Pythagoras… The P Didddy of Mathematics

Love those videos by Vi Hart. We also love this guy Pythagoras. But do we really know him? There are two great reads that claims that this guy plagiarized the an African Theorem and flipped it as the Pythagoras Theorem.

1. “Stolen Legacy” by George GM James

Pythagoras of Samos

2. “Civilization or Barbarism” by Cheik Anta Diop.

If you really want to get weirded-out, do some research on his cult following.

Fun and Relevant

Words that I am working on to increase in my classroom. The first quarter of school is almost over. In order for my student to stay engaged in learning, I must master these two things in my discipline of mathematics.

I guess I could make the excuse that I do not have enough time to plan such lessons, but in order to get my students where they need to be, I must make sacrifices to make connections to these two words.

So I guess I will attempt to dedicate my next few post to the aforementioned topics.

 

Eh… What’s up, Math Teacher?

What’s up?  This is what’s up…. this link will take you to a TI-73/83/84 FREE emulator called WabbitStudio Z80 Software tools!

It is not as good as TI SmartView, but if you are on a budget, this will do. Here are the directions to create your ROM image for your emulator after downloading the program. Try it out and may you have a great school year!

Yet Another Frickin’ Graphing Calculator Update

Can you actually believe that they are updating the TI-Nspire already? I don’t think that its worth going to Baltimore for NCTM to see it.

Well, maybe so… Looks like they just seperated the numeric and alpha keypad. Unfortunately the keypad is not in the QWERTY format. I wonder if the upgrade is only the keypad upgrade, not the whole kit and kaboodle. Also, I wonder when they will update the TI-84 OS on the TI-Nspire that will allow the cool features of version 2.53MP?!

TI… we need some answers!

________ is a Math Teacher’s Best Friend!

Yes… YouTube is one of the best resources for math teacher! Why? During the Pre-YouTube years, you had to know a dynamite math teacher, attend workshops, conferences, or seminars to see demonstrations of (non-virtual) manipulatives in action.

You can ask any math teacher if they have seen or come across blocks, graphing calculators, protractors, compasses, die, spinners, or the whole frickin’ ETA/Cuisenaire catalog where training was not supplied and DID NOT HAVE A CLUE TO USE IT!

Now, as math educators, this gives us a great reason to create videos (if they are not in YouTube) of HOW to use those pentominoes, 24-Game cards, Ken-Ken/Suduko puzzles, integer chips or even tangrams that has collected dust in our closets and drawers buried underneath posters and miscellaneous teacher crap.

Unifix Suduko & Your Smartboard

 This weekend I picked up a few things from the teacher store in preparation of the 1st day of school. I passed by and ended up picking up this cool Unifix Sudoku game. As you can see, when I got home, I ended up placing the blocks in ROY G. BIV order and numbered the tops to match.

I also created a Smart Notebook file to go with this activity when modelling the activity with my students. This is a great hands-on activity for students of any age that has never played Sudoku. The purpose for placing the numbers on the cubes is for you to create your own puzzles with the help of online resources such as ultra-magnificent logic puzzle site of Vegard Hanssen. I will post later reflecting what the students thought about this game.

The Beast is released: SMART Notebook Math 2009 beta

The other day… The guys over at SMART Technologies has released SMART Notebook Math 2009 (beta). I downloaded and gave it a test run. No overwhelming changes. Kinda would like to know what will happen after my (eval period)166 days are over.

There is an integrated equation editor that apparrently is not available yet (Will have to stick with the online LaTex editor for now). Love the instant coordinate plane tool. Looks like they will have some TI 83/84 integration within notebook which is currently a disabled feature. The polygon tool is a welcome addition along with the measurement tools such as ruler, protractor and yes… a compass. I am looking forward for the continued development of this version of notebook!

Math w/Sports Jerseys

If you get the opportunity, check out the latest issue of  the above ESPN Magazine (Jun 09). It has a great article that has the jersey numbers of great athletes of all sports in numerical order from 00 to 99. Great opportunity for math in action, and test some sports knowledge. I have contemplated in blowing up these two pages and add it to my classroom collage by using rastorbator!

Hip Hop Division

This week I started teaching summer school. One of the few imperative items I go over is basic math terminology. When I discuss the terms of arithmetic problems, I always share this video by 3Xdope with my students to remember the true meaning of dividends in real life and how the video relates to math. Enjoy!

What tha heck is a comptometer?

Here is one of my rainy day posts.

 A few weeks ago, I had a enlightening discussion about calculator usage with one of my fellow mathematicians. She stated that we were actually considered software to the contraption to left. 

This image is identified as a comptometer. Being the nerd that I am, I though I knew of every vintage calculating machine that ever existed to man. However, I learned something new that day. You actually had to be a trained comptometrist to touch this machine; and if you were trained, you were in high demand due to its high learning curve.

My collegue, a trained comptometrist, demonstrated the arithmetic operation manuevers; which to me seems to require great manual dexterity to crunch numbers with speed this way. I recorded it and have it here to share with you. In regards to calculator technology, we have really come a long way. This would be great to share with students to see how easy they have it now and we should not take that calculating device for granted; or even let them do research on this device and other vintage calculators.