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/