This is a nice visual gallery of algebraic surfaces.
An algebraic surface is essentially a surface whose equation is a polynomial in three variables (typically x, y, and z).
Judging from Zeppelinand Zweiloch, our curator must be German. My favorites are the Dromedar and the Wigwam. Clicking on an image gives you a better look.
It’s interesting that Mobius, Wendel, and Croissant have no corresponding equation listed. Are these not algebraic surfaces?
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!
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!
While working on the geometry of the Platonic Solids, we spent some class time constructing them from chopsticks and marshmallows.
We had a lot of fun putting them together!
Unfortunately, the more complicated structures weren’t really strong enough to stand on their own. And after the fact, we realized that we probably shouldn’t leave marshmallows sitting around the classroom indefinitely.
But it certainly was lively way to wrap up a unit on geometric solids! You can see more pictures of the activity on my Facebook page.
