Happy Pi Day, from Vi Hart:
Happy Birthday, Einstein (Part 2)
Today would be Albert Einstein’s 133rd birthday. At MinutePhysics, the celebration continues:
More Einstein Videos
Happy Birthday, Einstein!
March 14th is Pi Day, and it’s also Albert Einstein’s birthday. In honor of Einstein, MinutePhysics is posting a series of videos on his “wonder year” of 1905, when he published several papers that eventually earned him the Nobel Prize.
More Einstein Videos
Leap Years and the Number 29
Astronomer Dr Meghan Gray explains how messed up our calendar is. The mis-match between the length of a day and the time it takes the earth to travel around the sun makes a leap year necessary. From Numberphile.
Fibonacci Numbers and Plants
Have you ever wondered why so many plants grow in Fibonacci Numbers? Vi Hart offers a great explanation (with hands-on activities) in these three videos — and she introduces a new species called the slugcat, which my daughter thinks is adorable.
Spirals, Fibonacci, and Being a Plant [1 of 3]
Build Problem-Solving Skills with Board Games
Board games are a celebration of problem solving, and problem solving is at the heart of a quality mathematics education… The mathematics might be hidden, but I guarantee you that it will be there.
— Gordon Hamilton, MathPickle.com
Commercial Games 8
Continue reading Build Problem-Solving Skills with Board Games
Christmas Math from Vi Hart
You can find just the song here: http://vihart.com/music/gauss12days.mp3.
Carnival Reminder
Send in your submission for the Math Teachers at Play blog carnival by Wednesday night.
While you’re waiting for Friday’s carnival, check out the new Carnival of Mathematics.
Understanding Algebra: How Many Roots?
In algebra 1, we spend a lot of time working with quadratic equations. Among other things, we want to know how many roots (solutions) an equation has and whether the roots are real or imaginary numbers.
One way to visualize this is by asking:
- “Which values of x will make the equation equal to zero — that is, will make the graph cross the x-axis?”
I wish my algebra teacher had explained it like James Tanton does. It makes so much sense!
Triangular Numbers: Sum from 1 to N
Kitten and I covered triangular numbers a couple months ago in our Competition Math for Middle School book, but I think it’s time to revisit the topic. I like the method James Tanton gives in this new video:
Denise Gaskins' Let's Play Math 