A Math Forum Project

Geometry Forum - Problem of the Week Solutions - Finding Geometry in the Everyday Environment, Sept. 12-16, 1994 Pat Daley's Class THE Pentagon - obvious reasons Bermuda triangle - obvious reasons Astrodome - hemisphere Eiffel Tower - symmetry, segments forming geometric shapes Clock - circle, center, radii Different shaped dice - platonic solids and some other weird dice Ice cube - cube Window blinds - parallel planes Plant leaves - symmetry Basketball court - 90 degree angles, arcs, circles Chain link fence - diamonds Subway in Paris - pentagon with radiating lines Arc de Triomphe - streets that radiate from the Arc Snowflakes - symmetry; multiples of 6 points Tree - trunk is a cylinder Earth - sphere Stars - look like points in the sky Baseball diamond - 90 degree angles Billiards - use angles to hit the pockets; balls are spheres Seashells - spirals Pine cones - repeated patterns Swing set - line segments; planes are determines Starfish - symmetry Stop sign - octagon Supports on a large building - segments form different kinds of geometric shapes Streets in a city - parallel, perpendicular, intersect Gemstones - different faces Field - plane I just realized that I probably didn't answer one of the questions on the POW: Which object on your list do you think is "the most geometric?" What makes it so? Our answer was the EARTH because it contained all the other objects except stars. Pat Daley Judy Young's Class --Kristina Almquist 9th grade My churches floor - all different shapes (triangle, square, trapezoid, hexagon, etc.) together very close in a pattern. --Rommel Bagay 9th grade Time - 4 dimensional --Faaiza Bashir 10th grade The moon - It is round, not perfectly, and 3-dimensional in space. It has an infinitive amount of space around it. The moon has depressions in it, causing it to be not perfectly smooth. It also has bumps on it which could be made easily with shading by perspective artists. The moon also sends out rays of moonlight like lines that are 1- dimensional. These lights touch all geometric properties on earth. --Sarah Clawson 9th grade chandelier --Christine Cramer 9th grade Planet - found in nature, usually perfectly round (sphere) --Alex D'angelo 9th grade Electrical wiring - network --Joe Fuston 8th grade A map - It turns solid Geometry of a sphere to planar geometry. --Chris Gonzales 9th grade Wallpaper in my room --Simone George 8th grade Top of a car - trapezoid --Michele Gibney 10th grade The sun - a spherical globe - three-dimensional and it's a space figure. I picked this because it is our sun and one of the most important things in our surroundings. --Susie Goetz 9th grade The screen in may window - it could be looked at as a coordinate plane, made up of vertical and horizontal lines that are very close together. --Noah Hirk 8th grade Chimney - three dimensional square --Roy Holtmann 9th grade Orange - symmetrical, spherical, has no sides or corners. --Pamchal Javandel 9th grade Caldocot tunnel - vanishing point --Steffanie Jensen 9th grade Pool --Ryan McCauley 8th grade Pyramids at the airport --Shadan Mirabedi 9th grade Where two boards in a treehouse connect - right angle --Terri Nocco 10th grade The campus - It is a network, has many node and arcs. --Aruna Parthasarathy 9th grade Ceiling fan - Each blade is a diagonal of a square --Jeff Pieper 9th grade Globe - has all dimension except time --Chris Ralls 9th grade The propellor to a plane - when spun it makes a perfect geometric circle. --Danielle Rollick 9th grade The freeway - It is like a number line a network --Ashleigh Rossman 9th grade Courrigated cardboard --Sara Runyan 9th grade Roads - network --Cody Sisco 9th grade Seashells - they have spirals --Chris Rust 9th grade Angle of light reflecting of a mirror --Michael Summers 9th grade Baseball fields - a square, bases are at 90 degrees, it is symetrical --Andrew Liu 9th grade Cell - has hexagonal shape --Kelly Tang 9th grade Pea soup with spheres inside of a cylinder --Anna Ustaszewska 10th grade pin's head- It is a point as a dot --Stephen Switzer 9th grade My notebook paper is a rectangle with parallel lines, circles AND it is most geometric because it has a lot of geometry problems on it. --Matt Toney 9th grade The bow of the model ship I am working on. All present day U.S. ships have a bow shaped like an inverse curve --Candice Wiegand 9th grade a globe with all