(This post demonstrates the math behind the creation of some unusual math art. I got the idea from this tumblr post which I don’t even think works like this. But it was the inspiration behind the pictures.) Take this function: f(x) = x^2 + a*cos(ax). When you take values of a between 0 and 8 and […]
The madeup language for creating 3d models came out a week ago for the kickstarter backers. There is more information about the computer programming language found at the kickstarter page. It’s been a lot of fun to play with but looking at it through the lens of being able to create calculus 3d solids has been […]
PSA: check out Anna Weltman’s new book, This Is Not A Math Book. Looks great. Also check out Dan Meyer’s fall contest (ends 10/6/15) that asks the students to be creative in making their own Loop-de-loop mathematical art. Programming connection: have the students make their loop-de-loop with python and turtles, here is a 3-5-2 loop-de-loop: […]
I was inspired by this tumblr post, and this wikimedia page to make some pretty pictures of the exponential function over the complex plane. Go there to read in more detail how the images were created, including how the colors were created. Code is found here. Hi definition images are found here. Update: Here’s what […]
I came about this tweet: https://twitter.com/SciencePorn/status/599718978307620864/ It reminded me strongly of the waning moon and linear mod art projects that I’ve been playing with. For instance, here’s a screenshot from the waning moon (specifically y = 56x) A quick intro: the picture above was made by taking 360 points around a circle, and shifting them […]
I’ve given this presentation in November 2014 at AMTNYS in Syracuse, and in April 2015 at NCTM in Boston. I’ll be giving the presentation in May 2015 at the NY Master Teacher Conference, and in July 2015 at Twitter Math Camp in Claremont CA. Drive Why use the Mandelbrot fractal to get the students to […]
(Note: this post is an extension on the calculating pi with python post from a couple of years back. Also here’s another way to inefficiently calculate pi with Buffon’s Needles.) We’re currently working with Power series and Taylor series in Calculus. One particularity pretty derivation is going from the series for to the series for […]
