All posts by lspady

#56: Math and Animation

Math Mini Sparks

In the videos for this mini spark, Tony DeRose from Pixar talks about 3D animated characters and the math involved to make them look so smooth.  It turns out there is a TON of math behind some of our favorite animated films, and it starts with some of the math learned in middle school!

Spark your math thinking!

  1. Set up your math mini spark recording page: #56: Math and Animation
  2. Watch the videos linked below and share 10 new items you about math and animation that you learned

3.  After watching the videos, click on this link and answer the questions.

4. Share your math mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

Check out the Pixar in a Box Badge from the EY website.

#55: Coordinate Geometry

Math Mini Sparks, Uncategorized

Coordinate Geometry is one of my favorite areas of math.  There’s just something about getting a sheet of ordered pairs and carefully plotting them on graph paper…connecting the dots to reveal a picture.  If that’s your sort of thing too, check out Option 3 below.  Happy plotting!

Spark your math thinking!

1. Set up your math mini spark recording page:#55: Coordinate Geometry

2. Learn the basics of coordinate geometry by watching this video.  Take picture notes on your recording sheet. 

3. Read about the inventor of coordinate plane geometry, Rene Descartes.

4. This video gives a musical explanation of his accomplishments.  Put together a note page about him.

5. Print out (or have your teacher print out) this project. Plot the ordered pairs on the graph paper and reveal a spooky surprise!  Take a picture of your completed drawing and send it to the EY Coordinator at your building.

6. Create your own coordinate plane art. Plot the points and connect them with the colored lines. Take a picture after you have practiced for at least 10 minutes.

7. Share your math mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

#53: Cribbage

Math Mini Sparks, Uncategorized

My family enjoys playing pitch,  31, sevens and trash.  However, my absolute FAVORITE game is cribbage!  It involves strategy and math, which is why I like it so much!

Spark your math thinking!

  1. Set up your math mini spark recording page: #53: Cribbage
  2. Read about cribbage and record some details.
  3. What is one “thing to remember” when playing cribbage.
  4. Record this information. In cribbage, the Jokers are removed from the deck. The Ace is worth 1. The face cards (Jack, Queen, and King) are each worth 10. The other cards (2 through 9) are each worth their number value
  5. Here are some of the ways you can earn points when playing cribbage.
One of the ways to earn points in cribbage is to have cards that add up to fifteen.  In the picture below, the King and one of the 5’s make 15 so that is 2 points.  The King and the other 5 also make 15, which is another 2 points.  You might notice that there is a 5 that is face up on the deck.  This can also be paired with the King for 15 for another 2 points.  Finally, the three 5’s (2 in the hand and one on the deck) add up to 15.  This is an additional 2 points.IMG_8825When you have a pair of the same card, you earn 2 points.  The pair could be in your hand, or one of your cards could be paired with the card that is face up on the deck.  If you have 3-of-a-kind, that is worth 6 points.  In the picture above, there are two 5’s in the hand and one 5 face up on the deck.  Not only does that make 15, but it is also 3-of-a-kind which earns you 6 points.
A “flush” is when you have 4 or more of the same suit (clubs, spades, hearts, or diamonds).  If you had 4 hearts in your hand, you would earn 4 points.  If the card that is face up on the deck is also a heart, you would get 5 points.  The hand below shows 5 clubs so you would get 5 points.
Hand7
A “run of 3” is when you have 3 cards in numerical order.  You could also have a run of 4 or 5 cards.  Let’s say you had a 3, 4, 5, and 6 in your hand.  You would have a “run of 4” which is 4 points.  If the card on the deck was a 2 or 7, you would have a run of 5.  The hand below shows a run of 5.
RunOf5

6. The pictures below show several cribbage hands.  See if you can add up the points correctly!  Record the “hand #” and an explanation of the total points.

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7. What are other ways you can earn points in a cribbage game?  Do a little research and to find some.

        8. Share your math mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

Check out the Cribbage Master Badge from the EY website.

#49: Cool Jobs that Involve Math

Math Mini Sparks, Uncategorized

Yep! That job requires math! Math is so much more than a bunch of problems on a worksheet or even a series of problems on a website or app.  Begin to imagine the creative ways in which mathematics plays a role in a variety of careers!

Spark your math thinking!

  1. Set up your math mini spark recording page: #49: Cool Jobs that Involve Math
  2. Read Cool Jobs: Math as entertainment from Science News for Students.    Pick out one of the jobs mentioned in the article and write about how math is involved in this career.
  3. Read about high school seniors who are getting a head start on their math careers at Society for Science.  Summarize 4 of the projects that were awarded money prizes at the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2024.
  4. How about being a magician for a career? Arthur Benjamin has a super cool TED Talk.

5. Magician Arthur Benjamin mentions that his favorite number is 2,520 because it is the smallest, yes I said smallest, number divisible by all the numbers 1 through 10.  Prove this by doing the math on your recording sheet.

6.  Robotics might be an area of interest for you. Read this article about a few robotics career options. Make a note taking page about these options.

7. Share your math mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

#48: Music and Math

Math Mini Sparks

Music is a powerful communication tool–it causes us to laugh, cry, think and question.  Music is also connected to math!

Spark your math thinking!

  1. Set up your math mini spark recording page:#48: Music and Math
  2. In this You Tube video,  drummer Clayton Cameron breaks down different genres of music and shows how different styles of music rely on math. Watch Clayton Cameron’s video and write about something new you learned.

