Eddie Woo is an Aussie Maths teacher who runs his own Youtube Channel. So popular is this channel in October 2015, Woo won the NSW Premier’s Prize for Innovation in Science and Mathematics. This youtube clip won’t tell you where you will use surds, but it does something magical.
It compares surds to different kinds of music to help students understand why mathematicians go crazy over the concept of surds. This clip tells why maths is soooooo special. There is no guesswork or fake information in this maths. Maths must be accurate. And surds demonstrate this point. (Look for the 5 min mark)
Will you use surds in real life?
Maybe. Probably, not. But surds are used in mathematical programs that demand accuracy. eg. engineering skyscrapers, building satellite dishes, and even in video games. But you won’t see them. Like so much mathematics surds will be hidden in some algorithm.
Here are two Examples:
1. The Golden Ratio:
Often written a 1:1.61 the Golden Ratio or Fibonacci Sequence appears in art and nature and has an aesthetic appeal to the eye, but the accurate ratio is:
2. The Quadratic Function
Satellite dishes, headlights, torches, and bridges all designed using the parabolic arc. The parabola is defined by the quadratic function and sometimes solving for x produces an irrational no. namely a surd. Rounding off can introduce inaccuracies that can become more dramatic when scaled up to the sie of, say, a bridge.
3. The Golden Ratio in Music
Mozart arranged his piano sonatas so that the number of bars in the development and recapitulation divided by the number of bars in the exposition would equal approximately 1.618, the Golden Ratio. Find more @ CLASSIC FM.
Back to Mozart.
In the above diagram, C is the sonata’s first movement as a whole, B is the development and recapitulation, and A is the exposition.
And here is Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Major as an example. Can you hear the Golden Ratio. Not really. But it’s there.
The DART(Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission was launched on Nov. 23, 2021, atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
It is the size of a small vending machine and it has been travelling through space for 10 months.
According to The Guinness Book of Records the largest chocolate Easter Egg went on display at Le Acciaierie Shopping Centre, in Cortenuova, Italy, on 2011.
It doesn’t matter what’s written in the curriculum, the biggest problem in maths for students is
BOREDOM.
Here, to tackle boredom are:
41 Maths things to do before you’re 12
“A growing body of research shows us that outdoor play leads to better physical and mental health, has positive effects on cognitive function and learning, and reduces the incidence of behavioural problems.” Maria Zotti, Nature Play, SA.
Peter Dunstan, Principal Kilkenny PS, SA, writes in SAPPA magazine, Primary Focus, that outdoor play fosters “wonderment, independence and freedom” as well as “social skills, imagination, creativity and problem solving”.
Inspired by SAPPA and NaturePlay, Mathspig has produced her own outdoorsy maths list:
*In 1970 the Victorian Government made the wearing of seat belts compulsory.
*The first government in the west to do so.
*Within 14 months the other Australian states followed.
*The road toll in Australia dropped:
1969 3,382 road deaths per year
1988 2,887 deaths
2018 1,135 deaths
Mathspig lived on a country police station before seat belts became compulsory and a number of kids she went to school with died in car accidents.
Three factors have reduced the road toll in Australia:
1. Wearing seat belts
2. Stopping drink driving
3. Introducing Airbags (from 1980s)
Our eyes can easily detect the blink (above) set a 300ms.
Ditto, the light flash (below), which is set to flash at 200 ms but it will drive you CRAZY if you look at it for too long.
The fabulous video (below) will show you the amazing details of the ms timing that saves lives in a car crash. You will see real car crash tests. And the frightening results too.
It was made by an engineer who worked for GMH or Holden as we call it in Australia.
Mathspig Blog 