Volume 5, Number 51

18 December 2000 Vol. 5, No. 51 THE MATH FORUM INTERNET NEWS Mathematik.com | Math Cats - Wendy Petti | Class2Class MATHEMATIK.COM http://www.mathematik.com/ Pages on a variety of advanced topics in mathematics: - Gradus Suavitatis: Euler's music theory - Turing: Input and output of a Turing machine - Billiard: Sinai billiard, a chaotic dynamical system - Abacus: World's first computing system - Flexible Surface: Explicit formulas for the motion of points on a nonconvex surface undergoing deformation - Caustics: Parameter dependence of caustic Legendre collapse - L-System: Animations of building a tree and turning a tree - 4DCube: Movie shows the stereographic projection of a rotating 4-D cube onto a 3-D hyperplane - Percolation: Does the random network have a connection from the top to the bottom? - Factor: Can you factor the 402-digit number? - Fractal: Interactive Menger Sponge - Casino 1: Petersburg paradox - Casino 2: Blackjack game - Pi: Does pi behave like a random sequence? - Finitely Presented Groups 1 and 2: Puzzles similar to the Rubik's Cube - Torus: Winding a torus around a torus -|-\-/-|-\-/-|-\-/-|-\-/-|-\-/-|-\-/-|-\-/-|-\-/-|-\-/-|-\-/-|- MATH CATS - Wendy Petti http://www.mathcats.com/ A site for children that promotes open-ended and playful explorations of important math concepts. Start with the magic chalkboard, then enter Math Cats MicroWorlds (interactive projects); explore the worlds of polygons, polyhedra, large numbers, magic squares, lissajous curves, and more; view and submit artwork for the Math Cats art gallery; or enter the Math Cats' Attic (an archive of past questions and answers from the magic chalkboard). Children are invited to submit drawings, story problems, questions, or ideas. Older Cats (teachers, parents) will find an idea bank of math activities and resources suggested by teachers. Grown-ups may also subscribe to the Math Cats News, a free twice-monthly e-mail newsletter featuring Math Cats site updates, annotated listings of other math sites that promote creative explorations, suggestions for family math activities and classroom activities, and good ideas from other educators. http://www.mathcats.com/grownupcats.html -|-\-/-|-\-/-|-\-/-|-\-/-|-\-/-|-\-/-|-\-/-|-\-/-|-\-/-|-\-/-|- CLASS2CLASS - The Math Forum http://mathforum.org/class2class/ Class2Class, a service created by Melanie Sprouse and hosted by the Math Forum, connects distant math classrooms in collaborations such as data-collecting experiments, taking advantage of one of the powerful features of the Internet: connecting people and information at a distance. DATA ANALYSIS - STATISTICS PROJECT - Raelynn Kershner Help define the most popular tourist attraction in the U.S., based on attendance and license plate data collected by students near popular tourist sites. Students involved in the project will discuss how to set criteria for deciding "What do we mean by most popular?" and will be helped to develop the math tools needed to make decisions. http://mathforum.org/class2class/view.taco?class_id=67 \|/ GREAT STATE MYSTERY - Natalie Macke and Patrice Enyart Elementary students will use deductive reasoning skills to locate the state of fellow project participants. The project incorporates mathematics, geography, science, language arts, and social studies. http://mathforum.org/class2class/view.taco?class_id=66 \|/ You are invited to submit your idea for a math project: http://mathforum.org/class2class/submit.taco -|-\-/-|-\-/-|-\-/-|-\-/-|-\-/-|-\-/-|-\-/-|-\-/-|-\-/-|-\-/-|- CHECK OUT OUR WEB SITE: The Math Forum http://mathforum.org/ Ask Dr. Math http://mathforum.org/dr.math/ Problems of the Week http://mathforum.org/pow/ Mathematics Library http://mathforum.org/library/ Teacher2Teacher http://mathforum.org/t2t/ Discussion Groups http://mathforum.org/discussions/ Join the Math Forum http://mathforum.org/join.forum.html Send comments to the Math Forum Internet Newsletter editors _o \o_ __| \ / |__ o _ o/ \o/ __|- __/ \__/o \o | o/ o/__/ /\ /| | \ \ / \ / \ /o\ / \ / \ / | / \ / \