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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons™
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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Teaching Mathematics With Poetry: Some Activities, Alexis E. Langellier
Teaching Mathematics With Poetry: Some Activities, Alexis E. Langellier
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics
During the summer of 2021, I experimented with a new way of getting children excited about mathematics: math poetry. Math can be a trigger word for some children and many adults. I wanted to find a way to make learning math fun—without the students knowing they’re doing math. In this paper I describe some activities I used with students ranging from grades K-12 to the college level and share several poem examples, from students in grades two to eight.
Symmetry And Measuring: Ways To Teach The Foundations Of Mathematics Inspired By Yupiaq Elders, Jerry Lipka, Barbara Adams, Monica Wong, David Koester, Karen Francois
Symmetry And Measuring: Ways To Teach The Foundations Of Mathematics Inspired By Yupiaq Elders, Jerry Lipka, Barbara Adams, Monica Wong, David Koester, Karen Francois
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics
Evident in human prehistory and across immense cultural variation in human activities, symmetry has been perceived and utilized as an integrative and guiding principle. In our long-term collaborative work with Indigenous Knowledge holders, particularly Yupiaq Eskimos of Alaska and Carolinian Islanders in Micronesia, we were struck by the centrality of symmetry and measuring as a comparison-of-quantities, and the practical and conceptual role of qukaq [center] and ayagneq [a place to begin]. They applied fundamental mathematical principles associated with symmetry and measuring in their everyday activities and in making artifacts. Inspired by their example, this paper explores the question: Could symmetry …
On Commensurability And Symmetry, David Pierce
On Commensurability And Symmetry, David Pierce
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics
Commensurability and symmetry have diverged from a common Greek origin. We review the history of this divergence. In mathematics, symmetry is now a kind of measure that is different from size, though analogous to it. Size being given by numbers, the concept of numbers and their equality comes into play. For Euclid, two magnitudes were symmetric when they had a common measure; also, numbers were magnitudes, commonly represented as bounded straight lines, for which equality was congruence. When Billingsley translated Euclid into English in the sixteenth century, he used the word "commensurable" for Euclid's symmetric magnitudes; but the word had …
Kaleidoscopes, Chessboards, And Symmetry, Tricia M. Brown
Kaleidoscopes, Chessboards, And Symmetry, Tricia M. Brown
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics
This paper describes the n-queens problem on an n by n chessboard. We discuss the possible symmetries of n-queens solutions and show how solutions to this classical chess question can be used to create examples of colorful artwork.
Logarithmic Spirals And Projective Geometry In M.C. Escher's "Path Of Life Iii", Heidi Burgiel, Matthew Salomone
Logarithmic Spirals And Projective Geometry In M.C. Escher's "Path Of Life Iii", Heidi Burgiel, Matthew Salomone
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics
M.C. Escher's use of dilation symmetry in Path of Life III gives rise to a pattern of logarithmic spirals and an oddly ambiguous sense of depth.