IntMath Newsletter: Interactive ellipses, Wolfram Education Portal
By Murray Bourne, 17 Feb 2012
17 February 2012
In this Newsletter:
1. Interactive ellipse graphs
2. Wolfram's Education Portal
3. Puzzle
4. IntMath Poll: Feelings about math
5. Friday math movies
6. Final thought - moving slowly
1. Interactive ellipse graphs
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New on IntMath.com! Here are some graphs that help you understand basic concepts of ellipses. It doesn't matter if you haven't studied this topic yet - it will still be useful. Go to: |
2. Wolfram's Education Portal
This is a new offering (free for now) from Worlfram, the makers of Mathematica, Wolfram|Alpha and the Demonstrations Project.
They have developed a series of math courses using their new CDF (Computable Document Format) technology, which are basically interactive text books.
Here's the link: Wolfram Education Portal
The courses available at the bottom of that page so far include several algebra topics like:
- Equations and Functions
- Graphs of Equations and Functions
- Graphing Linear Inequalities
- Introduction to Probability
- Solving Systems of Equations and Inequalities
- Exponential Functions
- Quadratic Equations and Functions
Coming soon is calculus, and a math question practice feature.
You'll need to download the (free) CDF player (it's easy and quick) and sign up (also painless). In tiny font, it says:
"Wolfram Education Portal is now is avaliable for free, but it might be paid after the official release."
Certainly worth checking out while it's free! Wolfram Education Portal
3. Puzzle
I had many requests to bring back the puzzle feature. So here we go.
Question: The Egyptians used only unit fractions (that is, the numerator was 1). So they would write 3/5 as 1/2 + 1/10. How would they write 11/13?
You can only use addition (not minus) and use as few fractions as possible. You can submit your answer here.
4. IntMath poll: Feelings about Math
The recent IntMath Poll asked readers how they feel about math. Here are the results.
The best way to describe how I feel about math is:
I enjoy math
41%
It’s OK but I find it hard
30%
I hate math
24%
No strong opinion
4%
It's sad that 1/4 of the respondents answered with a negative view about math. Hopefully IntMath has helped some of them to like it some more!
Current poll: The current poll asks if you think the math you are studying will be useful for your future job.
You can answer on any page in IntMath.com
5. Friday math movies
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(a) Ken Robinson animated How can we fix education? This is a clever animation of Ken Robinson's ideas, talking about why education often doesn't work as intended. |
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(b) How it feels to have a stroke Here's a story about a brain scientist who had a massive stroke at age 37 - and who lived to tell the fascinating tale. |
6. Final thought: moving slowly
For many students, math class goes very slowly. Here's a Chinese saying that's worth thinking about.
Don't worry about moving slowly, worry about standing still. [Chinese proverb]
Until next time, enjoy whatever you learn.
See the 25 Comments below.
