Friday, June 24, 2016

Math Links for Week Ending June 24th, 2016

I finally put this post together after literally months of tweaking. I even found some stuff out as I was shooting the demo video that was a revelation. The premiss is that we have to investigate the nature of the power rule for derivatives in Calculus. So this does it two ways. First students do so with paper & pencil to build the derivatives from the slopes of tangents and then they take it to the next level with a Desmos activity that extends to cubic functions.
Curriculum Tags: MCV4U
http://engaging-math.blogspot.ca/2016/06/developing-derivatives-graphically.html


There is no secret that I have fell back in love with coding and love that many teachers have shared what they are doing with coding and math. Check out these videos from @MrAspinal where he shows how he uses coding with math in his class. Thanks to @Ecokrisb for this one
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
http://www.hourofcuriosity.com/coding/




I came across this new Twitter feed this week. Sounds like fun. If you are an Ontario Math teacher (or any math teacher) you might be interested in participating in a bi-weekly chat on Twitter. The next one is Tuesday June 28th from 8-9PM EST.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://twitter.com/MathchatONT






In a conversation with @mathgarden this week I was introduced to The Global Math Project. He's an ambassador for the project which hopes "... to thrill 1 million students, teachers, and adults with an engaging piece of mathematics during one special week in 2017". Go do the site to see how you can participate (and even become an ambassador). And if you want a taste, see the series of videos below from @jamestanton to see what exploding dots are all about.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://www.theglobalmathproject.org/

Global Math Week 2017 Preview from The Global Math Project on Vimeo.

Although this is old (check out the computers in the video), I love anything about weird probability calculations. In this case it's a company that specializes in underwriting contests like "hole in one" or "free throw" or "field goal" competitions where the winner might win a large sum of money. In those cases, the people rarely has the money to pay the winners but instead pay a smaller fee to an insurance company who would pay the big prize if someone wins. Like when Brian Diesbourg missed at the 20, 30 & 40 yard lines and then nailed the 50 yard shot to win a million dollars. So here is a short video of what is involved in doing that sort of probability calculation. And even though this is older too, here is the audio of a talk from a similar insurance adjuster (Risky Business). It's a little dry but I find it fascinating. Thanks to Joseph Bengiovanni for this one
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U
http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/mgbh-math-ee-sprisk/probability-risk-analysis/

I am a big fan of dynamic math software. There are a lot of choices out there. My two faves are Geometer's Sketchpad and Desmos (with Geogebra not far behind). So I am always looking for something new. This week @MaryBourassa tweeted out about DudaMath. This is a free, multi-platform dynamic math package that does, calculations, algebra, patterning, geometry, statistics and more. This week it looks like they added a package to do distance time graphs. I think there is a lot more to test out here and with each tool there is a helpful step by step video so don't be shy, give it a try. One thing I do like is the fact that you can draw stuff on the screen free hand and it turns it into objects (lines, angles). It makes the interface nice on the iPad
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.dudamath.com/

I love articles about real mathematicians and this one interviewing @FryRsquared. And don't forget her TED talk (and book) on the Mathematics of Love. Thanks to @mrhonner for this one
Curriculum Tags: All
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jun/19/hannah-fry-interview-maths

Though I had kind of seen this before, it wasn't until @mathgarden pointed out that Exploding dots would be used for the Global Math Project and then went on to explain how they can be used all the way up to dividing polynomials. I was intrigued and spent about 30 min going through some of @jamestanton's course on exploding dots and fine it quite cool. And I am happy to say that I was able to figure out the method that he teased at the end of the first polynomial division page (without watching the next video). Take the time to watch these three which is all I needed to get me to polynomical division (I don't think you will be disappointed) and then maybe check out his other courses on things as diverse as fractions and combinatorics.
Curriculum Tags: MHF4U, All
http://gdaymath.com/

Do you want a video that you can used to talk about how transformations are used? Or how about a practical use for complex numbers. If so then watch this @standupmaths (with @henryseg) video on the mathematics of spherical videos (I love the part with the point source of light in the 3D printed sphere). If you are not sure what they are then you might want to look at my blog post on Google Cardboard.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MCR3U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0gRcRd_rHs


Thanks to @MrOrr_Geek's tweet and @ddmeyer's response about the worlds largest nerf gun, I now know there is a twitter hashtag for #mathphotos16. So many good pictures.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://twitter.com/hashtag/mathphoto16?src=hash

I could see using this in a grade 8 class or having grade 11s prove it algebraically
Curriculum Tags: Gr8, MCR3U,
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