the latitude and longtitude --Amanda Wolcott 9th grade Our campus is a network of nodes and arcs and line segments. Ruth Carver's Class Moira Conway --2 streets intersecting (intersecting lines); roof of our house (slope, angle); moon (sphere); (blade of grass (ray); petals of a flower (congruent); 2 electrical wires - power lines (parallel line segments); pine tree (cone shaped); a hill (an angle); creek (line segment); leaf (symmetrical); medial strip in street (line segment); lights at a traffic light (congruent); a bug on a tree (a point on a ray); orange (symmetrical); geese in flight (form an angle). Meghann Keppard -- stop sign (an octagon); traffic light (3 congruent circles); 2 walls of a room ( 2 planes intersecting in a line); street intersection (2 lines meeting at a point); houses (rectangles, squares or pentagons); some seashells (cone shaped); blackboards (congruent rectangles); t.v. (a cube); leaf (symmetrical). I think the intersection of streets is the "most geometric" because lines and points are used the most in geometry. Siobhan O'Brien -- sidewalk blocks (congruent shapes); acorn (symmetry); picket fences (parallel lines); leaves (symmetry); branches (line segments); blades of grass (line segments); sky (plane); roof tops (angles); sun (circle); roads (perpendicular & parallel lines); doors (rectangles); window panes (symmetry); human body (symmetry). I think the "most geometric" is the human body. Crista Palladino -- tree with branches ( a plane with lines extending outward); acorns on branches (points on lines); a flowing creek (a line extending infinitely); birds (symmetrical); open fields (plane); sun (circle with rays coming out). Kim Biedermann -- sun (sphere); turns in roads (angles); door frames (angles, straight edges); oranges (spheres); evergreen tree (cone shaped); ice cream cone (cone shaped); tire (circle); can (cylinder); CD (circle); stairs (angles); stop sign (octagon); rainbow (arc); locker (rectangle). I think the most geometric is the stairs because they're so exact. Keith Grove's Class John LoCicero Geometry, Per. 2 September 12, 1994 Open wooden rafters: parallel lines, three-dimensional solid (rect.) Windows with munions: perpendicularity, square and rectangular figs. Walls: rectangular, square, trapezoidal, quadrilateral (regular and irregular) Ceiling pitch: angularity, triangularity, right triangularity Flat ceiling and floors: Straight angles, parallel lines, rectangles and squares Floor boards: perpendicularity to baseboards and walls, parallel lines, rectangular shape (plane and solid) Cabinetry: rectangular surface area, rectangles in shape and shelving Rugs and carpeting: squares, rectangles, circles and ellipses Stairs: rectangles, squares, triangles, perpendicularity, cylindrical banister and supports with circular ending at base Stove: circular burners Sink: parabolic base, circular drains, cylindrical pipes for plumbing Chairs: cylindrical or rectangular supports that are perpendicular to each other, parallel back slates, spherical feet Tables: rectangular, circular or square tops, cylindrical or rectangular solid legs Beds: rectangular shapes for bed and supports and mattresses Doors: rectangular solids Roof: rectangular shingles, rectangular shape of roof, angles in pitch of the roof, slope Chimney: rectangular solid, bisects the side of the house into two triangles, known as a altitude Clapboards: rectangular solids, parallel lines Shape of house: rectangles; squares; perpendicular lines; transversals, angles (acute, obtuse, straight); bisectors; congruency of windows, sides of the house, garage door Wheels on car, etc.: circles, radii, diameter, chord, circumference, area, torus, radians, degrees, minutes, seconds, concentricity, arcs Funnels for liquids: conic figures Roads: parallel lines Power and telephone lines and poles: parallel lines, angles, transversals, interior and exterior angles, corresponding angles, straight angles, complementary and supplementary angles, cylinders Trees: perpendicularity, angles between branches and trunk, symmetry, angles of veins in leaves, triangular shape of evergreens with the trunk as a bisector Tennis, golf balls, etc.: circles, surface area and volume of spheres, hyperbolic functions Human body: A non-Euclidean figure in space Previous page || Next problem || Previous problem || Table of Contents || Forum Home Page 1 July 1995