In her YouTube video, Amelia entertains us by turning her body with dance into a mathematical visual aid. She also demonstrate the endless ways one can present mathematical concepts.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Driving Math with the Math of Driving
Driving is a serious matter but this is funny.
Visiting family in Kentucky is a heart-stopping experience if only because my brother-in-law drives in the middle of the road, straddling the double yellow lines that separate traffic. My sister-in-law does little to ease my fears. Seeing the horror in my eyes, she once said, "Don't worry. Everyone around here drives in the middles of the road."
[Source: Reader's Digest, June 2009, Life (p. 198)]
Visiting family in Kentucky is a heart-stopping experience if only because my brother-in-law drives in the middle of the road, straddling the double yellow lines that separate traffic. My sister-in-law does little to ease my fears. Seeing the horror in my eyes, she once said, "Don't worry. Everyone around here drives in the middles of the road."
Lisa Walters, Ypsilanti, Michigan
[Source: Reader's Digest, June 2009, Life (p. 198)]
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
10,000 Left Shoes
Who would ever want to have 10,000 left shoes?
Well, here is a story that has stuck in my head for many years. I may be off on the specifics but I believe the just of it is true. And, if not, it could have happened or, in storytelling parlance, it’s plausible.
As I recall, in the mid 1960’s in Israel I read in the paper that a shipment of 10,000 left shoes had arrived in the port of Haifa from Italy. At the time, custom duty rates in Israel were extremely high, especially on such luxury imports. So the importer did not claim the shoes. Besides, what would he do with 10,000 left shoes? Stuck with this load, the custom office did what most custom agencies do with abandoned stuff, it auctioned it off. But no one had any use for 10,000 left shoes so no one made any bid. Well, eventually the original importer made a very low bid and the custom office was happy to get rid of the shoes that took space in its warehouse. So the importer got his 10,000 left shoes practically paying no duty.
A month or two later a shipment of 10,000 right shoes arrived in the port of Haifa and the same importer did not claim them because he did not want to pay the duty…
Surely, you have figured out by now the rest of the story.
Where is the math in this story?
It has to do with sets and how sets can be split, added up and rearranged. A pair of shoes is a set, a very useful set. It can be sold. 10,000 pairs is a set of 10,000 such useful sets. Splitting these pairs into 10,000 left shoes and 10,000 right shoes generates 2 sets containing 10,000 of useless shoes, which no one wants to buy. But then, whoever has both sets can recombine them to form the original 10,000 sets of sellable pairs of shoes.
Well, here is a story that has stuck in my head for many years. I may be off on the specifics but I believe the just of it is true. And, if not, it could have happened or, in storytelling parlance, it’s plausible.
As I recall, in the mid 1960’s in Israel I read in the paper that a shipment of 10,000 left shoes had arrived in the port of Haifa from Italy. At the time, custom duty rates in Israel were extremely high, especially on such luxury imports. So the importer did not claim the shoes. Besides, what would he do with 10,000 left shoes? Stuck with this load, the custom office did what most custom agencies do with abandoned stuff, it auctioned it off. But no one had any use for 10,000 left shoes so no one made any bid. Well, eventually the original importer made a very low bid and the custom office was happy to get rid of the shoes that took space in its warehouse. So the importer got his 10,000 left shoes practically paying no duty.
A month or two later a shipment of 10,000 right shoes arrived in the port of Haifa and the same importer did not claim them because he did not want to pay the duty…
Surely, you have figured out by now the rest of the story.
Where is the math in this story?
It has to do with sets and how sets can be split, added up and rearranged. A pair of shoes is a set, a very useful set. It can be sold. 10,000 pairs is a set of 10,000 such useful sets. Splitting these pairs into 10,000 left shoes and 10,000 right shoes generates 2 sets containing 10,000 of useless shoes, which no one wants to buy. But then, whoever has both sets can recombine them to form the original 10,000 sets of sellable pairs of shoes.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Right on Time
A student returned home from a date at 3 AM. Her parents were very upset, "You're late! You said you'd be home by 11:45!"
"Actually," the girl replied, "I'm right on time. I said I'd be home by 1/4 of 12."
[Origin: unknown; several variations of this joke appear on various web; a version of this joke, submitted by Zhang Wenyi, was published in Reader's Digest, July 2009, "Laugh!:)", p. 27]
"Actually," the girl replied, "I'm right on time. I said I'd be home by 1/4 of 12."
[Origin: unknown; several variations of this joke appear on various web; a version of this joke, submitted by Zhang Wenyi, was published in Reader's Digest, July 2009, "Laugh!:)", p. 27]
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Mathematical Chuck Norris Facts
For the unfamiliar, there is a class of jokes about how awesome Chuck Norris is. Here I will post those with mathematical twist.
• Chuck Norris counted to infinity, twice.
[www.chucknorrisfacts.com, as of 2009-02-22]
• Chuck Norris knows the last digit of pi.
[www.chucknorrisfacts.com/page8.html, as of 2009-02-22]
• Chuck Norris can divide by zero.
[www.chucknorrisfacts.com/page2.html, as of 2009-02-22]
• If you have five dollars and Chuck Norris has five dollars, Chuck Norris has more money than you.
[www.chucknorrisfacts.com, as of 2009-02-22]
• The square-root of -1 is not imaginary. It's just hiding from Chuck Norris.
[Ben, 2009-02-22]
• The shortest distance between two points is Chuck Norris.
[org.]
• The square root of 2 is rational number for Chuck Norris.
[org.]
