no website

Male

new york

10025

$100/hour (see personal statement for further details) 

Up to 10 miles

No

BS in Math from MIT (1973)
PhD in Math from NYU (1987)
Certified in financial risk management, PRMIA and GARP

Qualifications

Postdoctoral study in mathematical biology
professional in quantitative finance
adjunct prof. in quantitative finance at NJIT, Polytechnic U.
adjunct prof. in computer science

Comments

Although my qualifications are most applicable to more advanced students, I love children, and I am blessed with unusual patience.

References

available on request, especially from my two sons, August and Penn

Personal Statement

Many math students suffer from the same problem that I did when I studied French --- deep down, I suspected that the French teachers had made up this silly subject so that they could have jobs! Unfortunately, math teachers can unwittingly confirm this suspicion, since they often have only vague ideas of how math is actually used. In contrast, I’ve had the privilege of applying advanced math to a wide variety of real world situations, including solar physics, telecommunications, evolutionary optimization, and, most recently, finance.

As a tutor/teacher, I’ve been fascinated with the roadblocks that people place in front of them when they attempt to learn. Small children tend not to have them, and so they are able to learn at an amazing rate. Older people tend to have them more around math because of the mental effort required. Many students rebel against its lack of emotional richness, the fact that there is (apparently) only one right answer. Most of all, many students are just plain scared of feeling stupid!

This is where I can help most. Because I have all of these degrees and because I’ve known Nobel prize winners (and even worked for one, once), I know from practical experience that a.) smart people can do truly dumb things and b.) Nobel laureates differ from the rest of us only in the relentlessness with which they use what intelligence they have. That part about the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz getting a brain as soon as he got his diploma is really true. I’ve been through it, and I can help you get there, too.

I live on the upper West Side of Manhattan. I am willing to travel anywhere, and any trip under 30 minutes is free. For longer trips, I will bill at my hourly rate for the time taken to get from my apartment to the tutoring site. I am also willing to tutor over the internet and/or by telephone, with the understanding that any long distance charges are to be paid by the student.

Having tutored on and off for most of my life, I have found that an hour and a half is the best length for a tutoring session. Few people can maintain concentration for a longer period, but it takes some time to get to the exact point where a student is having difficulty.

Believe it or not, people can be passionate about mathematical ideas. I hope to communicate some of that passion to my students, because, as Emerson said, “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”

This tutor teaches the following subjects. Click on any subject to find other tutors.

College

Algebra , Applied Math , C Programming , Calculus , Computer Programming , Computer Science , Differential Equations , Finance , Geometry , Information Systems , Java Programming , Mathematics , Physics , Pre-Calculus , Software Engineering , Statistics , Trigonometry , Vector Calculus

High School

Algebra 1 , Algebra 2 , Astronomy , Calculus , Chemistry , Geometry , Internet , Math , Physics , Pre-Algebra , Science , Trigonometry , Word Processing

Middle School

Computer , Math , Science

Elementary

Math , Science

Business

Equities , Finance , Financial Markets , Information Technology , Risk Management

Computer

C , Computer Basics , Computer Modeling , Database , Information Systems , Microsoft Access , Microsoft Excel , Microsoft windows , Microsoft Word , Microsost Excel , Pascal , Programming , SQL , Unix , Visual Basic