{"id":7045,"date":"2012-02-17T09:54:24","date_gmt":"2012-02-17T01:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/?p=7045"},"modified":"2018-01-29T18:18:20","modified_gmt":"2018-01-29T10:18:20","slug":"intmath-newsletter-interactive-ellipses-wolfram-education-portal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/letters\/intmath-newsletter-interactive-ellipses-wolfram-education-portal-7045","title":{"rendered":"IntMath Newsletter: Interactive ellipses, Wolfram Education Portal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>17 February  2012<\/p>\n<p>In this Newsletter:<\/p>\n<p>1. Interactive ellipse graphs <br \/>\n  2. Wolfram's Education Portal <br \/>\n  3. Puzzle <br \/>\n  4. IntMath Poll: Feelings about math <br \/>\n  5. Friday math movies<br \/>\n  6. Final thought - moving slowly<\/p>\n<h2>1. Interactive ellipse graphs<\/h2>\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"5\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/plane-analytic-geometry\/ellipse-interactive.php\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2012\/02\/ellipse-interactive.png\" alt=\"interactive ellipse graphs\" margin=\"0\" width=\"128\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td>\n<p> New on IntMath.com!<\/p>\n<p>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:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/plane-analytic-geometry\/ellipse-interactive.php\"> Interactive ellipse graphs<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2>2. Wolfram's Education Portal <\/h2>\n<p>This is a new offering (free for now) from Worlfram, the makers of Mathematica, Wolfram|Alpha and the Demonstrations Project.<\/p>\n<p>They have developed a series of math courses using their new CDF (Computable Document Format) technology, which are basically interactive text books. <\/p>\n<p>Here's the link: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wolfram.com\/education\/\">Wolfram Education Portal<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The courses available at the bottom of that page so far include several <strong>algebra<\/strong> topics like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Equations and Functions<\/li>\n<li> Graphs of Equations and Functions<\/li>\n<li>Graphing Linear Inequalities<\/li>\n<li>Introduction to Probability<\/li>\n<li> Solving Systems of Equations and Inequalities<\/li>\n<li>Exponential Functions<\/li>\n<li>Quadratic Equations and Functions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Coming soon is <strong>calculus<\/strong>, and a<strong> math question practice <\/strong>feature.<\/p>\n<p>You'll need to download the (free) CDF player (it's easy and quick) and sign up (also painless). In tiny font, it says: <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&quot;Wolfram Education Portal is now is avaliable for free, but it might be paid after the official release.&quot;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Certainly worth checking out while it's free! <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wolfram.com\/education\/\">Wolfram Education Portal<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>3. Puzzle<\/h2>\n<p>I had many requests to bring back the puzzle feature. So here we go.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Question: <\/strong>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? <\/p>\n<p>You can only use addition (not minus) and use as few fractions as possible. You can submit your answer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/letters\/intmath-newsletter-interactive-ellipses-wolfram-education-portal-7045#respond\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2> 4. IntMath poll: Feelings about Math<\/h2>\n<p>The recent IntMath Poll asked readers how they feel about math. Here are the results. <\/p>\n<p>The best way to describe how I feel about math is:<\/p>\n<p>I enjoy math<br \/>\n<svg width=\"205\" height=\"11\" viewBox=\"0 0 205 11\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">    <defs><linearGradient id=\"intMLinGrad\" x1=\"0%\" y1=\"0%\" x2=\"0%\" y2=\"100%\"><stop offset=\"5%\" stop-color=\"#fff\" \/><stop offset=\"95%\" stop-color=\"#165a71\" \/><\/linearGradient><\/defs><rect x=\"0\" y=\"0\" width=\"100%\" height=\"11\" fill=\"url(#intMLinGrad)\" stroke=\"none\"\/><\/svg> 41%<\/p>\n<p>It&rsquo;s OK but I find it hard<br \/>\n<svg width=\"150\" height=\"11\" viewBox=\"0 0 150 11\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">    <rect x=\"0\" y=\"0\" width=\"100%\" height=\"11\" fill=\"url(#intMLinGrad)\" stroke=\"none\"\/><\/svg> 30%<\/p>\n<p>I hate math<br \/>\n<svg width=\"120\" height=\"11\" viewBox=\"0 0 120 11\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">    <rect x=\"0\" y=\"0\" width=\"100%\" height=\"11\" fill=\"url(#intMLinGrad)\" stroke=\"none\"\/><\/svg> 24%<\/p>\n<p>No strong opinion<br \/>\n<svg width=\"20\" height=\"11\" viewBox=\"0 0 20 11\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">    <rect x=\"0\" y=\"0\" width=\"100%\" height=\"11\" fill=\"url(#intMLinGrad)\" stroke=\"none\"\/><\/svg> 4%<\/p>\n<p>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!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Current poll: <\/strong>The current poll asks  if you think the math you are studying will be useful for your future job. <\/p>\n<p>You can answer on any page in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/\">IntMath.com<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>5. Friday math movies<\/h2>\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"5\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/videos\/friday-math-movie-ken-robinson-animated-5254\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2012\/01\/ken-robinson.jpg\" alt=\"Ken Robinson animated\" title=\"Ken Robinson animated\" width=\"128\" border=\"0\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td>\n<p><strong>(a) Ken Robinson animated <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/videos\/friday-math-movie-ken-robinson-animated-5254\"> Friday math movie: Ken Robinson animated<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"5\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/videos\/friday-math-movie-how-it-feels-to-have-a-stroke-6976\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2012\/01\/jill-bolte-taylor.jpg\" alt=\"Jill Bolte Taylor's Stroke of Insight\" title=\"Jill Bolte Taylor's Stroke of Insight\" width=\"128\" border=\"0\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td>\n<p><strong>(b) How it feels to have a stroke <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Here's a story about a brain scientist who had a massive stroke at age 37 - and who lived to tell the fascinating tale.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/videos\/friday-math-movie-how-it-feels-to-have-a-stroke-6976\"> Friday math movie: How it feels to have a stroke<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2>6. Final thought: moving slowly<\/h2>\n<p>For many students, math class goes very slowly. Here's a Chinese saying that's worth thinking about. <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Don't worry about moving slowly, worry about standing still. [Chinese   proverb] <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Until next time, enjoy whatever you learn.<\/p>\n<p class=\"alt\">See the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/letters\/intmath-newsletter-interactive-ellipses-wolfram-education-portal-7045#comments\" id=\"comms\">25 Comments<\/a> below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this Newsletter:<\/p>\n<p>1. Interactive ellipse graphs<br \/>\n2. Wolfram's Education Portal<br \/>\n3. Puzzle<br \/>\n4. IntMath Poll: Feelings about math<br \/>\n5. Friday math movies<br \/>\n6. Final thought - moving slowly<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7045"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7045"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11396,"href":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7045\/revisions\/11396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}