Takuo Toda, a Japanese Engineer, broke the world record for the longest flight for a paper plane again when his 10cm long plane stayed in the air for 29.2 seconds.
Scientists take paper plane design seriously. Here are some experiments involving the release of paper planes from high altitudes.
As the weather improves – Spring in Melbourne, my city & Fall in USA & Autumn in the UK – it is an ideal time to take math outdoors. Here are some fab exercises for Middle School Math.
Lego Man soccer fields will vary in size depending on the height of each player picked by each student. This does your head in. It is really challenging maths!
You’ll find full calculations at the Maths is Fun blog.
You’ll find more fab outdoor junior and middle school maths activities at the terrific Maths and Movement blog.
Some students will discover their co-ordinate point is not on the grid. Students should then work out that they will need a different scale for the y-axis. You can get more inspiration at the Stand Again blog.
It’s Autumn in UK & FALL in the USA so it’s the perfect time for a little bit of outdoor math for Grade 3-5 with AUTUMN leaves. Of course, you don’t need FALL LEAVES for this exercise, but it is colorful.
This fab idea comes from Juliet Robertson, an outdoor education consultant in Scotland. Her blog Creative star learning is one of the most inspiring outdoor maths blogs you will find.
Melbourne singer, songwriter, and geometrically inclined performer Gotye performing with Kimbra won 3 Grammy Awards for his song Somebody that I used to Know in 2013.
The Gotye youtube clip has had 1,535,344,012 or 1.5 Billion hits since it was first uploaded 5th July 2011.
Mini Rates Exercise:
In 111 months Somebody that I used to know has scored 1.5 Billion hits. How many hits a. per month, b. per day, c. per minute? (Round off numbers)
Ans: a. 13.5 Million per month
b. 450,000 per day (Assuming 30 days per month)
c. 37,500 per hour and 625 per minute (for over 9 years non stop!)
Estimate of Youtube Earnings for this Song:
The Influencer Marketing Hub puts the rates an advertiser pays between $0.10 to $0.30 per view on Youtube, but averages out at $0.18 per view. Using the lower rate, how much has this song earnt in just over 7 years?
Earnings = 0.10 x 1.5 x 109 = 1.5 x 108 = $150,000,000 = $150 million*
*This calculation is based on a click per view of the video. Gotye will not receive anything like $150M, however, because advertisers pay per click on their ad.
According to the Influencer Marketing Hub again ‘on average, the YouTube channel can receive $18 per 1,000 ad views. This equates to $3 – $5 per 1000 video views.’ Again, using the lower rate:
Video Hits =1.5 x 109
Divide by 1,000 = 1.5 x 109 ÷103 = 1.5 x 106
$3.00 per 1,000 video clicks earnings = 3.00 x 1.5 x 106 = 4.5 x 106
Realistic Earnings = 4.5 x 106 = $4,500,000 = $4.5 million
A Geometric Parody:
Here is Mathspig’s take on the song:
Somebody that I used to Know:
It’ll either help students do their exercises or work like Clockwork Orange and have them running screaming out of the room when they hear the first few notes.
The NHS reports that Australian Researchers Declan Patton and Andrew McIntosh, Uni of NSW, have conducted a study into brain and neck injuries of headbangers published in the British Medical Journal.
Concerts included as part of the study included Motörhead, Mötley Crüe, Skid Row, The Hell City Glamours, L.A. Guns, Ozzy Osbourne, Winger, Ratt, Whitesnake, and W.A.S.P.
Here’s Motorhead with a ‘nice’ moshpit.
140 BPM for Ace of Spades. Motorhead BPM range is 91 – 203
The Headbanger Study Concluded:
1. Head movement of more than 75o for an average heavy metal beat will cause head and neck injuries. This movement causes headache and dizziness.
2. Beats above 130 bpm (beats per minute) cause neck injury.
The average headbanging song has a tempo of about 146 beats per minute (bpm).
and according to Mathspig:
3. Being punched up in the mosh pit. Do you need maths for that conclusion?
Researchers recommendations:
1. Reduce range of head and neck movement
2. Headbang to a slower tempo
3. Wear a neck brace. (Isn’t a bad hair cut enough?)
Headbanger Rates Exercise:
How many headbeats per song of 5mins would a headbanger manage for the following song tempos?
Mathspigs excited. Look there is a band called Mutemath!!!!!!!! And here they are:
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Just to show that there is something spookily primitive about headbanging here is Headbanger Baby:
Takuo Toda, a Japanese Engineer, broke the world record for the longest flight for a paper plane again when his 10cm long plane stayed in the air for 29.2 seconds. 
Mathspig Blog 
