Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Robotics Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Computer Sciences

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

2022

Articles 1 - 1 of 1

Full-Text Articles in Robotics

Finding Approximate Pythagorean Triples (And Applications To Lego Robot Building), Ronald I. Greenberg, Matthew Fahrenbacher, George K. Thiruvathukal Jul 2022

Finding Approximate Pythagorean Triples (And Applications To Lego Robot Building), Ronald I. Greenberg, Matthew Fahrenbacher, George K. Thiruvathukal

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This assignment combines programming and data analysis to determine good combinations of side lengths that approximately satisfy the Pythagorean Theorem for right triangles. This can be a standalone exercise using a wide variety of programming languages, but the results are useful for determining good ways to assemble LEGO pieces in robot construction, so the exercise can serve to integrate three different units of the Exploring Computer Science high school curriculum: "Programming", "Computing and Data Analysis", and "Robotics". Sample assignment handouts are provided for both Scratch and Java programmers. Ideas for several variants of the assignment are also provided.