Math on Asia

Date: 01/12/97 at 19:19:35
From: suzanne @ mathforum.org (Suzanne Alejandre)
Subject: Math on Asia

Dear Dr. Mike,

Currently I am working on a section of pages that starts at

http://mathforum.org/alejandre/mathfair/index.html

Sarah Seastone, my editor, ran across your response to Charlie Napier 

http://mathforum.org/dr.math/problems/napier1.3.97.html

which we felt fit so well with the unit that I am working on! Your
ideas are excellent. You can see how I linked to it by going to

http://mathforum.org/alejandre/mathfair/more.html

My question (or perhaps request) is if there is any possibility that
you could respond similarly to Math on Asia.



I would love to hear your ideas.



Sincerely,

Suzanne Alejandre

Date: 01/17/97 at 01:25:49
From: Doctor Mike
Subject: Re: Math on Asia

Hello Suzanne,
  
My ideas of what is interesting may be a bit far out, but here goes.

1. It's hard to talk about Asia and math without bringing up the name of S.A.
Ramanujan of India. The familiar formula "pi*R squared" for the area of a
circle generalizes nicely to "pi*(min radius)*(max radius)" for an ellipse.
The formula "pi*diameter" for the circumference doesn't generalize, so
Ramanujan came up with various approximation formulas for the ellipse
circumference.  He was most known for Number Theory.  Do a biography.

2. A student could learn from a book, or earth science teacher, about Plate
Tectonics (continental drift). In particular, about X million years ago the
"Indian sub-continent" (Indian plate) crashed (at geological slow speeds)
into Asia (Eurasian plate), and formed the Himalayas, including K2 and
Mount Everest.  Find out approximately when this started and how long it
took.  I believe that X is somewhere around 35, and that most changes have
come in the last several million years.  That would make the growth rate
graph have a "hockey stick" shape, similar to economic activity graphs that
tend to peak in the 4th quarter.  This direction of investigation could
be made into an exercise involving scientific notation to represent the
relatively long time periods involved.

3. Asian Indian classical music, like the ragas Ravi Shankar plays on Sitar,
have much more rhythmic complexity than "western" music, which could lead
to an interesting project on fractions and ratios.

4. I'm pretty sure there is interesting music and mathematics in China as
well as India, but I don't know anything about it.

5. Graph number of Asian immigrants vs. year from 1800 to the present.

6. Learn how to use an abacus, and use it on a test instead of using an
electronic calculator.

  
I can't think of any others now, but this is a start.  Good luck.

-Doctor Mike,  The Math Forum
  Check out our web site!  http://mathforum.org/dr.math/