Math LInks for Week Ending Nov. 3rd, 2017

You can always count on @MaryBourassa to be constantly looking for ways to help her students understand concepts that they typically struggle with. And I always appreciate that she does a lot of work in this area for senior classes too. In this case, in grade 12 Advanced Functions dealing with acute and cofunction angles. Here she starts with a simple investigation and then expands from there to look at the visual connections of sine and cosine and beyond.
Curriculum Tags: MHF4U
http://marybourassa.blogspot.com/2017/11/cofunction-angle-identities.html

The folks at Desmos have been working hard on tweaking the stuff that they already have to make it better. In this case, it's three activities: Parabola Slalom, Laser Challenge and Point Collector: Linear. In this case the added feature comes on the last slide where students are tasked to create their own challenges and then (through the magic of Desmos) each student's challenge appears for anyone to try out. Very slick. Check out the full descriptions at the link below.

Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P, MPM2D, MFM2P, MHF4U

http://blog.desmos.com/post/167025523147/challenge-creator-the-desmos-classroom

A nice little poem about probability from @mathypoems

Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MBF3C, MDM4U

https://poetrywithmathematics.blogspot.com/2017/11/probability-and-astonishment.html

In this post @MarkChubb3 compares targeted and individualized instruction and looks at the pitfalls of both as well as making some suggestions of things we should be doing. One of which is one of my faves: "Provide challenge for all students". Read on to see more.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://buildingmathematicians.wordpress.com/2017/10/29/targeted-instruction/

Check out the latest post from @Paul_Math where he's been talking about going gradeless. In this post, he talks about the experience of parent teacher interviews.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://mathsoxlearner.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-parent-conference-conversation.html

Some cool stuff from @AnniekPerkins on math and art with these loop drawings she's been doing. Not only does she post the time lapses of the drawings but she goes into some of the math that shows up because of the loops too.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://arbitrarilyclose.com/2017/10/21/knots-links-learning/

The folks at @FiveThirtyEight had an online pole about the most popular candies. They had over 250,000 grudge matches and the results are in about what the most favourite candies are. Check the post out for the full results.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MBF3C, MDM4U
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-ultimate-halloween-candy-power-ranking/

A new TED-Ed video on the origins of mathematical symbols
Curriculum Tags: All
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVm063xmnow

Though the majority of this video is about the ins and outs of carnival game scams, I do appreciate the discussion of the expected value and probability.
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk_ZlWJ3qJI

This is a neat little physics trick that you could use to discuss vectors and forces (and maybe even applications of trig).
Curriculum Tags: MCV4U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKY-s6IvZkE

My pumpkin was cubic this year
Curriculum Tags: All
https://twitter.com/davidpetro314/status/925185030153961472

But this might be the scariest pumpkin of all. Thanks to @Esping_Math for this one.
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U, MAP4C
https://www.facebook.com/Mathhappiness/photos/a.101142433566320.1073741828.101136273566936/551549905192235/?type=3&theater

Here is a very cool application of distributions in statistics. Read the article for the full detail but the gist is that the average age of the players drafted in the NBA is getting younger and younger.
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-nbas-age-limit-is-broken/

Some data from @FiveThirtyEight for your hockey minded students one why the Las Vegas Golden Nuggets are the best expansion team ever.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/vegas-is-the-best-expansion-team-in-nhl-history/