fractalkitty

Lover of math, art, literature, and life.

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Popping Apollonian Gasket

I doodled this GIF after two days of painting the canvas below. I think I am in the process of preparing for my fall classes and students. Art is definitely an outlet – especially when it’s math + art.

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 52: Math Rocks!

For week 52 of 52 Weeks of Hands-On Math, I couldn’t resist a play on words: Math rocks! This week I encourage learners to share their math in the neighborhood. Create sidewalk chalk art with Fibonacci hopscotch, paint a math rock garden, make a math obstacle course by your

coding

Moiré Play!

Moiré is an interference pattern that can occur in physics, photography, art, math, and more. As a photographer and mathematician, I have always enjoyed seeing these artifacts emerge. Today I played with some Moiré animation for fun in p5.js. See the Pen Moire_Play by Sophia (@fractalkitty) on CodeP

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Not a Good Sine

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Knot Doodle

Scripting Algebra

SA3: Exponents

Exponential growth can be visualized so many different ways. This SA activity will play with the pow function and explore exponents in p5.js. This activity assumes that the skills from SA2 were introduced (if-else, logical operators, random(), text(), rect(), variables, loop, etc.). Make sure that t

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Big Bounce as a Tree

Scripting Algebra

SA2: Animated Lines

There are infinite possibilities for linear function animations. This SA project will give some ideas to practice using linear equations with p5.js. Introduce if-else statements (conditions), logical operators, random(), text(), rect(), variables, and using p5.js for animation (loop). Below are a fe

Scripting Algebra

SA1: Real Numbers

Here is my first Scripting Algebra (SA) post! I hope to keep these coming (with about 5 posts for each semester of Algebra). Often Algebra classes start with the Real Number System. This SA task is to program a graphic for the Real Number system. This can be a Venn diagram, animation, or another pro

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Popping Fibonacci

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 51: Block Prints

I love thinking of mirror images when I am block printing. I will never forget the time I printed SPARK backwards on accident for a summer art camp, and my kids laughed at the reverse phonics. This week, I encourage learners to take a math concept, tessellation, or shape, and

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Triangle GIF

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 50: Flip Books

This week I encourage learners to play with their animation skills. Take a math concept, problem, or design and play with ideas to animate it. Start simple to warm up and then build on the ideas. Flip books are fun. I recommend using thinner paper that can be seen through

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 49: Pendulum Labs

Pendulums are wonderful physics toys that are great for exploring periodic functions. For week 49, I encourage learners to get out some string, weights, and stop watches. Here are some ideas for playing with math and pendulums: * Start with a string and a weight to observe basic pendulum motion. Nuts,

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 48: Bubbles!

Pipe cleaners have so many uses and one of the best ways to use them is to make bubbles. This week I encourage learners to build mathematical structures with pipe cleaners, straws, string, or other waterproof toys to create beautiful structures. I used Zometools in some of my classes as

coding

Rotating Hexagons

This is a p5.js script I started played with as I get ready to post about stop animation in my 52 weeks of hands-on-math. Here is a link to edit code. You may want to play with the angles, number of sides in the polygon, rotation rate, etc. If the javascript isn’t loading, then here […]

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 47: Math Dance

Get up and move! This week, learners can dance their favorite equations, math symbols, and concepts. Whatever topic is of interest or in the process of being learned is a great one to figure out the dance moves that go with it. I recommend taking 5 to 10 of your

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 46: Half-Square Triangles (Truchet Tiles)

If you are a quilter, then you will be a pro with this week’s activity. For the last six months, my quilting mother lived with us through chemo, and we watched her quilt her heart out. Now that she has moved back to her home, I had to laugh

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 45: The Quincunx

This week, learners can dive into probability through a quincunx (also known as a Bean Machine). Learners can make bean machines with building toys (Legos), pins and a corkboard, or nails and wood (or other methods they devise (3d-printing, sculpture, etc)). Here is a template to use. (It’s a

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 44: Conics, Orbits, and Projectile Motion

You don’t have to be in high school math to play with conics, orbits, and projectile motion. This week (or month), learners can play with projectile motion, orbits, and conic sections with the activities below: 1.) Slicing cones * Learners can mold cones with clay and slice to see the

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 43: Circles and Art

Circles are so much fun! This week, I encourage learners to get out their compasses or a circle to trace and start making patterns on paper. Patterns with circles can start simple, but can also get really complex. You can combine your compass with a straight edge and get amazing

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 42: Perspective

Drawing with perspective is a wonderful way to play with ratios, similar triangles, transformations, and more in math. This week I encourage learners to try to draw with various perspectives. This is a fun activity for all ages and the math can either stay simple or dive into transformation matrices.

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 41: Birdwatching

Birdwatching and math go hand-in-hand. There are statistics on populations, migrations, observations, and so much more. One of the ways to get in touch with nature is to become aware of the birds that frequent your home and walkabouts. Birdwatching gets us to access so many areas of our mathematical

Comics

Divide by Zero = Free Fall

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 40: Tensegrities

In math, we find balance and equilibrium. We balance equations. We keep balance by using properties of identity (multiply by 1 or add zero), Properties of Equality (mirroring operations), and by using the many other ways to manipulate and play with structures in math. This week’s math is about