animation

A collection of 48 posts

coding

Mathober Pieces

Mathober 2023 Prompts are here.This year I used a mix of p5js and procreate to play with stellar scenes – enjoy! There were some great sketches on Mathstodon including hilarious videos, comics, generative music, puns, and more. Links on titles take you to codePen full page view. Some days I played w

coding

Coded Optical Illusions

I had a great time this summer doing art and professional development with Twitter peers. On one of the days, Ellen Thomson hosted activities with Optical Illusions. This got me thinking of all the ways this could be done with coding + math groups. There are two approaches I take in coding groups. T

coding

Code for Two-Button Calculator

A two-button calculator can only perform two operations (like multiply by two and add five). The Global Math Project is a wonderful resource for math learning and play and has a great resource for two-button problems in this Global Math Project PDF. Another variation of this sort of problem is done

coding

Blue Flames

This code was generated by playing around with one of the p5.js examples. It translates and rotates using parametric equations each frame. Codepen is below (it may not run well on some machines). See the Pen blueFlame by Sophia (@fractalkitty) on CodePen.

coding

Transformed Magic Squares

I got a request from a twitter friend (Sara Resvi) to create a visual for transforming magic squares. A learner can see how one solution is many (or vice versa). Here is what I put together in an afternoon. Click the numbers to change them. Try to find solutions where the rows, columns and diagonals

coding

Parametric Waves Morphed into Unstable Charcoal

Have you ever wished that you had charcoal that is made of particles that randomly leave and come back? Wish the reference frame would rotate so down is up, but not always? Well now you have what you have always wanted – Unstable Charcoal! I created this after playing with a parametric wave visualiz

coding

Laced Reflections

My mind was on snowflakes tonight, which brought me down a rabbit hole of reflections, lace, and play. The code here is simple but fun. Enjoy making snowflakes, lace, stars, or whatever comes to mind. If you wish to fork the code or play it is here. My CodePen is below. Press the spacebar (or […]

coding

Code of the Rings

While tinkering with my tree ring code, I created a simpler yet mesmerizing adaptation. Essentially I added a loop, some random multipliers, and changed to radian mode. Sine and cosine are so incredibly beautiful and full of infinite play and wonder. Please play with the code below by clicking to ch

coding

Goodbye Red Oak

I often run for mental downtime and stress-relief. On a recent run, I found one of my favorite trees blown over. This tree grew in a cemetery with broad branches and roots consuming the neighboring headstones. This red oak had brought me so much joy. Before I could get to the stump, the park had […]

coding

Foggy Orbits

After covering the unit circle today, I created Foggy Orbits as a quick sketch. Below is the CodePen and above is a GIF. I hope to add this to pre-calc activities with parametric equations eventually. See the Pen jOrJezv by Sophia (@fractalkitty) on CodePen.

coding

Swirled Series Challenge

I decided to join Craig S. Kaplan’s Swirled Series Challenge. I played the last two nights and have some draft GIFs below. I don’t have a ton of time, but it’s stuff like this that relaxes me at night. I look forward to seeing what people come up with. I still need to export a […]

coding

Mod Fibonacci

Finite Melodies for an Infinite Sequence A few years ago I asked myself how I could play the Fibonacci sequence on the piano. I found that if I divided the Fibonacci sequence by the number of keys I wished to play, I got a set of numbers that would infinitely repeat. I tested this observation […]

GIF

The Point? Dimensions

“The Point of Evolution” started as a Mathober doodle and led to this GIF. Dimensions are fun – what do you see? what do you notice? Side Note: I talk about dimensions when covering combining like terms. One analogy – A 3D banana can’t combine with a 2D banana (or whatever noun seems to go […]

coding

Laser Pointer Googly Eyes

I am glad I can amuse myself. This is a simple script that I may integrate into an Algebra class for looking at points on a line. If you want a webpage version for students, click here. If you want code, see below. Click to make more eyes, and you might get freaked out if […]

coding

Fractal Ink to Code

After drawing the fractal prompt today for Mathober, I played around to make it in p5js. Below is the Codepen to play with. I almost feel like it should have a surprise when they align…maybe for another day. See the Pen fractal_Mathober by Sophia (@fractalkitty) on CodePen.

coding

Lune of Hippocrates Clock

After drawing the Lune of Hippocrates yesterday for Mathober, I played around to make a Lune clock today. Below is codepen (p5 is here). I use a lot of these small projects for students to play with in an hour of code group. This one may not be as popular as projecting memes and cats […]

coding

Random Math Poetry

I think the challenge here is to find the math that can fit the poetry… If you want a browser tab version, click here. You can also edit it and change the words as well. Below is the codepen: See the Pen OJNKQmE by Sophia (@fractalkitty) on CodePen.

GIF

From the Void

Hexagon and parametric spiral play. I find myself doodling with code lately more than with my pen. I have one more scripting algebra post, but feel like I have a much larger library for a pre-calc set of activities. Thoughts? The GIF is too large for this site or twitter, so I stashed it on […]

Scripting Algebra

SA9: Quadrant Play

This Scripting Algebra (SA) activity looks at quadrants, mouse location, and interactive art p5.js. This activity assumes that the skills from SA1-SA8 were introduced (if-else, logical operators, random(), text(), rect(), variables, loop, pow, for, functions, translate, modulo, etc.). This activity

coding

Parametric Play!

Here are some simple animations with parametric equations. What you see below is a function and its inverse. If you click, you will get another semi-random equation. See the Pen qBZgZvW by Sophia (@fractalkitty) on CodePen.

GIF

Expanded

With commas: Without commas:

GIF

Foiled by a Foil

I couldn’t resist this GIF for my algebra students. Foiling can be such fun!

GIF

Moiré GIF: by Opal

My daughter started playing with moiré in procreate after I fiddled with it in a previous post. You know we breathe math in our home. She wanted to share:

coding

Parallel to a Parabola

I received a question today about what curve is parallel to a parabola. I sat for a minute and realized that it wasn’t another parabola. It required parametric equations (at least if you wanted to keep it simple). That of course lead to code: See the Pen jOqzMJb by Sophia (@fractalkitty) on CodePen.

GIF

Menger Sponge Cat in Space

High res: Low res: