MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig …………………………………………………. with Kerry Cue

Hellooooo My Sweeties,

A serious topic this week, then again, maths is serious if it leads healthy women to have healthy breasts removed by surgeons because of statistics. 

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You’d want to understand those statistics, wouldn’t you? Read on and judge for yourself if Angelina Jolie’s decision was based on good maths.

Cheerio for Now

Mathspig

500,000 Hog Hits

Mathspig is sooooooo excited

about reaching:

To celebrate 500,000 or 5×10⁵ hog hits

 and to continue showing mathspiggies everywhere

that maths is fun

and relevant to all

Mathspig presents

The MATHEMATICAL

CABINET OF

500,000

CURIOSITIES!!!

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If you took a sample of

500,000 US teens

how many DO YOU THINK fall

asleep at school

at least once a week?

You will find amazing US teen stas here:

28% report falling asleep once a week

 500,000 x 28/100

= 140,000

Snoring to the left of you. Snoring to the right of you. You are not alone.

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What volume of coke is there in 500,000 cans?

Coke can vol = 355 ml = 12 fl oz

500,000 x 355 = 177,500,000 ml

= 177, 500 l = 177.5 m³

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An average bath uses 150 litres water per bath.

How many bathtubs would 500,000 cans of coke fill?

177,500/150

= 1,183 baths in coke!!!

Hey mathpiggies, wanna bubble bath? You’d be tickled pink.

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In a crowd of 500,000 how many people

would have their birthday

on the same day as yours?

There are 365 days in the year so the probability of anyone having their birthday on the same day as you (ignoring leap years) is:

1 in 365 or 1/365.

 

In a crowd of 500,000 the number of people who have a birthday on the same day as you is most likely:

500,000 x 1/365 = 1,370

That’s a lot of birthday cake!!

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  How heavy is $500,000 dollars?

 

Australia:

Wt Aus $1 coin = 9.0 g

If the bank gave a bank robber $500,000 in $1 coins it would weigh:

500,000 x 9.0 = 4,500,000 g

= 4,500 kg = 4.5 tonne

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UK:

.

Wt UK £1 coin = 9.5 g

500,000 x 9.5 = 4,750,000 g

= 4,750 kg = 4.75 tonne

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USA:

Wt US $1 coin = 8.1 g

500,000 x 8.1 = 4,050,000 g

= 4,050 kg = 4.05 tonne

You will find all you need to know about the size and weight of US coins and notes here.

$500,000 in $1 notes would only weigh

11 lb or 5 kg.

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So, um, bank robbers do the maths!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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How far would you walk in 500,000 steps?

We’ll assume you take a big step of 1m.

So 500,000 m = 500 km.

A comfortable walking rate is 5 km/hr.

How long would it take you to walk 500 km without a break?

500/5 = 100 hrs.

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The Bugatti Veyron Super Sport  hits a maximum speed of 267 mph (429 km/h).

How long would it take the Bugatti travelling at top speed – not including refueling time – to clock up 500,000 km?

500,000 /429  = 1165.5 hr

= 48.5 days

The speed of an average sized commercial passenger plane ≈ 500 mph 0r 800 kph or

≈ twice the speed of the Bugatti.

So it would take a passenger plane approx 24 days to travel 500,000 km.

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How long would it take you to count to 500,000?

Assuming you count at the rate of 1 per second the time it would take is 500,000 seconds.

500,000/ 60 = 8333 mins = 833/60 hrs

= 13.88 hrs or 13 hrs 53 mins

Come on! You could do that mathspiggies!!!!!

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 In a group of 500,000 US teens how many are serious cave dwellers or, to be more accurate, how many spend less than 3 hrs a week outdoors?

It is an amazing 30.1%.

500,000 x 30.1/100

= 150, 500 creatures of the gloom.

Come on you teen gloomagogs get outdoors. You need the sun. You need the Vitamin D.

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How many calories in 500,000 m&ms?

There are an amazing 400 million m&ms produced everyday in the US. One m&m weighs 0.7g.

And calories in 1 m&m =  3.4 cal

500,000 m&ms weigh:

500,000 x 0.7 = 350,000 g

= 350 kg

As 400 million or 8 x 500,000 m&ms are produced each day, that is 8 x350 kg or 2800 kg or 2.8 tonne.

Calories in 500,000 m&ms is:

500,000 x 3.4 = 1, 700, 000 Cal

As the average consumptionof chocolate in the US is 5.18 kg per year eating 500,000 m&ms would take:

350 kg/ 5.18 kg

= 67.6 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You better get going!!!!!

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Blink rates vary but the average blink rate in a laboratory setting for a human is 10 blinks per minute.

How long would it take for you to blink 500,000 times?

500,000/10 = 50,000 minutes

= 50,000/60 hrs = 833.3 hrs

= 833.3/24 = 34.7 days

= 34 days 17 hrs 17 mins

But don’t think it or you’ll go blink crazy!!!!

MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig …………………………………………………. with Kerry Cue

Helloooooooo My Maths Lovelies,

Maths gets a bad press. Senior students especially girls are dropping maths. And it is happening mathpiggies in English speaking countries. Look at the % of students studying maths at university from Dropping maths Doesn’t Add Up, SMH, 27 Feb 2013.

Maths is now classed for many university degrees as – Scream now. Arrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhh! – ASSUMED KNOWLEDGE. Well, you better start assuming they don’t have any knowledge.

Maths needs better PR at school.

Maths is not visible in schools. Other subjects have their selling points.

 Languages other than English have FOOD.

Geography has VOLCANOES and TRAVEL.

English has PLAYS and FILMS.

History has BLOODY WARS and TYRANNTS.

Drama has a school MUSICAL or PLAY.

Art has, D’uh, rooms full of amazing ART.

Science has BAD SMELLS, EXPLOSIONS and DAVID ATTENBOROUGH.

How can we make maths more visible and more fun in high school?

Be AUDACIOUS, my little mathspiggies.

Think BIG and then even BIGGER again.

Here are 12 ways of making Maths

more visible in your school.

Toodles

Mathspig

thsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig …………………………………………………. with Kerry Cue

DO NOT ADJUST YOUR SET <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

DO NOT ADJUST YOUR SET >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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YOU ARE WATCHING  

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The MATHSPIG CHANNEL

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 Starring Moi!!

And a hamster, Britney Spears and a Zombie

Just scroll down and Click, mathpiggies.

 

MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig …………………………………………………. with Kerry Cue

Helloooo Mathpigs Darlings,

It is the award season …. you know the BAFTAs, the Grammies, the Oscars. And if there was a Maths Academy Award Mathspig just knows she would win Supporting Mathstress.

Mathspig is soooooo excited because Gotye won 3 Grammys. He’s from Melbourne too.

In the meantime, I’m getting my speech ready for the Best Supporting Mathstress Award:

I like to thank Pythagoras, He was wonderful to work with. And my partner, Grubby… NO. He was husband NO 2 … Chubby… or, is it Porker. Yes! That’s the one.

And my two adopted children, Ebony and Ivory, and Olaf my astral traveling numerologist.

Avoid root 2 all this week. It’s a very irrational number, you know.

But Oooooooooooooooo!!!!!!! the shoes the girls wear on the Red Carpet kill. In fact, Mathspig’s Killer Heels that Kill post has been so popular you should have a little look, darlings.

Maybe you could pick the most UNWALKABLE SHOES at this year’s Oscars.

Here is some amazing maths involving music …. mostly, Headbanger Maths , darlings , because it is soooo interesting.

… kissy … kissy

Mathspig

10. Way Weird Maths

In the Way Weird Maths department are:

1. The Back Hair Coiff

 

2. The Fibonacci Hair Flip

 

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fibonacci hair

3. Fractal Jewellery

This jewellery made with diamonds and sapphires by Mark Newson for the jeweller Boucheron is based on the Julia Set shown below.

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Julia Set

 

4. Scary Math

Halloween or not, this guy is scary!!!!!

Could this be the math teacher you do not want to meet int he dark?

 

6. Geometric Hair

Mathspig calls this the Isosceles coiff (below). You have to see it from the Right Angle!!!

 

The Cubic Hair. The model is actually saying ‘Geometry stole my brain’.

 

The Tesselation tresses. The hard work is is walking into the wind so you don’t upset the tessellations.

7. Maths bling watch

Hammacher Schlemmer is offering The LED Matrix Watch for $79.9

How do you tell the time? Work it out mathspigs.

8. Maths is Evil Mug

See, maths is evil. We have the proof!!!

9. Math Body Art

These are scary maths tatts. What if the tattooist failed maths? He might make a big mistake.  And you’d have maths teachers forever correcting your back … possibly with red pens.

 ….You wanna punch in the face by an inverse function

………… I am the unit circle of an exponential cult!!!

…… I am a standard deviation or is that a deviant?

