Math Links for Week Ending Oct. 9, 2015

If you have been following some of what @ddmeyer has been saying then you know about his whole "if ______ is the headache then ______ is the aspirin". That is, math is the aspirin but we have to create a reason for students to use it. Well @mrorr_geek has a nice twist on that: MAGIC :-)
With our Ontario curriculum we are supposed to introduce trig ratios via investigation and I love how he does it. Start with kids creating their own triangles and measuring the slope of the slant (connecting to grade 9) and then end with you magically guessing their slope given only their angle. That's the Reader's Digest version. Check out the link below for the full lesson.
Curriculum Tags: MPM2D, MFM2P
http://mrorr-isageek.com/introducing-trig-through-slope/

It's an older post but still fun stuff from @fivethirtyeight around the data of names. Good analysis and I have always loved the the Baby Name App. Thanks to Michael Lieff for this one
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MBF3C, MDM4U, MAP4C
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-to-tell-someones-age-when-all-you-know-is-her-name/




And the magic continues. This time on the I Speak Math blog where they use the classic "mystery number" approach to algebra. I love this every time I see it.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
http://ispeakmath.org/2015/09/11/literal-equations-number-magic-and-group-speed-dating/




Also on I Speak Math is a Desmos Activity Builder activity on solving systems of equations. I love the Desmos app and also love when teachers share the things they have built.
Curriculum Tags: MPM2D, MFM2P
http://ispeakmath.org/2015/09/11/desmos-teacher-activity-builder-systems-of-equations-review/



If you think that data visualizations are a new thing then you would be wrong. Here's proof. This 1939 book Graphical Presentation is entirely online for you to see and some of the representations are pretty cool. With multiple colours and multiple representations, this book goes through virtually every type of visualization and it is available.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://flowingdata.com/2015/09/24/classic-1939-book-on-graphs-in-its-entirety/

Everyone has opinions on why kids don't like math, can't do math, hate math etc etc. In this article the context is about why even our smartest kids can't do math. One of the things that resonated with me from this article was this quote: "that math required more than rote learning — it required creativity, ". Thanks to @mathletepearce for this one
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/why-americas-smartest-students-fail-math/

I am always a sucker for different ways to approximate Pi. I never new this one that comes from the Mandelbrot set. Be beyond that there is some cool stuff you could do here with recurring sequences. Curriculum Tags: MCR3U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0vY0CKYhPY

A documentary about math? Bring the popcorn. I think Nova is contractually obligated to do one of these every couple of years
Curriculum Tags: All
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gd-gUlBv_s

And the Facebook "only geniuses can do this" meme of posts continue. This one deals with order of operations.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8