Math Links for Week Ending Oct. 18th, 2013

Here is a really fun look at distributions via animals and an animation
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U
http://vimeo.com/75089338

Although the actual activity in this post at first seems like it is more for middle school. It quickly moves into polynomials and could easily be adapted up to grade 11 with rational functions. So you might have (x) (6/x) = 6 (or something more complex)
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MFM1P, MPM1D, MCR3U, MCF3M
http://squarerootofnegativeoneteachmath.blogspot.ca/2013/09/this-lesson-cost-me-1.html






As someone who is a fan of Rock, Paper, Scissors as an activity for teaching math, I love that there is an applet for playing against a robot. Especially since you can bring in the research and the Rock Paper Scissors World championship (or regional). And while you are in the vicinity, don't forget Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock and its now famed Big Bang Theory reference. Thanks to Dan Meyer for this one.
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U
http://mathcoachblog.wordpress.com/2013/09/24/rock-paper-scissors-and-2-way-tables/

Any time you can do an activity that involves toys and scatter plots, I say go for it. This time its with friction driven cars.
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D, MFM1P, MDM4U, MAP4C
http://fawnnguyen.com/2013/10/10/vroom-vroom.aspx


The age old question, "do professional teams that spend the most on their payrolls win more?" From Yummy Math here are stats from the big four professional sports to help answer the question. Let your scatter plots go wild. And if that is not enough for you then take a look at this dynamic view of professional baseball with this cool series of visualizations from Ben Fry.
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U
http://www.yummymath.com/2013/do-teams-that-spend-a-lot-win-a-lot/

Why does the number 1729 show up so often in the show Futurama? I will give you a hint, it has something to do with taxicabs and the fact that there were a large proportion of math majors writing for the show. A perfect starter if you are talking about powers of numbers, specifically cubes.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
http://io9.com/why-does-the-number-1729-show-up-in-so-many-futurama-ep-1445512975

This could be a good starter for a talk about budgets in an locally developed or workplace math class. Thanks to Corrie Silva for this one.
Curriculum Tags: MAT1L, MAT2L, MEL3E, MEL4E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pQJxGIFzdo

I have seen a better version of this clip but for the life of me couldn't find it. Still a neat answer to the question "What is any of this good for? When would we ever use it?" from Person of Interest. The idea is that everything we ever know is hidden in the digits of Pi. Thanks to Kimberly Gibson for this one. Thanks also to @ChrisHunter36 for the better version of this
Curriculum Tags: All
http://vimeo.com/58436405

Here is a neat Flikr group Geometric Images in Real Life. Over 700 images of things that relate to geometry. This could be really helpful when trying to make those connections between geometry and real life.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
http://www.flickr.com/groups/geometryinreallife/

Math Links for Week Ending June 7th, 2013

Fluid software is a suite of software for math manipulation. Graphs, solving equations, dynamic expressions all can be done and the interface is sweet. Perfect for iPads and Smartboards. Take a look. Thanks to Paul Haggart for this one
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.fluiditysoftware.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=27&Itemid=7

Stupid Calculations is a blog "WHERE PRACTICAL FACTS GET RENDERED INTO UTTERLY USELESS ONES." It's relatively new and to give you a sense of what goes on here you don't have to go further than the first post: How big would a phone be if it was made from the screens of all of the iphones in the world.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.stupidcalculations.com/

Here is a very good site for Data Management that has a large number of simulations. From the basic rolling dice to the Birthday problem. Thanks to Sam Garrison for this one.

Curriculum Tags: MDM4U
http://socr.ucla.edu/

Here is a really great blog post about the difference between rote mathematics and what it me

ans to understand math. Take a look at the first two videos to get a sense of how kids have trouble with this. Below is the 3rd video that also shows the issue.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://robertkaplinsky.com/what-does-it-mean-to-understand-mathematics/

Do you need a super long assignment for your students. How about graphing 140 or so points. That might take a while but if it creates the shape of a cartoon character then it might be easier. Find a pile of different images that kids can create different cartoon characters. Thanks to Jenna Brescacin, Paul Clement & Laurie Hannan for this one.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MFM1P, MPM1D

http://www.math-aids.com/Graphing/Four_Quadrant_Graphing.html




Here is an interactive online practice test that would be used for some of the state tests they have in the US. It's actually pretty interesting how the questions are interactive. They are more than just multiple
choice questions. Its pretty neat.
Curriculum Tags: MCR3U, MHF4U
https://sbacpt.tds.airast.org/student/login.aspx?c=SBAC_PT

Here is a nice series of videos on measurement and various places it shows up. Thanks to Jenna Brescacin, Paul Clement & Laurie Hannan for this one.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MFM1P, MPM1D, MBF3C, MAP4C
Big or Small: Measure it All - land http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BivfeVBZ0Jo
Big or Small: Measure it All - sea http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K_tty3FTSU
Big or Small: Measure it All - time http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSsN1Ng_o_8
Big or Small: Measure it All - space http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C62POLkdOU
Big or Small: Measure it All - air http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCFBVPIOPqI

Math Links for Week Ending Apr 5th, 2013

I really like the simplicity of the game Rock-Paper-Scissors for introducing probability concepts. Maybe its because its a game that is easily played and most kids have done so or maybe because of the allure of  the Rock Paper Scissors World Championships. And of course the natural extension of this is Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock. Watch Sheldon explain the rules of that below. The nice thing about both of those games is that all choices are equally likely to win. They are fair games (though the RPS society claims there are strategies that work). But I listened to an old episode of Radiolab on randomness called Stochasticity and then the follow up podcast called Are We Coins. And in that show they talked about the game Schnick-Schnack-Schnook where the variation is there is a 4th gesture called "Well". The scissors & rock both fall into the well but the paper covers the well. This introduces an element that means the game is no longer fair. So playing this game can be a great introduction to fairness in games.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MBF3

Here is a nice set of data that could be used when talking about distributions in Data Management
http://www.blog.republicofmath.com/unemployment data
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U




New activities from TI for the nSpire and TI-84. This time box plots& histograms, circle equations, exponential growth, parabolas and more.
http://link.ti-enews.com/TIActivities
Curriculum Tags, MPM2D, MCR3U, MCF3M, MBF3C, MAP4C, MDM4U

Last week I posted a picture of a tree root removed from the ground with the caption Square Root. Rather quickly Gregory Taylor sent the more correct image below. Thanks.
http://i.chzbgr.com/completestore/2011/11/6/e2f898c5-b90b-45cc-addf-9e908e447cc8.jpg
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D

A fun cartoon for distributions
http://i.stack.imgur.com/T2XrE.gif
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U

Here is a very cool data visualization of the world population based on latitude and longitude. Thanks to Mark Esping for this one.
http://www.geekosystem.com/world-population-latitude-longitude/

Curriculum Tags: MDM4U

Perhaps a little late but here is a nice infographic about candy and Easter. Thanks to Mark Esping for this one.

http://degreesearch.org/blog/easter-by-the-numbers-infographic/
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MBF3C, MDM4U