Zoltán Pál Dienes

Not to be confused with Paul Dienes.

Zoltán Pál Dienes (Hungarian: [ˈzoltaːn ˈpaːl ˈdijɛnɛʃ]; September 11, 1916 – January 11, 2014), anglicized as Zoltan Paul Dienes, was a Hungarian mathematician whose ideas on education (especially of small children) have been popular in some countries.^[1] He was a world-famous theorist and tireless practitioner of the "new mathematics": an approach to mathematics learning that uses games, songs, and dance to make it more appealing to children.^[2] He is credited with the creation of base ten blocks, popularly referred to as Dienes blocks.^[3]

Dienes's life and ideas are described in his autobiography, Memoirs of a Maverick Mathematician (ISBN 1844261921), and his book of mathematical games, I Will Tell You Algebra Stories You've Never Heard Before (ISBN 1844261913). He has also published a book of poetry, Calls from the Past (ISBN 1844261905).

His later life contributions have been chronicled by Bharath Sriraman in the second monograph of The Montana Mathematics Enthusiast.^[4]

Books

• Zoltan Paul Dienes, and Edward William Golding: Geometry Through Transformations: Groups and Coordinates (1967)