Latest

16
Sep
pair of sand pipers on parallelepipeds with an ocean in the background and the matrix fro the volume.

Western Sand Parallelepiper

Another Math bird in the series! This one was inspired by my 17yr old discussing her math homework of deriving the volume for a parallelepiped. So of course It spawned the thought of parallelepiped sand castles.
1 min read
10
Sep
a list of mathober prompts

Get Ready for Mathober!

This year’s Mathober pieces will be posted here. Last year I posted prompts for the first year of Mathober when I wanted to do some daily doodles with no strings attached. The activity was a lot of fun. There were some some great pieces from John Golden and Foldster on Twitter. Prompts this year hav
1 min read
10
Sep
Spiraling Vaux’s Swifts

Spiraling Vaux’s Swifts

Just like solar eclipses, Vaux’s swifts really are a life experience. Watching them funnel into a chimney in a vortex of flitting feathers is just amazing. I had the wonderful experience of watching them funnel into the chimney at dusk in Salem, Oregon (my home). So here is the next math bird in the
1 min read
09
Sep
Diatom Sketch

Diatom Sketch

I pondered diotoms in my spare time today and made this. I hope to play some more as time allows to expand this. Click to change images (randomized). A gallery is included below. Enjoy. A full page view is here. See the Pen diatom1 by Sophia (@fractalkitty) on CodePen.
1 min read
06
Sep
a birdhouse with violet green swallow head packed like a gasket and the math written on the house with parents flying

Packing Violet Green Swallows

I enjoyed watching the swallows this summer. I couldn’t help but imagine that they were packing circles in their little birdhouse portal. Life is full of such precious moments.
1 min read
22
Aug
A pileated woodpecker with morse code and the branches of letters with the waves shown in a forest

Pileated Woodpecker

Another math bird in the series. I am pretty convinced that pileated woodpeckers communicate in their own form of morse code. I wonder what their frequency is when they are excavating?
20
Aug
hexagonal tiles with kolam designs laid out with rotational symmetry

Playing with Kolam Tiles

I attended a wonderful math art workshop that went over the tradition and art form of Kolam. Siddhi Desai and Deepa Bharath had a wonderful presentation and activities to draw on dotted paper to create amazing designs. I look forward to playing with rice flour designs this weekend. One take away tha
2 min read
19
Aug
a western tanager on oranges peeling them to make map projections in the background with drawing tools

Western Tanager

Another math bird in the series. I associate these tanagers with oranges, summer, and warmth. This year I enjoyed seeing them in our woods as I sat on a fallen white oak in the middle of a forest.
1 min read
11
Aug
Code of the Rings Published in NCTM

Code of the Rings Published in NCTM

This month the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) – For the Love of Mathematics featured Code of the Rings. A PDF of the article is below. To view it on NCTM’s website click here. I am grateful for this opportunity to share. After note: As I approach my 40th birthday, friends and fam
1 min read
06
Aug
Cardinality Cardinal

Cardinality Cardinal

Another math bird in the series. This one I struggled with what to do and include, feel free to send any comments my way. I am still contemplating if it is really done. I miss hearing cardinal calls from when I lived in the east and watching them out on my grandpa’s farm with their […]
1 min read

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Sophia

Mathematics educator and creative coder exploring the beauty of mathematical concepts through interactive visualizations and playful learning.

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Creative Coding