Geoff area, circles, geometry, sectors of circles, tasks

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 … Continue reading Sprinklers, Circles, Sectors and such (my first real foray into Geogebratubing)

Geoff area, civis, geometry, perimeter, tasks

How can we measure the egregiousness of gerrymandering? Geometry, Perimeter, and Area

Artifacts This NY Times article/interview conducted by FiveThirtyEight.com's Nate Silver and David Wasserman, House editor of the Cook Political Report. Particularly this snippet: And/or this slideshow from Slate showing the most gerrymandered congressional districts in the nation. Here's my favorite from Illinois: It's worth noting that by federal law, congressional districts have to be "contiguous." That means … Continue reading How can we measure the egregiousness of gerrymandering? Geometry, Perimeter, and Area

Geoff area, geometry, projects, tasks

So, what exactly am I supposed to eat? The new MyPlate icon vs. the classic Food Pyramid vs. Geometry.

A month ago, I was considering writing a post on the old (now "old, OLD") food pyramid - you know, the one we all grew up with - and the new (now "old") food pyramid, unleashed in 2005. It would be about area of triangles and trapezoids and Geometry and possibly graphic design. See, here's … Continue reading So, what exactly am I supposed to eat? The new MyPlate icon vs. the classic Food Pyramid vs. Geometry.

Geoff area, geometry, perimeter, tasks

How do you slice this? ; Papa John’s heart-shaped pizza

Artifact This perplexing Valentine's Day themed pizza shape from Papa John's. In case you're wondering, I was not able to find an actual size of the pizza on their website. Only this: I was able to find this though: This begs a few more questions. Guiding Questions Does this give you more or less pizza … Continue reading How do you slice this? ; Papa John’s heart-shaped pizza

Geoff area, art, geometry, perimeter, tasks

A single robot-made rainbow ; what does it mean?

Artifact This amazing video of a rainbow-painting robot. (h/t: Science Friday.) Guiding Questions How much paint did this guy need of each color? What's the radius of the rainbow? or, What's the length of the arm that moves in a semi-circle that paints the rainbow? Which color will run out soonest? And how much sooner? … Continue reading A single robot-made rainbow ; what does it mean?

Geoff area, geometry, proportion, pythagorean's theorem, tasks

Pythagoras and Pele; Gooooooooooooaaaaaaaa… (to be continued)

…ooooaaaaalllll! There’s about a hundred different ways you could use the following artifacts to construct a lesson around Pythagorean’s Theorem. So I’ll just toss out all the artifacts and let you, esteemed teacher, take it from there. I’d love to get feedback and suggestions on how to implement these materials in the comments below. Artifacts … Continue reading Pythagoras and Pele; Gooooooooooooaaaaaaaa… (to be continued)

Geoff area, geometry, pythagorean's theorem, tasks

Is there anything cooler than a math tattoo? (A: yes, pretty much everything)

As I mentioned last time, the Pythagorean Theorem is a difficult concept to have students discover intuitively. So we're focusing on it specifically this week. If you have any activities or ideas, please let me know. Or tweet it to me. Here's one sent in by Kevin. ======================================== A math nerd (Let’s say her name … Continue reading Is there anything cooler than a math tattoo? (A: yes, pretty much everything)