10. Truly scary math tatt.

Someone this crazy about math may not be stable.

 

… I am the Math Murderer of your worst nightmares. (Cue: hysterical laugh.)

 

Weird Math Activity

Here is the challenge. Can your maths students make up clock faces (they need not be round) that tell the time using only:

1. triangles

2. algebra

3. matrices

4. fractions

5. a bar graph

6. a line graph

7. pi

8. trigonometry

MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig …………………………………………………. with Kerry Cue

Hellooooo Mathspiggies,……………………………………..

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Meet my friend Algee. We’re going to do some very  tricky piggy maths. Some kids in year 6 or 7 get scared by the word a-l-g-b-r-a. Don’t say it out loud. Once letters arrive with numbers they tune out.

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BUT they can learn any number of rules to play video games. So what’s up?  We are going to play ALGEE BAA!!!!

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Sheep make sense to kids. Pictures make sense to kids. We can work out how many baa’s Algee baa’s.

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Algee baa looks like kindergarten maths.

So, like, easy. I’m a pig, I tell you it is e-a-s-y. And that’s the point, mathspiggies. They’ll be doing Algee baa before they know it.

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Later, you can tell them they are experts in that other word. First of all, do the maths with Algee.

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This week you can try:

*Learn the rules of Algee baa  

* Do Algee baa exercises  

* Learn Advanced Algee baa I  

* Do some Advanced Algee baa I exercises  

* Learn Advanced Algee baa II  

* Don’ t forget our Baa Graph.

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Hoo Roo………………………………………………………………………..

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Mathpig

………….. and baa from Algee

clipart from clipartof.com

How many Mathematicians Does It Take to Change A Light Bulb?

Patrick Vennebush

When not solving problems, telling jokes, playing gameswith his sons, managing projects for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, or finding fun ways to help kids learn math, Patrick Vennebush plays Ultimate Frisbee, where he occasionally wins a national title.

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Patrick Vennebush is the Author

of Math Jokes 4 Mathy Folks

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Here are two jokes from the book:

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Without geometry life is pointless.

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Economists have forecast ten of the last six recessions.

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There are some great resources @ Illuminations, The National Council for Teachers of Mathematics website.

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INTERVIEW WITH PATRICK

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Q1: What math topic was your favourite at school?

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Geometry is a mathematical jigsaw puzzle, except that you have to figure out which pieces you need as well as how to arrange them. But there was always something powerful about combining things I knew to prove things I didn’t.

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Q2: What math topic drove you insane?

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Combinatorics drove me mad. There are a million wrong ways to think about permutation and combination problems, but there’s only one right way to think about them. Even when the required calculations only take a few seconds to complete, the thinking to come to a solution might take hours.

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(Mathspig: Combinatorics? Wha? We just call them Permutations and Combinations in Aussie Land.)

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Q3: Did you ever do anything really exciting in math at school like go on an excursion to some weird math convention?

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No. I mean, this is crazy, but I can’t think of a single reason that I should like math… at least, not based on any great experiences.

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Q4: What math error in the media annoys you the most?

Misleading graphs, like this one from The New York Times.

 

 

Yep, Bush won, but this makes it look like it was a landslide.

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And I also hate arguments based on “man who” statistics. These are based on statements like “I know a man who…” and from that one example, great generalizations are made. More mathematically, results pulled from small samples are a huge problem, both in the media as well as in much of math education research. I can’t tell you the number of times that a researcher suggests that a particular teaching method is effective because there was a positive impact in just one or two classrooms. Oish.

(Mathspig. I think Oish is an underused word. We need a bring back the Oish Campaign.)

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Q5: Give me 3 reasons why you think students should do math.

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1)    To become proficient at problem solving, but more importantly, to understand that the greatest asset in problem solving is perseverance.

2)    To think logically. All the computational skills in the world won’t help if you can’t put the pieces together. (Mathspig: Yey!!!! My fav too)

3)    To be facile with numbers for daily life. So that when they’re confronted with various loan options or statistics in a newspaper, they can make an informed decision.

4)    Most importantly, to understand the jokes in my book. (or ve hit them vith pi. Mathspig)

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Q6: What is wrong with the way math is taught in American schools?

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Educators are too willing to sell kids a bill of goods. The curriculum contains a lot of topics that most students will never use. Honestly, when’s the last time you factored a trinomial? Part of the problem is the standards. Take the Common Core standards, for instance—they contain eight “practices” that artfully describe what a mathematically proficient student should be able to do, but then the practices are followed by a thousand standards that require nothing more than rote skills. Honestly, why are students asked to “derive the formula for the sum of a finite geometric series” to “calculate mortgage payments,” yet they’re never asked to consider the pros and cons of taking an adjustable rate mortgage?

