The Reuleaux Car The pieces are below, and an AI, SVG, and Corel File are available here. The file has a laser etch on the big wheel to guide the placement of the smaller piece. Glue two small pieces to one side and two large ones on the other side. The wheel holders work by sliding so you can install
…
Turns out you can use CorelDraw to reverse engineer the parts to a conic section model. Read all about it in the November 2021 MAA Math Horizons page called Do The Math (p. 29). Editor Tom Edgar was fun to work with, and made the graphic images. Note: if you are “making” this model from scratch, once you find the
…
We had a few slides to introduce MathHappens to the group and then dove right in to a hot topic, redistricting or Gerrymandering. We just had the proposed new Texas map released, but none of the negotiated changes that came the next day on the 14th, so there were real examples of all 4 types of Gerrymandering which are cracking,
…
At Austin Museum Day 2021, MathHappens hosted a suite of activities at the Pythagorean theorem tables led by Naila Najiyeva, Laila Cook, Quan Nguyen, and Rashell Soria. Visitors were able to see the Pythagorean Theorem Proof and the Sum of Odd Numbers proof. At the tables, they also saw the Penrose stairs and a modern day application of it.
…
We are so excited to be back in person this year for Austin Museum Day! This year we will be hosting activities at two locations: Austin Nature and Science Center and Neill-Cochran House.
We’ve said it before and we said it again at the Connected Learning Summit in July. this was a great month of programs. You can see some of the keynote speakers as well as find our Ignite talk among some other excellent 5 minute presentations (2nd session, 2nd talk) in their post here. Highlights From the 2021 Connected Learning Summit
…
We took a “Maker” approach at STEM SantaFe’s camp this week. Students experimented with different ways to make a moveable joint using a variety of materials: balloon pieces, tin foil, brads, rubber band and even the wax paper bag the materials came in. Creative ideas included bending the brads to make tension, combining brads with balloons. We also made 3
…
MoMath has posted the Rosenthal Prize Lessons! Check out ours called Building a Tool to Deepen Understanding here. It has lots of great photos. We are very excited to present this activity as part of our presentation at Connected Learning Summit. It has potential for a lot of great Maker elements. You can start from scratch with two dots 2″
…
We need more math where people can find it, play with it, and enjoy it. Therefore, are excited to introduce our newest project: MathHappens in the Newspaper. Elizabeth Wrightsman is heading this project and the rest of the team is contributing ideas, submissions, and landing pages for each week. Below you’ll find an up to date display of all our
…
After talking with Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, we began searching for new ideas to interact with Voronoi Diagrams. During our pre-pandemic presentations and events we allowed people to interact with a Voronoi simulation that had been posted on Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Voronoi_growth_euclidean.gif While brainstorming we decided to buy a flipbook kit and test out what we could do with them. One of our
…