{"id":9088,"date":"2014-06-18T16:53:24","date_gmt":"2014-06-18T08:53:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/?p=9088"},"modified":"2014-07-31T10:17:02","modified_gmt":"2014-07-31T02:17:02","slug":"intmath-newsletter-arc-length-paraboloid-spiral-brain-injury-math-genius","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/letters\/intmath-newsletter-arc-length-paraboloid-spiral-brain-injury-math-genius-9088","title":{"rendered":"IntMath Newsletter: Arc length of paraboloid spiral, brain injury to math genius"},"content":{"rendered":"

18 Jun 2014<\/p>\n

In this Newsletter:<\/p>\n

1. Arc length of a spiral around a paraboloid
\n2. Padgett - from brain injury to math genius
\n3. Thank you, volunteers!
\n4. Math puzzles
\n5. Final thought - Asking good questions<\/p>\n

1. Arc length of a spiral around a paraboloid<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"paraboloid<\/a><\/td>\n\n

What is the length of a spiral around a paraboloid? This is an interesting application of integral calculus, involving an environmentally friendly cooker design.<\/p>\n

Arc length of a spiral around a paraboloid<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

2. Padgett - from brain injury to math genius <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Padgett<\/a><\/td>\n\n

This is a fascinating story. Jason Padgett was attacked by 2 men one night and savagely beaten. He ended up with severe concussion and an amazing new ability to "see the world through the lens of geometry".<\/p>\n

See the full story at: Brain Injury Turns Man Into Math Genius<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Don't miss the gallery of his art while you're there. <\/p>\n

3. Thank you, volunteers!<\/h2>\n

Last mail I asked for volunteers to help transcribing some calculus videos<\/a> on IntMath. <\/p>\n

Thank you very much to Abby, Rusty, Li-sa, Kok Soon, and Suzanne for helping out. Good job and much appreciated.<\/p>\n

4. Math puzzles <\/h2>\n

The puzzle in the last IntMath Newsletter<\/a> involved a bet between Brigette and Ric, concerning cars. <\/p>\n

Correct answers with explanation<\/a> were given by Tomas, Saikrishna and Michael, giving a good insight into the thought processes they used. <\/p>\n

New math puzzle<\/strong>: A box contains 20 balls numbered 1 to 20. What is the probability that any two of these balls chosen from the box will have numbers that are relatively prime? <\/p>\n

Leave your responses here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

5. Final thought: Asking good questions is a vital skill <\/h2>\n

A lot of people who write to me have trouble articulating where their confusion lies. In class, a lot of students shy away from asking questions because they don't want to look stupid.<\/p>\n

A common theme here is that students often don't have the skills to ask questions. <\/p>\n

Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana in the book Make Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions<\/em> make the following crucial point: <\/p>\n

\n

The skill of being able to generate a wide range of questions and strategize about how to use them effectively is rarely, if ever, deliberately taught.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Asking good questions is essential for effective learning. When was the last time you were in a math class that taught how to ask good questions? <\/p>\n

Until next time, enjoy whatever you learn.<\/p>\n

See the 6 Comments<\/a> below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this Newsletter:<\/p>\n

1. Arc length of a spiral around a paraboloid
\n2. Padgett - from brain injury to math genius
\n3. Thank you, volunteers
\n4. Math puzzles
\n5. Final thought - Asking good questions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"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\/9088"}],"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\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9088\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}