3. Read this Kennedy Center article about math showing up in music and record a few new ideas.

4. Watch this video about the Fibonacci Sequence and how it shows up in music. Record 3 ideas on your recording page.

**Advanced option-this article goes into much more detail music and the Fibonacci Sequence.

5. Share your math mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

#47: iPad Math

Math Mini Sparks

Go ahead…play some games on your iPad! For this mini spark, we want you to play some games.  That’s right, games!

Spark your math thinking!

1. Set up your math mini spark recording page: #47: iPad Math

NOTE: For this mini spark you need to get your teacher’s permission before you start.

2. Make 4 sections on your recording page.

3.  This site has several math games intended for the iPad.  You will choose 4 games to play for this mini spark. For each game you play you will follow the same process

  • Set your timer for 5 minutes
  • When the timer goes off, write a short review of each game
  • Include this information for each game:

The name of the game you played               

The grade level you think the game is appropriate for

The hardest part about the game.

The easiest part about the game.  

Did you like the game?  Why or why not?

4. Share your math mini spark recording page  with your teacher/EY coordinator.

#46: Coding Polygons

Math Mini Sparks

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Several of you have caught the “Hopscotch Bug” and are creating AMAZING things in Hopscotch!  For this week’s Math Minute, you’ll be using Hopscotch to draw some polygons. Please email the EY coordinator in your building about creating a Hopscotch account.

How can you spend your Math Minutes this week?
  • Start by watching this video
  • Copy the chart from the video onto a piece of paper, or create the chart on your iPad.  NOTE:  You can go past a 12-sided figure if you want.
  • As the video suggests, fill in the chart with the remaining information (polygon names and angles).
  • Send a picture of your completed chart and a screenshot of the polygons you created in Hopscotch.

Screen Shot 2015-04-28 at 9.23.47 PM

  • Explore this website by increasing and decreasing the number of sides on a polygon.  Watch the angles change as you do this.  While on the website, explore and find the answers to the following questions:
    • What are regular polygons?
    • What are convex and concave polygons?
    • What are supplementary angles?  What does that have to do with this activity?
    • How did you figure out which number to enter for the degrees in the Turn Command in Hopscotch?
  • Leave a comment with the answer to one of the questions above and/or post any new information you learned/observations you made.   Remember when leaving a comment to include your first name, grade, and school (i.e. Trevor, 3, Sunset).
Happy Coding!

#45: High Tech Cars

Math Mini Sparks

Car brands are making impressive advances in the field of self driving cars. These breakthroughs combine advanced safety systems to help reduce driver fatigue by assisting with acceleration, braking and steering. There are also high tech adaptations that can help people with disabilities accommodate their driving needs.

Spark your math thinking!

  1. Set up your math mini spark recording page: #45: High Tech Cars
  2. Read several of the sections from this article about self driving cars. Record what you learned.
  3. Check out this video of Sam Schmidt’s High-Tech modified corvette!  The 3 minute video is chock-full of speeds, measurements, and high-tech components!  Imagine being able to drive a car without the use of your hands and legs!

4. On your recording sheet, document any numbers mentioned in the video (speeds, measurements, etc.).

5. Read this article to find out more about Sam Schmidt and the semi-autonomous motorcar he drove.  Write about something new you learned or a new question you have after reading the article.

6. Read about flying cars at Wonderopolis.  Record information about this topic.

7. Share your math mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

#43: Exploring Binary Numbers

Math Mini Sparks, Uncategorized

01001001 00100000 01101100 01101111 01110110 01100101 00100000 01101101 01100001 01110100 01101000 00100000 01101101 01101001 01101110 01101001 00100000 01110011 01110000 01100001 01110010 01101011 01110011

No, I didn’t just type a bunch of random 0’s and 1’s above.  I actually typed a sentence into a binary translator site and had it converted to binary.  Our number system (Base 10), uses 10 digits…0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.  In the binary number system (Base 2), there are only 2 digits…0s and 1s.  It’s a little confusing at first, but once you get the hang of it, it can actually be quite fun!

Spark your math thinking!

  1. Set up your math mini spark recording page: #43: Exploring Binary Numbers
  2. Watch this Binary Number System vide to get started. Take notes along with the teacher. Pause the video as needed.

3. Use the Binary Translator site to figure out what all those 1s and 0s at the top of this post mean.  record the answer on your recording sheet.

4. Then come up with your own sentence to translate to 1s and 0s and put it on your recording sheet.

5. Watch this video where Instagram’s Kevin Systrom explains how binary numbers play into pixels and images.  There’s a LOT of information in this video and it goes fast.  Feel free pause it, re-watch it, etc.

6. There are 10 types of people in this world…those who understand binary and those who don’t. Hopefully after completing this math mini spark you’ll “get” the joke!  🙂

Share your math mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

#42: Multiplying Cheese and Milk

Math Mini Sparks

This mini spark is about fractions and multiplying cheese and milk.

Spark your math thinking!

1. Set up your math mini spark recording page: #42: Multiplying Cheese and Milk

2. This is a clip from my absolute favorite Home Improvement episode.  Most of you are probably too young to remember the show, but you can catch re-runs sometimes or find them on You Tube.  This particular episode is related to math and talks about some of the “crazy” rules and words mathematicians use

3.  The steps to multiplying fractions can be confusing.  Watch this video as a reminder. Do the math along with the teacher in the video. mult_fractions

 

 

 

4. Figure out the answer to Jill’s “cheese milk” recipe:  1 1/2 lbs of cheese x 1 1/2 gallons of milk. Record the all of the math and the answer.

5. There are times when a math item can be called different names.  In the video above, they called mixed numbers, compound fractions. My favorite math word is radical! It can also be called root symbol. I like it so much I had a shirt made! Do a little research and find some math terms that go by more than one name.

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6. Share your math mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY  coordinator.