• Chuck Norris can square the circle, double the cube and trisect an angle using only his fingers for a compass and his arm for a straight edge.
[org.]
• Chuck Norris counted to infinity, twice.
[www.chucknorrisfacts.com, as of 2009-02-22]
• Chuck Norris knows the last digit of pi.
[www.chucknorrisfacts.com/page8.html, as of 2009-02-22]
• Chuck Norris can divide by zero.
[www.chucknorrisfacts.com/page2.html, as of 2009-02-22]
• If you have five dollars and Chuck Norris has five dollars, Chuck Norris has more money than you.
[www.chucknorrisfacts.com, as of 2009-02-22]
• The square-root of -1 is not imaginary. It's just hiding from Chuck Norris.
[Ben, 2009-02-22]
• The shortest distance between two points is Chuck Norris.
[org.]
• The square root of 2 is rational number for Chuck Norris.
[org.]
• Chuck Norris can square the circle, double the cube and trisect an angle using only his fingers for a compass and his arm for a straight edge.
[org.]
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Testing Probability
Flummoxed by his true-false final exam, a student decides to toss a coin up in the air. Heads means true; tails, false. Thirty minutes later, he is done, well before the rest of the class. But then the student startsd flipping the coin again. And soon he's swearing and sweating over each question.
"What's wrong?" asks the concern teacher.
"I'm rechecking my answers," says the student.
[Comic Wendell Potter, Laugh!:), Reader Digest, March 2009, p. 81]
Uri's Comment: It is interesting to note that the student can change any answer that is not confirmed without affecting the probable grade of the test. Of course, for this to be true, the number of questions should be as large as possible. Considering that (a) it took the students 30 min. to finish the test and (b) it takes under 6 seconds to toss a coin and jot down the result, the test could have consisted of 150-300 questions (no need to spend time on reading each question). This test consists of a sufficient number of questions for probability to determine the overall grade.
"What's wrong?" asks the concern teacher.
"I'm rechecking my answers," says the student.
[Comic Wendell Potter, Laugh!:), Reader Digest, March 2009, p. 81]
Uri's Comment: It is interesting to note that the student can change any answer that is not confirmed without affecting the probable grade of the test. Of course, for this to be true, the number of questions should be as large as possible. Considering that (a) it took the students 30 min. to finish the test and (b) it takes under 6 seconds to toss a coin and jot down the result, the test could have consisted of 150-300 questions (no need to spend time on reading each question). This test consists of a sufficient number of questions for probability to determine the overall grade.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Theo Jansen Invent Artificial Life and a New Wheel
Having the modest goal to create artificial life, Theo Jansen not only invented a new wheel, a better wheel, and employed math, geometry and science to new extremes but also successfully accomplished his goal.
Theo Jansen: The art of creating creatures |
Visual Statistics - a Powerful Mathematical View of the World
Hans Rosling: Watch the end of poverty |
With the right mathematical tools, starting with numerical data and using visual representation, Hans Rosling, a Swedish statistician, present an alternative view of the geopolitical world.
Alan Kay: A powerful idea about teaching ideas (TED, 2007)
Alan Kay's brilliant Math-learning tool.
Alan Kay: A powerful idea about teaching ideas |
Auditory & Visual Patterns: The Raspyni Brothers Juggle at TED (Feb. 2008)
Starting at 11:30 (min:sec) of the video clip, listen to the sound of the juggling pins as they hit the jjgglers' palms - the rhythm is an auditory pattern. Freeze frame the video and see their trajectories. These are visual geometric patterns. The two types of patterns coincide.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Brain Teasers, Word Puzzle No. 1
The words listed below have something in common. What is it? For an extra reward, i.e., more satisfaction, can you arrange them in the proper sequence according to this common trait of theirs? And for even more satisfaction, if you are up for the challenge, add the last word of the sequence.
A hint, one word in the list does not share the common attribute. However, in one important respect it does belong to the sequence and therefore serves as a hint to the solution.
The given words are:
Reflection, Cheers, Thousand, Alpha, Scotch, American, Steady, Father, Fourth, Winner, Inn
Solution
A hint, one word in the list does not share the common attribute. However, in one important respect it does belong to the sequence and therefore serves as a hint to the solution.
The given words are:
Reflection, Cheers, Thousand, Alpha, Scotch, American, Steady, Father, Fourth, Winner, Inn
Solution
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Is More Always Worse?
Is it always true that if you have a good thing, then having more of it is better and, conversely, if you got something bad having more of it is worse? Case in point, consider the following situation, which is usually told as a joke:
"What is worse than finding a worm in the apple you are eating?"
"I don't know... Two worms."
"No. Half a worm!"
"What is worse than finding a worm in the apple you are eating?"
"I don't know... Two worms."
"No. Half a worm!"
Friday, December 21, 2007
The Wave - Thousands of People Sharing Fun, Clip No. 2
Alabama A-Day Game 2007: Crowd Doing The Wave |
Thousands of people enjoy doing and watching the wave. The sense of comradeship and sharing is most powerful. But the the beautiful pattern created by the synchronized crowd is magnificent.
The Wave - Thousands of People Sharing Fun, Clip No. 1
Thousands of people enjoy doing and watching the wave. The sense of comradeship and sharing is most powerful. But the the beautiful pattern created by the synchronized crowd is magnificent. You can hear the excitement in the voice of the woman.
[USC vs. Arizona State Football Game]
[USC vs. Arizona State Football Game]
USC vs. Arizona State - Football Game Wave! |
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