Math Links for Week Ending, Aug. 16, 2013

I really like Steven Strogatz. The way that he tries to make math attainable to the average person. He really sees the beauty in math and simplifies it. Listen here for an interview where he talks about his book The Joy of X.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.npr.org/2013/08/02/207885870/steven-strogatz-the-joy-of-x


Feynman Point Poems are poems that are based on a particular place in the expansion of Pi. There is a place where there is 6 nines in a row. So these poems all have six words that each have 9 letters. Read about them here:
Curriculum Tags: All
http://poetrywithmathematics.blogspot.ca/2013/08/feynman-point-poems.html

 If you are looking for something that gives students reason to do math here is an example from a farmer who used Pythagorean theorem to create some equipment.
Curriculum Tags: Gr8, MFM1P, MPM1D
http://squarerootofnegativeoneteachmath.blogspot.ca/2013/07/unintentional-math-encounters-of-non.html

Snoop dog playing plinko on The Price is Right. Could be used to demonstrate the binomial theorem or even normal distributions.
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXMSbmhcc6A

I thought this YouTube channel is kind of neat. The Way of Zen. All the videos are done without speaking. Just visuals. Take a look at this one with cuisenaire rods showing the geometric version of Pythagorean Theorem.
Curriculum Tags: Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27M-EMRCN_Y

Interesting findings about why girls don't get into STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering and Math). It turns out its because there aren't enough good female role models in those fields. Its kind of cyclical. Listen here
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/08/09/210251404/why-arent-more-girls-attracted-to-physics

When ever there is an airline crash people feel that it is unsafe to fly but in reality flying has become safer and safer. I like it also because it is data per million miles flown so it is relative to flying time. Take a look at the data.
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U

Math Links for Week Ending July 12th, 2013

Still pretty busy these first two weeks of summer so some lite links with images from Indexed (for all of your Venn Diagram and interesting graph idea needs as well as some probability from XKCD
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P, MDM4U

http://thisisindexed.com/2013/07/im-your-third-cousin-once-removed-by-divorce-and-once-removed-by-cps/

http://thisisindexed.com/2013/06/courtesy-prevents-murder/

http://xkcd.com/1236/

Math Links for Week Ending July 5th, 2013

I'm on vacation this week so only a few links this time.

Last week I posted a video of this activity. Thanks to Linda Hoskins for this one
http://illuminations.nctm.org/LessonDetail.aspx?ID=L574
Curriculum Tags: Gr8

I think there are some neat sites listed here. Math Based Paintings, Real Math Mysteries, Geography math and more
http://christinapilkington.com/2011/06/15/10-unusual-ways-to-explore-math/
Curriculum Tags: All

Here is a really good video on applicatons of transformatons using animation. This could apply in grade  7 and 8 but also any course that has transformation of functions or even as an application of vectors. And if you want to explore animation with your students more then try the Pivot Animator. A free online tool to make animations. Thanks to Chad Hopewell for these.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVtz55mIuz4
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MFM2P, MPM2D, MCR3U, MCF3M, MBF3C

Math Links for Week Ending June 28th, 2013

Here is a really great kinaesthetic activity for graphing linear relations.  Thanks to Antonetta Lio for this one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVavAC3Tclk
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D, MFM2P

Where is the longest runway in the world? In the movie Fast & Furious 6 apparently. A lot of numerical calculations and rates go into solving this one.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-23005848
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MFM1P

On the BBC's More or Less a really nice example of how 99% success rate in terrorist detection would result in a large amount of false positives in a country like th US with 300 million peolpe. Other stories include mistakes of decimal point in the media when reporting how manypeople die after surgury and the idea of whether some numbers are big (in this case the amount of paper used by the courts) and how hard it is, apparently, to divide 17 by 2. Those are on the May 31st Episode. 

On the June 10th Episode they talk to Naked Statistics author who talks about the myths about caffeine drinking and pregnant women, where we send kids to school, and the target case mentioned below

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qshd/broadcasts/2013/06

Curriculum Tags: MDM4U

If you liked Mine Sweeper and you like graphing then I have the game for you. Good for integers and plotting points. Make sure you read the instructions to figure out the strategy. Thanks to Laurie Hannan for htis one
http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/MazeGame/
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM2D

How did Target figure out a teenage girl was pregnant before her father new? They used data
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U

I normally don't like these teaching videos but I actually do like this one on how to multiply integers using tiles. Really kind of neat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAb2PR4lKvY

Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8

The development of the Area of a circle.  Thanks to Kristina Smith for this one 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YokKp3pwVFc

Curriculum Tags: Gr8

A nice little primer for Probability. It starts off simple but actually gets more complex during the end. Probably best suited for MDM4U. Thanks to Stephanie De Boer for this one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpvE0Co66nU