But I’d also blame a lack of passion. The exceptional teachers I’ve met, the ones who are able to get their students excited about learning math, love numbers and shapes. They don’t have to convince their students that math is useful or interesting; their passion makes it obvious.

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Q7: What can teachers do right now to get kids more interested in math?

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I think there are two things they can do. First, be interested in math themselves. Second, keep their eyes open for examples of the usefulness of math in everyday life. (But, please, no more examples about measuring and cooking!)

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Q8: How does your blog/website/book help students with their math?

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Math Jokes 4 Mathy Folks contains 400 jokes, which I think helps to dispel the myth of humorless mathematicians. Teachers can use the jokes in class, and research has shown that humor has physical, psychological, and pedagogical value. Laughing decreases blood pressure, reduces anxiety, increases retention of information, provokes thought, hones prediction and decision-making skills, creates a more open atmosphere, and actually aids with classroom management.

 

On the MJ4MF blog, I post funny math stories, interesting math problems, and examples of math in the real world. I don’t know that a student would ever become proficient in math simply by reading my blog… but hopefully I can help them see that math can be both fun and useful.

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Q9: Tell us one funny math story/joke.

 

Just one? Surely, you jest!

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How do you know if a mathematician is an extrovert?

When he talks to you, he looks at your shoes.

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A woman goes to the doctor. The doctor tells her that she only has six weeks left to live.

“Oh, my goodness! Doctor, what should I do?” she asks.

“Are you married?”

“No.”

“Then find an actuary, and marry him!”

“Will that help me live longer?” she asks.

“Well, no,” he says, “but it’ll feel longer.”

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Q10: If you ruled the world what would change to help kids get excited about math?

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Foremost, I’d make Math Jokes 4 Mathy Folks be a required text for all courses.

Seriously, if I ruled the world, then I could do anything, right? I’d make teachers the highest paid professionals in the world, based entirely on merit. Teachers would get a base salary on which they could survive; and then, when their students were old enough to honestly and fairly assess their teachers, the students could provide ratings that would send huge bonuses to their previous teachers. I would never base a teacher’s pay on students’ standardized test scores. And while we’re at it, I’d throw away all standardized tests, period.

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Patrick Vennebush, for services above and beyond the call of math duty and for your outstanding contribution to the field of math humour, you are declared an Honourable Mathspig.

 

MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig …………………………………………………. with Kerry Cue

Hellooo Mathspigs,…………………………………………………..

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This week it is fun, fun, fun time with maths.

Yes, mathspiggies you are about to adventure into:

The Great Maths Scavenger Hunt.

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This is ideal for Middle School maths students. The Great Maths Scavenger Hunt is not just about fun. There is a secret agenda. Ooooooh, Yes! We want to show those mathspiggies in year 7, 8 and 9 that maths is used everywhere. So we are sending them on a Mission Not-So-Impossible to look at some odd places maths pops up.

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The inspiration for the Scavenger Hunt came from The University of Chicago. In the 1970s the unofficial war cry of its football team was:

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Cosine, secant, tangent, sine

Three point one four one five nine

Square root, cube root, BTU,

Sequence, series, limits too. Rah!

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Today the University of Chicago has 4 days of mayhem known as Scav, the Scavenger Hunt. (See The New Yorker, The Hunter Games, Patricia Marx, 2 Jul 2012.) There are up to 120 teams. All with names. Challenges include anything from finding a Hula Hoop (10 points) to delivering your appendix in a jar (34 pts) to eating your own umbilical cord (one student did. His mum had kept it. Ergh!) to getting a potato to break the sound barrier.

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In 1999 one challenge was to build a working nuclear breeder reactor (500 pts). A very worried Nuclear Physicist confirmed that two students had built the device using converted Thorium powder from inside vacuum tubes as weapon-grade Uranium!!!

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Ooooh! Argh! We won’t get sooooo carried away mathspiggies. But the challenge is on.

So GAME ON, you Scavs.

See what maths mayhem you can conjure into the universe.

May the most ingenious mathspiggy win.

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Mathspig

SOME TRIANGLES THAT I USED TO KNOW

This is a parody of the fabulously popular Somebody That I Used to Know You Tube Clip by Aussie singer Gotye.