About Me
Hi there! My name is Eric. Mathonweb.com is my website.
I have been interested in math, physics and computer science for as long as I can remember.
In my first year at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada I took courses in those three subjects. The computer course used FORTRAN and we wrote the code on punched cards. That was 1971. After my third year I was very fortunate to get a summer job with Prof. Edo Nyland. We solved partial differential equations numerically and we pioneered computer graphics at the U of A so that we could display the results.
In 1980 I got a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics. I used quantum field theory to solve some problems in statistical physics.
I then spent 3 years as a research associate at the University of British Columbia writing computer simulations of laser-plasma interactions and then 30 years as a faculty member of the math department at the BC Insititute of Technology. What I love about teaching math at BCIT is the way we emphasize the applications of math in technology.
It was there, in 2000, that I challenged myself to write a program that could solve algebra problems just like a human would. The result was the Algebra Coach app.
Along the way I wrote a bunch of smaller apps that became the Technology Suite.
When I'm not working at my desk I try to get outside as much as I can. I get in about 70 days of skiing in Whistler, Canada in the winter and 20 days of kite boarding in Baja, Mexico and Nitinat Lake on Vancouver Island in the summer. I am one lucky individual. I get to play and work in the most beautiful places on earth. Take a look:
Camping with my HobieCat sailboat on Bowen Island, about 20km NW of Vancouver, Canada.
Windsurfing at Nitinat Lake on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Kiteboarding with my friends at Los Barriles, Baja, Mexico.
Snowboarding on Blackcomb Mountain, opening day, 2010 winter Olympics. Whistler Mountain is in the background.
Working at my desk.