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
…
Take and Make: Platonic Solids Coasters!
Plain Platonic Solids are pretty cool – fun shapes, interesting properties from side type: triangle square and pentagons; number of edges; number of faces and more. But they are also plain. Fall intern and UTeach Maker, Maddie Wallace took on the challenge to make some accessories that would create a way we can sort them, and match the objects to
…
Take and Make: Homeschool Day at the Austin Zoo 2021
Happy Homeschool Day at the Austin Zoo! It’s going to be 80 degrees and sunny, a great day for learning outdoors. We will be there featuring our geometry kits. But we are bringing other great projects too with examples with instructions. The event is preregister only, but you can make these great math projects anytime. Template Folder Here. Beside to
…
Take and Make: Napier’s Bones Calculator
Napier’s Bones are a manually operated calculator created by John Napier in 1612. This calculator is based on Lattice Multiplication and helps math learners with multiplying large numbers by a single digit number. Math learners! Start identifying multiplication patterns by making your own set of Napier’s Bones! Materials: Napier’s Bones Paper Template: https://tinyurl.com/rh5xdajt Writing utensil (pencil or pen) Popsicle sticks
…
Take and Make – Voronoi Flipbook
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
…
Take and Make: Icosahedron from Golden Rectangles
We were inspired by a post on Twitter by Olivier Longuet shown below. The object in the photo is an icosahedron, a 20-sided 3D shape, made out of three golden rectangles with side lengths that obey the golden ratio (1:1.618033…). To make a cardboard version of the icosahedron, print out this document and follow the instructions! You can also make
…
Take and Make: Transform Square to Triangle, and Square to Hexagon
These are cardstock designs, so if you laser cut the pieces they will all stay attached to each other. SVG of Cardstock versions Square to Triangle Square to Hexagon SVG of straight cut lines (square/hexagon is a the parallelogram) And if you are interested, here’s how you make the pieces. Triangle to Square: This transformation was made based on Ernest
…
Take and Make: Angle Sum Set
This is a fantastic way to layout this problem posted on twitter by Olivier Longuet and pointed out to me by Ralph Pantozzi. The drawing progression is on the right or you can etch the left (blank) onto wood, and add the finished pieces as you figure it out. Our files are here if you want a jpg, svg, Corel
…
Take and Make: Moscow Puzzles Crayfish and Flower
Here are two fun puzzles you can find in this classic book. The files to make them are right here! (secret: The wood is colored with Bingo stampers) Moscow Flower and Crayfish, Laser cut file types: Corel 2020, Adobe Illustrated, SVG, JPG
Take and Make: Making a Pool Test Apparatus
You don’t need robots and computers, just a system and apparatus to organize the steps! This model is based on the results alluded too but not completely explained by an Israeli company in the recent NY Times article by David Halbfinger on creative pool testing options. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/21/health/fast-coronavirus-testing-israel.html Trying to come up with one of these is a great activity for
…