Forum Outposts

The Geometry Forum Newsletter

Fall 1995, page 3

Forum Projects Continue To Grow

http://mathforum.org/sum95/

During the week, the primary task participants set for themselves was to build a Web site where teachers could find math resources by topic and grade level. Groups of participants focused on developing particular areas: algebra, calculus, geometry, probability and statistics, and trigonometry.

Sum95 teachers also contributed impressive classroom materials and interactive projects. Units on HyperCard and Tessellations and Math and Art are highlighted in our Forum Web Units. Skydome: A Newspaper Review Unit, a new Elementary Problem of the Week with High School Student Math Mentors, Guest Speakers, Internet Merit Badges, and Interactive Projects and Contests can all be found at

http://mathforum.org/sum95/projects.html

As the Forum's Ask Dr. Math project begins its second academic year, questions continue to pour in. Our archives show some recurring themes. At the elementary level we've received some not so elementary questions: Is one or zero a prime number? What is pi and how does it work? Why is a circle 360 degrees? Who invented math?

Middle school students ask about perfect numbers, natural numbers, rational numbers; about the four color map problem and the Pythagorean theorem; about how to factor equations and who stole second base. Secondary level students ask for help with calculus, for explanations of the mean value theorem, fractals, the Fibonacci sequence in nature, the Golden Mean, and the Golden Ratio; for the number of combinations possible given seven dice - and whether pi ruined Socrates' career.

Our archives offer answers to these questions, and you can search by keyword to find them, or browse the archives by topic and level.

The 'Math Doctors', Swarthmore College math students, concentrate on helping questioners think about the problems with which they're struggling:

Q: If you have six equally spaced telephone poles, and the distance between the first and sixth telephone pole is 1260 feet, what is the distance between the first and fourth telephone poles? - Steven Boynes

A: Let's assign the variable x to the distance between any two adjacent poles. Then the distance between the first and the sixth poles is 5x, so that gives us the equation 5x = 1260. Once we solve for x, we can find out the distance between the first and fourth poles by finding out what 3x is. I hope this helps! - Ken "Dr." Math

http://mathforum.org/dr.math/

Picture caption: On the last day of the Summer 1995 Advanced Institute - and one of the hottest of a very hot summer in Philadelphia as elsewhere in the United States - staff and teachers explored Philadelphia's Franklin Institute on a math and science field trip. Here Project Coordinator Annie Fetter and participant Steve Means examine a quotation from Lord Kelvin. ("When you can measure what you are talking about an express it in numbers, you know something about it.") Photographs courtesy of Anne Sandler.

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