My Learning Journey: algebra

Showing posts with label algebra. Show all posts

Friday, 13 June 2014

Why is x the unknown?

Terry Moore's Ted Talk about why 'x' is used to represent the unknown.

Terry Moore directs the Radius Foundation in New York, which, as its website says, "seeks new ways of exploring and understanding dissimilar conceptual systems or paradigms - scientific, religious, philosophical, and aesthetic - with the aim to find a world view of more complete insight and innovation."

Tuesday, 27 May 2014

Desmos - the best Internet Graphical Calculator

Desmos is a simple to use but complex internet-based graphical calculator. It can be accessed on the majority of devices including i-Pads (i-Pad App here). Most importantly, it's FREE!

Introducing the Desmos Calculator - DESMOSINC

The screenshot below shows the basic functions:

A Desmos account is quick to set up, enabling you to save graphs. By connecting Desmos to your Google account, graphs can be quickly saved to Google Drive. Graphs can also be uploaded and shared to the wider Desmos community. Or simply, graphs can be used on your blog:

Where to start? DESMOS Quick Start Guide or try it's dedicated Youtube Channel with a number of How-to Videos to help you get started.

Desmos has a growing on-line community and is developing lots of resources for Mathematics teachers, via Desmos blog with resources by Dan Meyer and Fawn Nguyen amongst others. Further resources are available on youtube:

DESMOSLIVE: An Exploration of DESMOS by Mathalicious

Desmos has a fun and creative side.

Stopwatch created by Ania Kuriata

See more at Desmos staff picks. These graphs can be saved to your area, allowing you to see how it was made. Just showing these pictures to younger students has allowed me to introduce and discuss more complex topics (e.g. equations of circles and ranges/domains) without frightening them off. It also allows for them to see applications with the real world, especially animation (see my previous blog, Mathematics and the Movies)

From a teacher's point of view, Desmos is very quick to pick up. It has a Projector Mode which makes class presentations clear for students. It is dynamic and simple to animate, leading to clear explanations. Graphs are easily saved and retrievable. Best of all, due to it being FREE, it has a growing community of teachers who share freely their resources. I LOVE DESMOS!

A special thank you to Eli Luberoff (Founder and CEO of Desmos)

Colleen Young has written extensively about Desmos on her excellent blog Mathematics, Learning and Web 2.0

Saturday, 17 May 2014

Mathematics and the Movies

I am fascinated about real-world applications for mathematics. This week, I introduced the equation of a straight-line to some of my classes and the usual question emerged, "Why are we learning about this?". So I showed them this excellent video - Pixar: The math behind the movies by Tony DeRose TED-Ed talk.

Pixar: The math behind the movies - TED-Ed

A discussion followed with lots of questions about special affects. This video by Weta Digital's Academy Award Winners explains their tissue program:

Weta Digital's Academy Award Winners share Tissue Software - Weta Digital

These two videos by ILM Visual FX show the construction of virtual sets and characters (although to admit, they are more visual and give less spoken explanation).