Math Links for Week Ending Dec 19th, 2014

So many good things this week that it was hard to pick the thing that I would feature. So I narrowed it down to two. The first is a new one from that graphing juggernaut Desmos. This time a new activity for recognizing and describing linear, quadratic and rational functions as well as hexagons. They have done it in a way that is very much like the kids game Guess Who? The way it works is that kids login to a game (that you initiate with your account). They are then paired up and both are presented with a grid of graphs(each from their own computer or tablet). One of the students picks one of the graphs and then the other starts asking yes or no questions. As the questions are answered the graphs can be crossed off until the chosen graph is revealed. Check out their blog post about it for more info. Thanks to @marybourassa for this one.
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D, MFM1P, MFM2P, MPM2D, MBF3C, MCF3M, MCR3U
http://blog.desmos.com/post/105283812542/polygraph

The second neat site is one that helps with solving equations is SolveMe. On this site students are given a symbolic representation of an equation using a balance and shapes to represent unknown numbers. This is similar to the series of Geometer's Sketchpad sketches that did the same thing years ago but now can be done without the special software. Perfect for beginning algebra.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
http://solveme.edc.org/

We have a couple of new activities on our Engaging Math Site. The first one is a Christmas themed review activity for decimals, exponents and Pythagorean Theorem in grade 8. Students are put in group to grab questions. When they get a question correct, they can earn a present on the SmartBoard tally board. There are special cards for extra points as well and as an extra bonus, if you tap on any tree, it places a different Christmas song.
Curriculum Tags: Gr8
http://engaging-math.blogspot.ca/2014/12/christmas-review-activity.html

The second is another Sketchpad activity. This time for kids to practice their knowledge of perfect squares. The sketch generates a random number under 150 and students have to decide whether it is a perfect square or not. To help, they can actually try to construct a literal square with the same area as the number given.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7
http://engaging-math.blogspot.ca/2014/12/geometers-sketchpad-perfect-square.html

We have, for a long time, in Ontario had a great resource in the CLIPS package. The problem is that it's a flash based app and thus won't work on an iPad. Well it still won't work on an iPad but a new app associated with the Puffin Browser has been developed that has taken CLIPS as well as a bunch of other flash based resources and combines them in what is now called the Puffin Academy. Go there with the app and you can choose CLIPS from the choices and it runs almost as it would on a regular computer. Read more about it here on the CLIPS blog
Curriculum Tags: All
http://mathclips.wikispaces.com/Using+MathCLIPS+on+Mobile

CueThink is an iPad app that is kind of like an interactive notebook that students can use. Given a problem students can start by saying what they have noticed and wondered and eventually get to a video solutions (similar to what might be done on Educrations). Then as a teacher you can go in and annotate those solutions from their dashboard. Check out Andrew Stadel's blog post on the topic. Thanks to @marybourassa for this one.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://mr-stadel.blogspot.ca/2014/12/cuethink.html

Although the data might be controversial, there is some good probability based math here for grade 12 data management. The interactive graphs show the chance of pregnancy for various forms of birth control. It's a perfect demonstration of the binomial distribution for probability.
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/09/14/sunday-review/unplanned-pregnancies.html?_r=0

People really can't wait for the new Star Wars. So much so that they are analyzing to death the first trailer to come out. In this post, they use the free tracker software to determine the approximate speed of this new R2 droid. Most of the math needed isn't too hard but the main idea pivots around angular velocity in terms of radians. So this probably would be best for modelling in advanced functions or calculus.
Curriculum Tags: MHF4U, MCV4U
http://www.wired.com/2014/12/fast-rolling-droid-star-wars-vii/

It's always good to find real world applications for math topics that seem to have none. In this case, the concept of least common multiple is the topic and the application is hotdogs and hotdog buns and the scenario is taken from the movie Father of the Bride.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
http://robertkaplinsky.com/work/how-many-hot-dogs-and-buns-should-he-buy/

Do you need something that might be interesting for student when having them work with formulas. In this case, the formula is one that takes all the data and uses a formula to determine the most popular albums of all time. It's a pretty interesting algorithm and produces some interesting results.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
http://www.besteveralbums.com/howitworks.php

The Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing (CEMC) at the University of Waterloo has just released a great resource for students in grade 12 Advanced Functions and Calculus & Vectors. This is an interactive student resource with interactive tutorials and quizzes that is sorted by topic. No login is required and students are free to use this as often as they wish. Right now it is about 50% functional with new modules being added all the time. Thanks to Mark Esping for this one.
Curriculum Tags: MHF4U, MCV4U
http://courseware.cemc.uwaterloo.ca/

Do you want to know why those in the UK use the term maths and we over her don't use the 's'? Then read on.

Curriculum Tag: All

http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2014/12/08/math_versus_maths_how_americans_and_brits_deploy_the_collective_noun.html

The idea that there are math people and non math people has long since been disputed. Here is some more evidence.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.psmag.com/navigation/health-and-behavior/theres-one-way-good-math-96228/

I have always thought that the area of a trapezoid formula was pretty useful. That is, it can be used to find the area for a parallelogram, rhombus, rectangle, square, and even a triangle. So I create a GSP sketch and this video to demonstrate that.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtiFc7quW7I

Some Christmas cheer for you
Curriculum Tags: All
http://visualizingmath.tumblr.com/post/104961540336/submitted-by-naked-geometry-math-inspired

At first this seems very cool but a second look gives you pause and of course it can't be. But it can be a great opportunity for your students to answer the question: What would need to be include in the equation in order for it to be true. Here is the answer if you are interested. Thanks to @ecokrisb for this one.
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D, MFM1P, MFM2P
https://twitter.com/DepressedDarth/status/545021070689185795/photo/1