboard as a tool for proving a theorem, a overhead doesn’t have the same flexibility. And if you use use one of those enormous multi pane blackboards for teaching, the projector can’t show two enormously complex diagrams, or proofs, or charts simultaneously.

I completely agree with this, and for doing math without the teaching I have the board in my office (which is not in danger of being removed as long as I am alive). When teaching it saves me time if I can have things to reference (formulas, theorem statements, statements of problems to be worked) printed up in advance and displayed somehow. Most of the actual work still needs to be done on the board.

Having multiple boards, so that prior work is still available and the flow of the argument is visible, is an enormous help both for me as a teacher and for my students, though people from fields where lectures are based on single boards or screens and powerpoint often don’t appreciate this, and the trend in classrooms is to eliminate them.

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What are the ingredients of Hagoromo Fulltouch Chalk or the successor Uma Jirushi DC Chalk Deluxe (DCチョークDX) imported by JetPens (US) ?

Does the chalk formula contain more casein and less calcium carbonate (calcite) CaCO3 or gypsum CaSO4·2H2O than other chalk brands?

Is the casein content what makes it “feel buttery”?

Should the proprietary ingredients be disclosed to the public, since chalk dust is widely and non-voluntarily inhaled; and does it present an allergy or respiratory health risk?

Chalk enters the sinus and respiratory system just as certainly as lines of cocaine are nasally inhaled :mask:

Chalkboard chalk is not as pure as some may think. It can contain various metals and compounds such as copper, titanium, sodium oxide, potassium oxide, fluorine, arsenic, strontium, silica, alumina, iron, phosphorus, sulfur, manganese, oils, pigments, etc.

The Uma Jerushi company says that their DC and CC chalk is mostly calcium carbonate.
"チョーク炭酸カルシウム製 "

Don’t get me started on dry erase markers.

Eraser for the really unruly, chalk to attract attention from the distracted, in my class anyway.
With unerring accuracy, although I was never the target for the eraser!

A friend had a teacher who kept a realistic-looking foam house brick near his desk, and threw it at at least one unruly student.

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