This is a fun and simple trigonometry challenge.
No calculators allowed!
Which of the following is the largest?
(a) 
(c) 
There are a couple of nice ways to solve this without using a calculator, and plenty of good ways to extend this question.
The real challenge is to come up with your own version of this problem!
Through Math for America, I am part of an on-going collaboration with the New York Times Learning Network. My latest contribution, a Test Yourself quiz-question, can be found here:
https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/30/test-yourself-math-april-30-2012/
This question is based on rapid population growth in African countries. How long will it take Nigeria’s population to quadruple?
I will be presenting today at the 2012 TEDxNYED conference at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, New York.
http://tedxnyed.com/2012/speakers/patrick-honner/
I will be giving a short presentation on creativity and mathematics. I am very excited to be a part of the event, and to see other presenters like Christopher Emdin, Frank Noschese, Bre Pettis, and many others!
The event will be live-streamed. More information can be found at the TEDxNYED website.
This sculpture by Charles Sowers functions simultaneously as a stimulating piece of art, a representation of data, and an illustration of vector fields.
https://www.fastcompany.com/1669276/a-weathervane-wall-turns-wind-patterns-into-data-art
Windswept is a giant billboard covered in little aluminum arrows that twist and turn in the wind. The arrows can be thought of as bits of data, namely, the direction of the wind that point. Taken together, and dynamically, they give a sense of the complicated nature of swirling and changing winds.
Just like this wonderful wind map, this sculpture represents mathematical ideas in a beautiful and thought-provoking way!
