Author: Geoff
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Area, Overlap, and Sandwich Meat Efficiency
I find myself writing about food a lot on this here blog. I’m starting to wonder if one could construct a whole thematic unit around the Math of Food. Or create a “meal” from appetizer, main course, and desert items. Or maybe I just need to eat breakfast. Artifact Good Sandwich Guide. Not sure where…
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The Problems have become self-aware: Introducing the Skynet line.
I had a great twitter conversation tonight with a bunch of people about the topic of “authenticity.” That is, what’s the relationship between pure mathematical investigations (like, say, this one – a problem I absolutely love), versus a more concrete, applicable problem (like, say, this one – a problem that I also love). It’s a…
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Who doesn’t want to relive the 2000 election? (Stats problem)
We’ll take a slight detour from my college readiness manifesto (that hasn’t even really started yet) to bring you the following election-related problem. Then again, this problem was lifted directly from a graduate level Statistics class, so this might give some insight into what college readiness could potentially look like. Hadn’t thought of that. Enjoy!…
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Preparing Kids for College (A Prologue): Kids should go to college.
If you’ll permit me this space, I need to work out some things. I’ve been struggling a bit with the whole college readiness question, in particular the simple question: what’s the best way to prepare kids for college level work? But before I dig into that in later parts, I need to publicly own my world…
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More bad Election 2012 related math
I said in my skewering of the Romney campaign’s lack of understanding of Venn Diagrams and how they work that we should be equally harsh against any and all bad math and interpretations thereof during this election season. And, lo and behold, Maddow and Moore give us a great example of the murky area of…
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I’m betting I was was the only person on campus unknowingly carrying around marbles in his backpack this week
I’ve mentioned my son a couple times before on this blog. I’m mesmerized by him and his mode of learning and ways of being. He’s like no person, child or adult, that I’ve ever met. He breaks all molds. I started classes this past week, my first baby steps toward a PhD. I sit down…
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Do violent video games cause violence? One Social Studies teacher’s experience teaching Math
(A lot of people have heroes. Many of those heroes are athletes or celebrities. For others, they are cops, firefighters, and teachers. One of mine is Lee Fleming, a co-worker, friend, and inspiration. Lee has taught Social Studies and Spanish. A couple weeks ago, she added “Math” to that impressive resume, despite never being formally taught math…
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Sprinklers, Circles, Sectors and such (my first real foray into Geogebratubing)
First off, I basically stole this from @NatBanting. And when I say “basically”, I mean “entirely.” Here’s the original blog post where you can see his frustratingly boob-shaped backyard. I tried to video my backyard but I didn’t have a good ladder to get a good vantage point. And my roof is terrifyingly steep. And…
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Why doesn’t Nike+ use math to encourage me to run?
Artifact The Nike+ app, which at the end of my run the other day, looked like this: (editor’s note: yes, I’m slow. Thank you for noticing. Also, along with some encouragement in data format, I had Tim Tebow give me words of encouragement for bettering my pace.) Now, there are a lot of numbers here, but…
emergent math 