Ontario Math Links: Math Links for Week Ending April 4th, 2014

Friday, April 4, 2014

Math Links for Week Ending April 4th, 2014

So for years and years I have been saying that there is tonnes of mathematics in digital animation. This has been mostly when I talk about vectors but finally someone who is actually in the animation biz (you might have heard of Pixar) explicitly makes the connection. Not to vectors but to grade 10 math and finding the midpoint of a line segment. This is an awesome video that answers the question when is this math ever used (note I didn't say "when are we ever gonna use this" since not everyone will become an animator). And as a bonus, since this is a TEDed talk, that means there are extra features like lessons and quizzes.
Curriculum Tags: MPM2D
http://ed.ted.com/lessons/pixar-the-math-behind-the-movies-tony-derose

I have been sitting on this one for a few weeks. And when I saw that a friend of mine really liked the concept and completely turned her on to QR codes I finally decided to put it in. The idea is that if you have a worksheet you can have a QR code for each question that links to the solution video. That is what they have done at Slackmath. They have taken videos online that answer questions and created worksheets from the questions. Although I wasn't particularly thrilled with some of the videos, I do like the concept. Take a look here. They have the worksheets broken down by topics so you can find what you are looking for
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.slackmath.com/

This is an interesting problem (it may be a little tongue and cheek). But the idea is "how much is an art gallery worth". The calculation done basically puts a value on a painting and then calculates the interest that it would generate if it was turned into cash. Its highly idealized but it could be an interesting problem dealing with percents and number sense in grade 7,8 or 9
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/30/business/economy/costs-benefits-and-masterpieces-in-detroit.html

There is no end to people dissecting movies to talk about their realism. And SciFi movies get their share of the hits. This time dealing with the movie Pacific Rim and the frequency with which the monsters emerge from their watery birthplaces. In the movie talk about the exponential frequency that the monsters come but in practice they don't actually come that way. See the analysis here.
Curriculum Tags: MCR3U, MHF4U, MAP4C
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/but-not-simpler/2014/03/25/pacific-rim-followed-math-kaiju-won/

Perhaps I have been waiting and waiting to finally have a reason to show a Monty Python clip in a math class. This may be it. I think you could easily make a really cool ratio problem out of it (trying to convert from one figure to another to determine the correct rate). The mathematical mayhem starts about 40 seconds in and then quickly degrades in to normal Python silliness.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGEeLtqtNvU