math is fun

A collection of 82 posts

Math Birds

Microcosm Oystercatchers

Here is another bird in the series – Microcosm Oystercatchers. These are one of my favorite birds. I often see them in the black basalt cobbles on the coast with their fluorescent beaks. I had a hard time with where I wanted to go with this piece initially and went back to gaskets (something I […]

Math Birds

Pacific Lune

Another bird in the series! This one is a little luney. The lunes of Alhazen have the same area as the triangle. Note: Image was updated from the original post to fix an error

coding

Mathober 2021

Prompts are at the bottom of this post and the information for Mathober is here. I used ink and code for this daily practice and really enjoyed seeing everyone’s posts on their blogs and twitter. Let’s plan for next year. Prompts will be generated in September of 2022. Ink: Day 1 – Multiplicity Day

Miscellaneous - interviews, ideas, and more

Playing with patterns

I have been enjoying summer communities in math learning. Howie Hua has been hosting a wonderful group on Wednesdays, and last week Shelby Strong with Stronger Math shared Fawn Nguyen’s Visual Patterns resource and I had to play with creating some randomly generated patterns (below). These patterns

Math Birds

Heron’s Formula

Maybe we should start naming all math formulas and theorems after birds. This one wouldn’t have to change under this new renaming… I do love being able to find an area of a triangle given the lengths of its sides. Heron’s formula information: https://mathworld.wolfram.com/HeronsFormula.html [https:/

coding

Parabolic Beams

I love thinking of parabolas as being formed with a directrix and focus. Coming from a background in trajectory analysis, I find the abstract relationships of the curve to the point and line beautiful. When a light shines through the focus of a parabolic mirror, the light reflected is orthogonal to

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 […]

Comics

Dark Mathemagics

I hope to have a full spell list for all Mathemagics eventually, but a quickly drafted comic will do for now – Enjoy.

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

Draft of Knotty Math Tile Code

Here is a rough draft of Knotty Math tile code. Code was adapted from Shaw Wan’s tangram code on CodePen. I am hoping to adapt more tile designs for play. This will not work on touch screens/phones – I’ll have to contemplate an app for that. I am just learning… Drag the tiles below and […]

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

Fantasy Maps to Planets

For those that have created fantasy maps using previous posts here, in classes, or elsewhere in Worldbuilding, D&D, or art, I created a small script to see your maps as spherical planets. You can click to rotate and move the mouse off the canvas to have rotation. You may want to draw a map that […]

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