Curriculum Tags: MDM4U

I like this news report on unit pricing. Thanks to Nicole Friedl for this one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMe85qahPbk
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MFM1P, MPM1D

End off with a math joke for grade 11 math with functions and domain
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BNY4rveCQAINEsd.jpg:large
Curriculum Tags: MCR3U, MCF3M

Math Links for Week Ending June 21st, 2013

Geez that Dan Meyer knows how to maximize his Klout score. This is a really great use of twitter. Here is his tweet:

Then what follows is a barrage of tweets with great real examples of something that is conceptually hard to find examples for. Well done Dan (and Twitter). See the discussion here:

http://blog.mrmeyer.com/?p=17227

Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8

Might as well stick with Dan Meyer some more with this really nice real world metric/imperial conversion task. Nice rework of this basic textbook question. Once again, Twitter to the rescue. It is interesting how minor tweaks can spice a question up to be more problem solving.
http://blog.mrmeyer.com/?p=17230
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM2P



Chance News is a semi regular Wiki all about statistics and probability. Quotes, real data from all over the place. Probably most appropriate for MDM4U. Be sure to subscribe to the feed.
http://test.causeweb.org/wiki/chance/index.php/Chance_93
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U





The massive numbers that surround UPS (and any courier service). How about this for a Big number. $30 Million: how much extra it
would cost if every driver went just one extra mile per day. This could be used to talk about the ide of big numbers or about combinatorics.
http://www.wired.com/business/2013/06/ups-astronomical-math/
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U




How about an activity about the longest NHL hockey matches. Yummy Math has it. Good for data and ratio and proportion. The activity is ready to go. Just download the PDF.
http://www.yummymath.com/2013/longest-nhl-matches-in-history/
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MFM1P



Forty resources that deal with dice. Need some ideas for probability, try here first.
http://kbkonnected.tumblr.com/post/12928926198/40-resources-for-dice-and-everything-dice
Curriculum Tags:Gr7, Gr8, MAT1L, MBF3C, MDM4U

This is actually from a year ago but its a neat visual representation of equivalent fractions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5z-OEIfw3s
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8

Last week I mentioned the heat map of the most popular birthdays. This week Data Viz revisits the data with a new visualization
http://thedailyviz.com/2013/06/08/birthday-heatmap-born-again/
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U

Why not end on some humor. Some real bad math here in a bunch of visual examples. For example, see if you can spot the error in the quadratic formula (its actually hard to see but its there):
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/18/work-math-fails_n_3442834.html
Curriculum Tags: All

Math Links for Week Ending June 14th, 2013

Hans Rosling does it so suscinctly. The way he shows data makes it so easy to see why understanding it is so important.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxbprYyjyyU
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MBF3C, MDM4U

I love this "heat" map. Which birth dates are the most popular. There is a wealth of data here. Not just in the fact that the actual data table is available but in the extra post about how people missinterpret this type of graph. And for that matter I like this blog. He tries to create a new visualization every day
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MBF3C, MDM4U
http://thedailyviz.com/2012/05/12/how-common-is-your-birthday/






Apparently there is no reason to teach anything about polynomials and functions. Thanks Wolfram Alpha now I'm out of a job! I am kidding here but the tools now available on the knowledge engine are just fascinating and really should cause you to pause about how you might incorporate some of these tools into investigations in your classes.
Curriculum Tags: All Secondary
http://blog.wolframalpha.com/2013/05/28/solving-basic-properties-of-functions-and-equations-made-easy/




Need some summer PD. How about Classroom Adventures in Math at the University of Toronto
Curriculum Tags: All
https://math.escalator.utoronto.ca/home/classroom-adventures-in-mathematics-caim/

I love Dan Meyer's Latest post about the "Unengageables". Being someone who gives a lot of workshops I know people are thinking "this won't work for my students" and I think Dan really summed up the situation succinctly (from a student's perspective):
"They may even resist you. They signed their "didactic contract" years and years ago.They signed it. Their math teachers signed it. The agreement says that the teacher comes into class, tells them what they're going to learn, and shows them three examples of it. In return, the students take what their teacher showed them and reproduce it twenty times before leaving class. Then they go home with an assignment to reproduce it twenty more times.
Then here you come, Ms. I-Just-Got-Back-From-A-Workshop, and you want to change the agreement? Yeah, you'll hear from their attorney."
Curriculum Tags: All
http://blog.mrmeyer.com/?p=17193

I really like this video from Numberphile. Its about what it means to truly be random and the difference between random and psuedo random numbers. It is kind of technical (and a bit long) but I think it really hits the idea of what randomness is. And I love that he actually actually generates random numbers by actually using a radioactive sample of
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxP30euw3-0

There has got to be a geometry question in here somewhere
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hbQ4DDX2Xg

Climate and XKCD. nuff said
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MDM4U
http://xkcd.com/1225/

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