“researchers in the u.k. have developed
a vegetable called ‘super broccoli’
designed to fight heart disease.
not to be outdone,
researchers in america have developed
a way to stuff an oreo inside of another oreo.”
-jimmy fallon
Aug13
Tag Archives: math
Feb3
puzzled.
that moment when you realize
after you’ve laid out
and built the frame
of a large detailed 1,000 piece puzzle
that you may have assembled
the perfectly symmetrical framing
upside down
with no way now to turn it without breaking it
due to the limited table size dimensions
(damn math)
and might likely have to build the whole thing upside down.
—
“the art of simplicity is a puzzle of complexity.”
-douglas horton
Nov7
how far?
my first step in the parks in my first pair of shoes
steps in the parks somewhere in the middle
my last step in the parks in my last pair of shoes
—
with all of this stepping into the parks
i thought it was be easy and interesting
to look back and see just how far i had walked
using multiple sources
and multiple attempts
it turned into quite an impossible task
as each park was shaped differently
i had walked in no particular pattern
and converting the 2061.6 total acres into distance
proved to be a bit more complicated than i expected.
s0me of my early rough calculations
(having dinosaurs on the paper seemed fitting)
scenes of me asking the big questions
with no definitive answers
i went to my daughters
who tried to create an algorithm for me
but they again pointed out that i had no consistent shape of the acreage
nor did a have a consistent path of travel through them
—
i then went online to an international group
of physicists, mathmeticians, engineers, etc. to seek their answers
here is a sampling:
after walking 2,061.6 acres of parks, how far have I traveled in distance?
can’t convert an area into a distance… If you walked the entire area of the parks so as to pass within 20m of each point, this would be 250 miles at least.
While metric units are usually easier to work with, an acre represents an area of a chain (22yds or 20m) x a furlong (220 yds / 200m) which is 1/8 of a mile. If you were a medieval ploughman, an acre (from the Latin ager = field) would be a strip 22yds wide and 220yds long. But now it’s any shape at all with that area of 4840 sq yds or 1/640 of a square mile.
Best way to work out your distance will be with a gps app. Download the Viewranger app, get it to record your track, then it’ll tell you the exact distance. Other gps apps are available.
and :
There is no way to tell. You tell us areas but not distances, nor do you give us times or velocity.
—
i have decided that according to my calculations
my final answer is that i traveled pretty far
during the time i spent covering the 2,061.6 acres
and interesting coincidence
the last park on the list
the last steps i took
were in a park at the top of the very street
where i first lived in ann arbor
in my rattletrap apartment with no money
when i moved here at age 40
having quit my job to go to grad school
and change the course of my life
this long journey with it’s twisty and immeasurable path
had somehow led me straight home.
—
‘only those who will risk going too far
can possibly find out how far one can go.’
– t.s. eliott
Apr12
the math of trees.
when looking at the trees on the kinder playground
it’s easy to see how tall the little people are
the green does not dare begin until it is
above and safely out of the reach of their tiny hands
even if they are standing on tippy toes
pulling, climbing, bending, picking, snapping
the trees do the math and live to tell the tale.
—
“trees and plants always look like the people they live with, somehow.”
-zora neale hurston
Mar27
time after time.
a clock that forces you to do math to find out the time
The Albert Clock is no simple timepiece. In fact, it requires you to think pretty hard. It will tell you the time of day, but only if you can do the math to read it, as Nerdist reports.
Designed by the Paris-based Axel Schindlbeck, the clock is meant to be a mental workout, providing the mathematical calisthenics you need to keep your number skills sharp. It’s technically designed for classrooms and kids, but adults need to practice their multiplication tables regularly, too.
The digital clock has four different levels to help you ramp up your addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division abilities over time. For a real challenge, you can program it to change equations more often than every minute, so you’re presented with a new time-telling puzzle every 10 seconds.
The wall-mounted clock retails for about $300, but you can also download a mobile version of the design for free. It will make you yearn for the simplicity of analog clocks in no time.
(if i had to wake up to this, i might opt for just using the sun or wildly guessing instead)
—
“the two most powerful warriors are patience and time.”
-leo tolstoy
—
credits: MNTNT, nerdist,shaunacy ferro
Oct19
cups runneth over.
lots of cups and lots of ideas
—
“building art is a synthesis of life in materialised form.
we should try to bring in under the same hat not a splintered way of thinking,
but all in harmony together.”
-alvar aalto
Apr18
stumble not.
traveling with my co-workers
to meet fellow educators
i was faced with a snap decision.
with one of us busy on her phone
working to get transportation from the airport
and the other already at the bottom
i suddenly realized i was left carrying two rolling bags.
while standing at the top of the moving stairs
and people piling up behind me.
i quickly did the math
and decided that:
me – one human
plus
they – two rolling bags
would probably not all
safely make it down at the same time.
so instead of a minus one situation
at the end of the equation
i heaved my companion’s bag
right onto the escalator
all on it’s own
let it just gently bounce and roll down
figured it could take care of itself
alerted them to look out for it at the bottom
though when they looked up
they were too busy laughing
to realize the gravity of the situation
and somehow
it all ended well.
humans and bags both
none the worse for wear.
survival instinct kicked in
at just the right moment.
and that is why we are teachers.
we are always learning.
i feel that i might be good in a landslide situation.
or a kindergarten classroom.
—
“let thy step be slow and steady, that thou stumble not.”
-ieyasu tokugawa
Aug17
roller coaster math.
what do you think, little f,
should we have another baby one day ?
no.
why not?
because of the roller coaster.
what?
the roller coaster.
why?
because then you’d have 3
and someone would always
have to sit alone.
yes, i see now.
—
life is a roller coaster; you can either scream every time you hit a bump
or you can throw your hands up in the air and enjoy!
– author unknown
—
image credit: the coaster critic.com
Aug6
patience is the ability to idle your motor when you feel like stripping your gears. – barbara johnson
four swings
divided by
six cousins
equals
one each
with
a
remainder of two
and
many
seems like forever
wait times.
Feb3
real world math lesson
the number of chipped nails directly correlate with the number of miles a person travels.
(20 freshly manicured nails + 240 miles = 17 nails without chips + 3 nails with chips = 1 nail chip per 80 miles)
real world example: had my nails done just before leaving on a trip across the planet to western australia. on the first leg of the trip, very early on, after a one hour flight to make my first connection in chicago, i noticed 2 fingernails and one toenail were already chipped. i wondered what shape i would be in by the time i arrived in perth.
conclusion: after 11,181 miles traveled? i considered myself lucky to have any nails at all. i’m going to go out on a limb and say that if i had been a colonial pioneer woman, traveling across our country, in my covered wagon, clothed in calico, with my churn, 6+ children, and skinny cow, i most likely would not have been able to maintain a french manicure.
I didn't have my glasses on.... 
