The IntMath Newsletter - Dec 2006

By Murray Bourne, 15 Dec 2006

You are receiving the IntMath Newsletter either because you signed up, asked a question, wrote a comment or complimented Interactive Mathematics.

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1. Christmas, Hari Raya and New Year
2. This month's math tips
3. Bouquets on Interactive Mathematics
4. Latest from the math blog
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CHRISTMAS, HARI RAYA and NEW YEAR MATH

There is some interesting mathematics involved in the religious events happening this month.

Did you know...?

• A Roman festival on the 25th December celebrated the Winter Solstice (the shortest day of the year). The solstice has moved during the last 2000 years so that it now falls on Dec 20 or 21.
• Christmas was banned in England in 1647.
• This year, Hari Raya Haji falls on 31 December. It is the tenth day of the twelfth month in the lunar Islamic calendar and celebrates part of the pilgrimage to Mecca. There are 354 days in the Islamic calendar year (12 full moons). The next Islamic New Year will be 20 January 2007 (It will be year 1428).
• New Year's Day used to be on 25 March, up until 1753 when it was changed to 1 January. They changed it because they
forgot about leap years, so the calendar had gone out of synch.

THIS MONTH'S MATH TIPS

1. A good way to learn mathematics is to teach it. Yes, I'm serious. By figuring out how to explain math to your friend, or younger sister, or someone that you are tutoring, you understand it better and learn it more deeply.

2. THIS week, read over what is going on in NEXT week's math class. Then when your teacher covers it, you will understand better. Also, you will be able to help your friends with the parts you already know. And in the process, you become more confident in your mathematics.

LATEST BOUQUET

From Michael: Your mathematics site is absolutely brilliant and it is so easy to navigate through your sitemap. Hidden answers are excellent and LiveMath makes the site so dynamic. The aside information is super.

LATEST FROM THE MATH BLOG:

1) THE TRUE COST OF THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS
There is an index that tracks the total cost of the items in the song "12 Days of Christmas."

2) SYDNEY AND SINGAPORE TO GET FREE WIRELESS BROADBAND
The Sydney CBD is to get free WiFi broadband connectivity sometime in the next 3 years. But Singapore's is already happening and it will go island-wide by Sep 2007.

3) MOZILLA WIKI - COLLABORATIVE FIREFOX CREATION
The development of Firefox has been a collaborative affair using a wiki to keep track of it all.

Be the first to comment below.

Comment Preview

HTML: You can use simple tags like <b>, <a href="...">, etc.

To enter math, you can can either:

1. Use simple calculator-like input in the following format (surround your math in backticks, or qq on tablet or phone):
a^2 = sqrt(b^2 + c^2)
(See more on ASCIIMath syntax); or
2. Use simple LaTeX in the following format. Surround your math with $$and$$.
$$\int g dx = \sqrt{\frac{a}{b}}$$
(This is standard simple LaTeX.)

NOTE: You can mix both types of math entry in your comment.