8 February 1999 Vol. 4, No. 6
THE MATH FORUM INTERNET NEWS
Sketchpad for Little Ones | FAQs: Proofs, Formulas |
Triumph of the Nerds
SKETCHPAD FOR LITTLE ONES - Geri Anderson-Nielsen
http://mathforum.org/sketchpad/littleones/
The Geometer's Sketchpad (GSP) is a powerful tool for
discovering geometric properties. The program contains
a ruler, a protractor, a calculator, and a simple word
processor, in addition to graphing possibilities for
the Cartesian plane.
The activities illustrated are samples of those used
in the Lower and Middle School mathematics classes at
Georgetown Day School, and were first assembled for a
handout for presentations made at the 1998 NCSM/NCTM
Annual Meetings.
Activity Grades
Exploration all
Lines, Rays, and Segments 3-5
Acute, Obtuse, and Straight Angles 2-
Guess the Angle 2-
Area and Perimeter 3-
How Many Degrees in a Triangle? 4-
Circles 4-
How Many Degrees in a Quadrilateral? 4-
Sum of the Interior Angles of a Polygon 4-
Student-Made Quiz 7
Similar Triangles 7
Transformations 7
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New from the Dr. Math FAQ: Proofs, Formulas
PROOFS
http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/faq.proof.html
What is a proof? How do you write a two-column proof?
This new FAQ from the Math Forum's project Ask Dr. Math
provides excerpts from and links to answers from the
Dr. Math archives.
For more discussions pro and con about two-column proofs,
search the archives of the newsgroup geometry-pre-college for
the words two column proof and browse the threads returned:
http://mathforum.org/discussions/epi-search/geom.pre-college.html
See also these three articles from Alexander Bogomolny's
interactive monthly column for MAA Online, "Cut the Knot"
(you will need a Java-enabled browser):
- Proofs Without Words
http://www.cut-the-knot.com/ctk/pww.html
- Pythagorean Theorem - includes over 20 proofs
http://www.cut-the-knot.com/pythagoras/
- Proofs in Mathematics - a discussion of the value of proofs
in the classroom, followed by a collection of proofs
classified as "simple" or "charming"
http://www.cut-the-knot.com/proofs/
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ANALYTIC GEOMETRY, TRIGONOMETRY FORMULAS
http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/faq.formulas.html
Robert L. "Dr. Rob" Ward has added two new units to the
FAQ area on formulas:
- Analytic Geometry Formulas cover one, two, and three
dimensions: points, directions, lines, triangles, polygons,
conic sections, general quadratic equations, spheres, etc.
- Trigonometry Formulas provide definitions of trigonometric
functions and formulas for bounds, identities, relations
in right and oblique triangles, and inverse trigonometric
functions.
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TRIUMPH OF THE NERDS: A HISTORY OF THE COMPUTER
Robert X. Cringely, PBS Online
http://www.pbs.org/nerds/
Learn how youthful amateurs, hippies, and self-proclaimed
"nerds" accidentally changed the world. This companion site
for the Public Broadcasting System television special hosted
by Robert Cringely, "Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of
Accidental Empires," presents a tour of the history of the
computer from the abacus to the World Wide Web.
Highlights include:
- Transistors (1947)
- Doug Engelbart and the minicomputer (1968)
- Apple II (1977)
- The IBM PC (1981)
- TV program transcripts
http://www.pbs.org/nerds/timeline/
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