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Archive for May, 2015

Trig Ratios Unplugged

May31

Sine, Cosine and Tangent are the three main trigonometric or Trig Ratios. Before we look at these in more detail, where did these strange terms come from? Trigonometric functions were studied by Hipparchus of Nicaea (180–125 BC), Ptolemy of Egypt (90–165 AD), Aryabhata (476–550), Varahamihira, Brahmagupta, Ulugh Beg and others (14th century). The word “sine” […]

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Thinking about numbers…

May27

Can you find the pattern? (see Post Support if you need help)

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End game for game theorist

May25

In a tragic event, John Nash, who’s life was immortalized in the 2001 movie “A Beautiful Mind” died (along with his wife) in a car accident just recently. They had just returned from Norway where Mr Nash received The Able Prize for solving a Geometry problem that had puzzled mathematicians. The Abel Prize (worth about […]

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Now that looks really weird!

May20

Lakes in the desert, the moon larger when it is on the horizon, Escher’s famous sketches – and, then this recent pic which somehow doesn’t quite seem right? The scale is not correct…or, is it? (For an explanation, check out the Post Support.) Optical illusions are a fun way to get connected with Spacial Geometry. […]

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Talking about Math…let’s change the subject!

May11

So, you are at a friend’s party and they ask, “What did you do in the weekend?” You reply, “Well, I did a bit of Math and…” Whaaat?” they say, startled. “You did What???” “Mathematics!” “And what kind of Math did you do that made your weekend so exciting?” “Change the subject!” you say to […]

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The seagull effect or…what’s all this flap about decimal rounding?

May10

In 1961, Edward Lorenz was putting data into a weather prediction program and mistakenly entered 0.506 rather than the longer and more accurate 0.506127. Now, this was not really an error, was it? After all, we round to 3 decimal places all the time in high school Mathematics? However, the abbreviated entry resulted in a […]

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The Microwave is in the Dish!

May6

The Dish is a 2000 Australian film that tells a partly true, and quite funny story of the Parkes Observatory’s role in relaying live television of man’s first steps on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. It was the top grossing film in Australia in 2000. Today, scientists at the radio telescope […]

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New Tools to Explain old Newton Equations

May5

One of history’s great geniuses, Isaac Newton (yes, the mathematician with the curly hair sitting under the apple tree), developed differential equations in the 1600s. But we aren’t all geniuses, so here’s the definition given in Differential Equations for Dummies (caution – this link downloads over 300 pages!) such equations “involve derivatives, which specify how […]

Post Support

Largest number between o and 1 million which does not contain the ‘n’ is 88

 

Rotation SAT Problem: Answer: 4 (see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUHkTs-Ipfg)

 

Which number has its letters in alphabetical order? Answer: F O R T Y

Hidden Rabbit? Clue: check the trees

How long for the stadium to fill? 45 minutes.

Where are you? the North Pole

Prize Object Puzzle: If Sue does not know where the prize is in the first question, it can’t be under the square. She must have been told it is under another shape. Apply this same logic to Colin. It is then obvious that the prize cannot be under a yellow object. That helps Sue eliminate her yellow shapes. Got the idea?

Algebra Puzzle: Answer = 1

Popular Math Problems Answers: 1, 1

Number of tabs? According to Lifehacker, the ideal number of tabs you should have open is nine. Yes, a single digit. To some, this is like playing a piano and only using a fraction of the notes!

Worst Graph? Where to start. What a visual mess and even some of the lines merge and are impossible to follow. A graph is a visual display of data, with the goal to identify trends or patterns. This is a spider’s web of information which fails to show a clear pattern at all. Solution? Well, different colors would help, or why not group in two or three graphs where trends are similar?

Number of different nets to make a cube is eleven – see this link

Homework Puzzle; The total value of the counters is 486, so halve this to get 243. Now, arrange the counters to equal this amount twice.

The graph on the left (Coronavirus) is for a time period of 30 days, while the one on the right (SARS) is for 8 months! Very poor graphical comparison and hardly relevant, unless it is attempting to downplay the seriousness of the coronavirus?

10 x 9 x 8 + (7 + 6) x 5 x 4 x (3 + 2) x 1 = 2020

NCEA Level 2 Algebra Problem. Using the information given, the shaded area = 9, that is:
y(y-8) = 9 –> y.y – 8y – 9 =0
–> (y-9)(y+1) = 0, therefore y = 9 (can’t have a distance of – 1 for the other solution for y)
Using the top and bottom of the rectangle,
x = (y-8)(y+2) = (9-8)(9+2) = 11
but, the left side = (x-4) = 11-4 = 7, but rhs = y+? = 9+?, which is greater than the value of the opp. side??
[I think that the left had side was a mistake and should have read (x+4)?]

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