{"id":5820,"date":"2011-03-14T20:43:26","date_gmt":"2011-03-14T12:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/?p=5820"},"modified":"2017-02-12T12:27:54","modified_gmt":"2017-02-12T04:27:54","slug":"intmath-newsletter-pi-day-new-obesity-index-resources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/letters\/intmath-newsletter-pi-day-new-obesity-index-resources-5820","title":{"rendered":"IntMath Newsletter: Pi Day, new obesity index, resources"},"content":{"rendered":"

14 Mar 2011 - Pi Day <\/p>\n

In this Newsletter:<\/p>\n

1. Latest feedback - IntMath reduces math anxiety
\n 2. Let's drop pi<\/strong>
\n 3. New measure of obesity - body adiposity index (BAI)
\n 4. Resource - FREE (Federal Resources for Educational Excellence)
\n 5. Friday math movies: (a) Pi Day Song and (b) Conrad Wolfram on Teaching kids real math with computers
\n 6. Final thought \u2013 Positive results<\/p>\n

Happy Pi Day!<\/strong> Today's packed Newsletter includes some articles and a video about Pi. <\/p>\n

Did you know?<\/strong> The symbol for pi (π<\/span>) was introduced by the English mathematician William Jones in 1706 and adopted by Leonhard Euler in 1737 as the standard symbol. Pi is the value of the circumference of a circle divided by its diameter. <\/p>\n

And let's not forget it's Einstein<\/strong>'s birthday today as well. He would have been 132 today. <\/p>\n

1. Latest feedback - IntMath reduces math anxiety <\/h2>\n

A few months back I helped reader Lyzette (in South Africa) overcome some math struggles during her senior school year.<\/p>\n

She has been accepted into university. I receieved this great feedback from her recently. <\/p>\n

This is important - if students have an anxiety block about math, they will never reach their potential. Lyzette writes: <\/p>\n

\n

I hope you are doing very well<\/p>\n

I've been accepted at an agricultural university & I'm enjoying it immensely. For the first time in my life Maths is my favorite subject. We do Bio Maths & applied calculations, relevant to the particular agricultural route we want to take. In my case it's wine making. Lots of volumes, areas & rates of change calculations \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

I noticed that a few other students have Math anxiety & harbor a very negative attitude toward calculations simply because something fundamental is not making sense to them. I suggested the Intmath.com<\/a> website to 3 of the students who happen to be my friends. In just a few short weeks their mathematical confidence has been boosted \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

I thought you might like to hear positive feedback from way back here in Africa.<\/p>\n

Lyzette<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Thanks Lyzette! All the best to you and your university friends.<\/p>\n

2. Let's drop pi<\/h2>\n

Suitable for:<\/strong> Everyone.<\/p>\n

Here's my Pi Day article. It's about a proposal to drop using "pi" and use an alternative circle constant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"pi<\/a><\/td>\n\n

Should we use a symbol other than pi? <\/p>\n

Is pi wrong?<\/p>\n

Find out more in Let's Drop Pi<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Here are some more recent articles about Pi. I hope you find them interesting:<\/p>\n