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■由牛津大學桑托伊教授擔任顧問的數學網站，畫面奪目，並用遊戲方式教學生幾何等數學課題。 資料圖片
一名喜歡穿着質數17號球衣、用跳舞來證明數學定理的牛津大學教授表示，網絡遊戲可增加小孩對數學的興趣。
桑托伊表示，英國的中學數學教育面臨「真正的危機」，本來對數學還很感興趣的孩子會「逐漸失去興趣，感覺數學無聊」。
他對此的回應是一個華麗的數學網站(www.mangahigh.com)，用遊戲方式教小孩幾何和二次方程式等數學課題。
網站針對學校和普通學生，以日本漫畫形式向網民提供免費遊戲，訂閱者則可得到全面的數學課程。
網站由全球最大網絡遊戲商King.com的共同創辦人羅蘭創立；桑托伊則是網站顧問。
桑托伊指出，網站的目的在於將極富挑戰性的數學遊戲融入網絡遊戲中，而不僅是心算題。
英國倫敦和美國田納西州的多家學校已開始試用該網站。網站有一款名為「拯救沉默星球」的遊戲，玩家可在圖表上輸入坐標，用導彈阻攔撞向地球的小行星。
桑托伊說︰「遊戲內含有艱深的數學原理，老師對此都感驚訝，你須懂得數學才能得高分。」
他表示，這款遊戲能展示真正科學家應用數學的情況，如規劃出太空船在太陽系內的飛行路線。 ■路透社 ■資深翻譯員 羅國偉
Oxford Maths Professor Backs Web Games to Teach Kids
Internet games can boost children's interest in mathematics, says a footballing Oxford University professor who plays wearing the prime number 17 and uses dance to prove theorems.
Marcus Du Sautoy says there is "a real crisis" in maths education in English secondary schools where he says initially enthusiastic pupils "lose interest and become bored".
His response is a glitzy maths website (www.mangahigh.com)that uses arcade-style games to teach children curriculum topics such as geometry and quadratic equations.
Called Manga High and illustrated in the style of a Japanese comic, the website offers free games to the casual visitors but offers a structured maths course for subscribers and is aimed at schools as well as individual pupils.
Du Sautoy is an adviser to the website, created by entrepreneur Toby Rowland, co-founder of King.com, one of the largest internet game companies.
He said the aim had been to make an integral part of the games "really challenging kinds of maths" and not just mental arithmetic.
A number of schools in London as well as Tennessee in the U.S are trying out the website, which includes a game called "Save Our Dumb Planet", where children have to enter coordinates on a graph to aim a missile at an asteroid heading for the Earth.
"I think the teachers have been very impressed by the depth of the mathematics that we have managed to embed in these games. You can only get a high score if you do the maths," Du Sautoy said.
He said the game was a good example of the sort of maths that real scientists use, in this case to chart the course of a spaceship through the solar system. ■Reuters
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