Monthly Archives: September 2011

WIM Video: The Platonic Solids by Emily Peters

Posted on September 30, 2011 by

Here’s the latest WIM video, featuring MIT postdoctoral fellow Emily Peters discussing the Platonic Solids. Advertisements

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Feeling Functions in Your Bones: Arctangent

Posted on September 28, 2011 by

We have a lot of intuition about the things we do every day. If a mathematical function describes one of these habits, all that intuition applies to understanding the mathematics. Imagine standing at the edge of a road. Perhaps you’re … Continue reading →

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There’s More to Learning Math than Mathematical Aptitude

Posted on September 26, 2011 by

Ever since I founded Girls’ Angle, I’ve had frequent discussions about gender segregated math education. Here’s an argument I often hear from those opposed: “I believe girls and boys are equally capable at doing mathematics, and, therefore, they should not … Continue reading →

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Math and MEMS: More Exponentials

Posted on September 23, 2011 by

Yesterday, Allyson Hartzell, the Director of Failure Analysis, Test, and Reliability at Pixtronix, Inc., visited Girls’ Angle to tell us about how she uses math in her work. She works with Microelectricomechanical Systems, or MEMS. MEMS are tiny machines. They … Continue reading →

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Exponential Growth is REALLY Powerful!

Posted on September 21, 2011 by

Internet traffic, the Richter scale for measuring earthquakes, the spread of disease, our response to brightness, and Intel co-founder Gordon Moore’s Law all involve exponential growth. Exponential growth even applies to noodle making, as I’ll detail below! With all these … Continue reading →

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Does 0.999… Really Equal 1?

Posted on September 19, 2011 by

One of the most oft-asked questions in K-12 math is: Does zero point nine repeating really equal one? Here’s the short answer: Yes! And here’s a longer answer,

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Calculating the Volume of a Regular Tetrahedron

Posted on September 17, 2011 by

Tonight I joined in on the fun at the Games Night at Math Prize for Girls. Picture a large banquet hall filled with large tables each showcasing a different kind of math-related hands-on activity. Girls came from all over the … Continue reading →

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