James Tanton


James Stuart Tanton is a mathematician and math educator. He is a winner of the Kidder Faculty Prize for his teaching at The St. Mark’s Math Institute, scholar at the Mathematical Association of America, author of over ten books on mathematics, curriculum, and education, and creator of videos on mathematics on YouTube. As of February 2020 his approximately 190 videos had earned over 800,000 views.

Education and professional work

Tanton received his B.A. in mathematics from the University of Adelaide, and he earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from Princeton University in 1994, with a thesis in algebraic topology titled A Homological Fibration for Gl . He taught at the New College, St. Mary's College of Maryland, and Merrimack College before deciding that, to gain credibility with the high school teachers he hoped to work with, he had to teach high school himself. Tanton taught at St. Mark’s School in Southborough, Massachusetts, from 2002 to 2011. He is now a visiting scholar at the Mathematical Association of America in Washington, DC.

Selected awards and honors

Mathematics Galore: The First Five Years of the St. Mark’s Institute of Mathematics, Mathematical Association of America, 2012

The Encyclopedia of Mathematics, Facts on File.2005.

Solve This: Mathematical Activities for Students and Clubs, Mathematical Association of America, 2001.

Self-published texts and curricular material

THINKING MATHEMATICS! series:
GEOMETRY: Volume I and GEOMETRY: Volume 2

MATH WITHOUT WORDS

MATHEMATICAL THINKING: Numbers and their Algebra