math

A collection of 137 posts

Miscellaneous - interviews, ideas, and more

Yay! This blog is in a blog post on the AMS Blog of Math Blogs!

Seriously though, I am honored and humbled by the opportunity to share all the hard work that has gone into creating the materials on this website. I hope to continue growing, learning, and sharing with you all.

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Coffee = Donut

I know it is an obvious one, but it’s what I doodled tonight…

Makings

Hex-a-Huddle Board Game

This week Quanta Magazine published an article on penguins and their hexagonal behavior. I shared this article with my 14yr old daughter, Opal, and we started discussing how this would make a great board game. We designed pieces, drafted our prototypes in Affinity Design, and then utilized a Glowforge to

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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.

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

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Big Bounce as a Tree

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Popping Fibonacci

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Triangle GIF

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 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

Comics

Klein Bottle Kitty

Drawn in Concepts

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 39: Toothpicks

A box of toothpicks can lead to an afternoon of entertainment. This week learners can play with the toothpick sequence. The sequence produces really interesting geometries and lines as it grows. I recommend watching Numberphile’s Youtube video on this sequence here. There is also OEIS’ website that allows for

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Toothpick Worms GIF

Go here to play with a generator: http://oeis.org/A139250/a139250.anim.html [http://oeis.org/A139250/a139250.anim.html]

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 38: Knotty Math Tiles

I love playing with knots. Last year I designed a Knotty Math toy with wooden tiles. It is part of a series of toys I have been working on that help create single pointed mindfulness with math. These are for kids and adults alike. I think sand, clay, tiles, and

Comics

Kitty’s Toothpick Dream

And for some fun play with toothpicks go here: http://oeis.org/A139250/a139250.anim.html [http://oeis.org/A139250/a139250.anim.html]

Comics

Cantor Set Kitty Kong

No one wanted to play with kitty…

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 37: Cantor Set Kirigami

For this week’s activity, learners can play with Cantor Set Kirigami. The Cantor Set is created by drawing a line. Next, remove the middle third of that line (this will create 2 lines). For each of the two lines just created, remove the middle third (this will create 4

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 36: Golden Angle Scavenger Hunt and Drawing Phi-Nominal Phi-lowers

The Golden ratio appears in nature all around us. Flowers and other botanicals often grow at an optimal (Golden) angle of about 137.5 degrees. For the 52-weeks of math activity, I encourage learners to seek out the Golden angle on a scavenger hunt. Take pictures or sketch in a nature journal the pin