More math food blogging: I may need some help from my Southern friends.

I think I may have an eating problem. Or just a eating mathematically problem. Here's my problem today. Delicious, delicious pigs-in-a-blanket (from pillsbury.com): Pigs-in-a-blanket, for the uninitiated, are little hot dog/sausage type things warmly embraced by crescent rolls dough. In fact, that's the ingredient list: Little sausages. A can of crescent rolls dough. Cooking instructions: Wrap those … Continue reading More math food blogging: I may need some help from my Southern friends.

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)

Red Solo Cup / I Lift You Up / Let’s Find the Volume! / Let’s Find the Volume!

Hat tip to @mathhombre. Artifact The red Solo cup, apparently. Guiding Questions What are those little markings between 12 oz and "Top Me Off, Bro"? Can you use proportions to find it? Similar polygons? Volume? Help me out here. Can I have a ruler? Can I use Geogebra to diagram this? Wait, can't I just … Continue reading Red Solo Cup / I Lift You Up / Let’s Find the Volume! / Let’s Find the Volume!

Can we make an even “edgier” brownie pan? What about the “perfect” brownie pan?

Artifact This, my friends, is part math, part food, part art, all deliciousness: It's the all edge brownie pan, which I found from my new Favorite Website of All Time, Reasons to Go Broke. Here's the description from the Amazon page (perfect 5-star rating): "For corner brownie fans and chewy edge lovers, it's a dream … Continue reading Can we make an even “edgier” brownie pan? What about the “perfect” brownie pan?

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

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.

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

Post-it Notes animation

Artifact This video of some amazing stop-motion animation using post-its dubbed 'Deadline.' Guiding Questions How long did this take? What's the time-length of each frame? How many post-its were used? How many of each color? Something about coordinate transformation? Can we do this? Suggested Activities Have students use coordinate geometry and transformations to make their … Continue reading Post-it Notes animation