Madness In The Middle Kingdom

It is with a heavy heart that I mourn the passing of Jim Totten, Professor of Mathematics at Thompson Rivers University (formerly UCC). Jim was much more than a professor to me - he was my mentor and first and foremost he was my friend. He was incredibly intelligent and had a passion for mathematics that few have even at the top level. Jim was the first to believe in my abilities as a mathematician and as an educator. He encouraged me to take a position in the Math Help Center while at UCC even though I could have worked elsewhere for twice as much. He told me that I could make a decision for my future or a decision based on money. He was bang on in his assessment. I really enjoyed the job and it helped me solidify my decision to become a math teacher. He believed in me and that made all the difference in the world.

I took several courses with Jim (Number Theory, Euclidean Geometry and Abstract Algebra) and I came to loathe his exams. They were always too difficult and too long - much like his lectures. I learned then that I would rather work my tail off to earn a C+ or B in one of his courses (cursing him all the way) rather than get an easy A somewhere else. His passion for the material was infectious and it was under his tutelage that I learned to appreciate the true beauty of mathematics.

My two favourite Jim stories
Jim was notorious for lectures that ran over time. Once while trying to finish a proof Jim realized that time for the class had run out and as it was 5 PM in the afternoon it was a tough sell to get us to stick around. He said very apologetically “Just give me 5 more minutes to finish this up”. A student by the name of Mark sarcastically replied “Five real minute or five ‘Totten’ minutes?” We laughed for what seemed like at least two ‘Totten’ minutes

Jim was also notorious for never leading review at the end of the term. If he had extra classes he would simply fill them up with more material rather than give us a solid review of the previously learned concepts. We begged him one class for a guided review and he agreed. He didn’t know how to do it so he asked us what other teachers did. A student replied that they usually wrote on the board what we should study for the exam. Jim said OK and then turned and wrote “Everything from the text, the assignments, and your notes.” He turned back and said, “Any other questions?” We never asked him for review again.

Jim always told me the story of the mathematician Paul Erdos who claimed that if there was a God then He would have “The Book” which was a collection of all the proofs to all the theorems in mathematics that humans hadn’t discovered yet. Erdos said that when he died he was going to enjoy looking at “The Book”. Jim I hope you are sitting beside Erdos right now and studying “The Book”.

Jim and I August 2003

Jim meeting Alice in August 2003. He was very happy for me to have met such a nice girl.