This site has hundreds, if not thousands, of free e-books on a wide range of topics:
http://www.freebookcentre.net/
In addition to hundreds of math e-books on topics such as Linear Algebra, Geometry, Applied Mathematics, and Probability Theory, there are also selections of free books on many Computer Science topics, Chemistry, Physics, Languages, and much more!
Click here to see more in Resources.
This is a beautiful representation of ocean currents around the world:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/7009056027/
Put together by the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio, this short video circles the digital globe, showing the relative strengths and directions of ocean movement.
Watching this allows one to see some of the basic mathematics of fluid flow, like tendency toward rotation and how fluid behaves at boundaries. In addition, global phenomena like the jet stream and trade winds can also be perceived.
This dynamic representation of data is similar to this wind map in how it brings to life the ideas of vector fields and flow lines.
Click here to see more in Representation.
Collaboration and sharing with virtual colleagues has become an invaluable part of my professional life. Like so many others, I turn to social media for teaching ideas, mathematical conversation, and a supportive and constructive space to reflect.
The extent to which this works continues to amaze me. And every now and then something happens that reminds me just how remarkable it is.
Recently, I received an email from an English teacher in my school whom I’d never met. Apparently this teacher had been using 12 Ways to Use the New York Times to Develop Math Literacy with her students all year, completely unaware of my connection to it! Only because we share a student in common were we ever made aware of our indirect collaboration.
Hopefully as tools and practices continue to grow and expand, the gap between the physical and the digital school will continue to close. Until then, there are sure to be many more amusing moments like this!
Click here to see more in Teaching.
I am lover of crossword puzzles. I do the NYT crossword puzzle regularly, I’ve competed in the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, and I’ve even dabbled in constructing puzzles myself.
There’s a great deal of crossover between math lovers and crossword puzzle lovers, and one example of this crossover is Matthew Ginsberg. Ginsberg is a regular puzzle constructor, has a PhD in math from Oxford, and is an expert in artificial intelligence.
Not a huge stretch, then, that he has developed a rather effective crossword puzzle solving robot, Dr. Fill, that is now challenging the top human performers .
Ginsberg runs a company that produces software for the Air Force that helps calculate the most efficient flight path for airplanes. Here’s the cool part: ”Some of the statistical techniques [used to calculate optimal paths of airplanes] are also handy, it turns out, for solving crossword puzzles.“
Yet another example of how statistical reasoning is emerging as primary tool in modern science and society!
Click here to see more in Application.
This is a simple and powerful tool for exploring some basic ideas of spherical geometry.
In addition to investigating points, lines, and line segments on the surface of sphere, you can construct triangles, antipodes, and even circles in spherical geometry!
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a good interactive spherical geometry applet is worth a thousand well-drawn diagrams!
Click here to see more in Resources.
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