Appreciation

Appreciation Teaching

2015 Rosenthal Prize

The Rosenthal Prize for Innovation in Math Teaching, presented by the Museum of Mathematics, aims to celebrate and promote the development of creative, engaging, and replicable math lessons. The winning teacher receives $25,000, and their lesson is shared freely by the Museum of Mathematics.

Applications for the 2015 Rosenthal Prize are now open. As a past awardee, I will be participating in an application workshop at the museum on Friday, May 1st. The purpose of the workshop is to help teachers with the application process by answering questions and providing feedback.

The workshop details, including registration information, are available here. For those unable to attend in person, the workshop will also be live-streamed.

I encourage interested teachers to consider applying for the Rosenthal Prize. It’s a unique and interesting challenge, and just participating in the process can be a growth experience.

By MrHonner, 10 years10 years ago

Find the Best Deal

Sometimes grocery stores make comparison shopping very easy.

By MrHonner, 10 years10 years ago

3D Printing Appreciation Technology

3D Printed Surfaces

I’ve been enjoying getting familiar with our new 3D printer. I’m not sure these parametric surfaces were the best pieces to start out with, but I have learned a lot!

From left to right, we have a figure eight torus, a Fresnel surface, and a cyclide. Not pictured: the many, many failures.

By MrHonner, 10 years10 years ago

Application Appreciation Geometry

An Ancient Tiling Problem

This menacing creature is Glyptotherium texanum. Well, was Glypotherium texanum.

The armor caught my attention. It’s made of small plates that create an interesting tiling of a curved surface.

Notice how the tiles slowly change from quadrilaterals to pentagons to hexagons, and back again! I wonder what factors determine the shape of each tile as they grow.

By MrHonner, 10 years10 years ago

Application Appreciation

A Saturday Morning Optimization Problem

I recently faced an interesting optimization problem.

Through my local grocery store’s rewards program, I earned a one-time 20% discount, to be applied to a single future shopping trip. Naturally I wanted to maximize the value of my discount, and the more I spent, the more I would save. But like all optimization problems, there were a number of constraints involved.

First, I wanted to buy only things I would actually use. This prevented me from buying things like saffron (expensive things that would drive up the value of my 20% discount) because I wouldn’t use them. It also limited the quantity of high-priced proteins I would buy, as such things need to be consumed quickly to be enjoyed.

Second, I could only buy what I could carry, since I walk to and from the grocery store. This put global constraints on the volume and weight of my purchases, which made me think about maximizing cost per-unit-weight/volume at a local level.

All in all, I’d say I did pretty well! With some planning and foresight, the total value of my 20% discount ended up being around $46. And I don’t think I’ll need to buy dried basil any time soon.

By MrHonner, 10 years10 years ago

Appreciation

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