"Human Calculator'

It's a really interesting notion to refer to people as "human calculators." My family members have always compared their education system back in China where you had to do mental math all the time compared to the "American" lifestyle were people use their phone calculators to see how much they should tip wait staff at restaurants.

Another human calculator that I found in addition to the two geniuses mentioned in Ms. Mariner's blog would be Scott Flansburg, a bestselling author that has been teaching math for more than 20 years and holds the Guinness World Record for adding the same number to itself more times in 15 seconds than a person can do using a calculator. I think it's hilarious how he earned the branded title of the “Fastest Human Calculator^®.” However, it is somewhat nice that "more important than showing others the skills that he has acquired, he wants to show others that they already have the ability to perform seemingly difficult math problems without a calculator."

Also, on Wikipedia, his occupation is "mental calculator." Wikipedia also talks a bit about his childhood relating to math: "Scott has stated that he was nine years old when he first discovered his mental calculator abilities, after he was able to solve his teacher's math question without needing to write down the calculations. Afterwards he would keep a running tally of his family's groceries at the store, so his father could give the cashier an exact check before the bill had been rung up. In his youth he also began noticing that the shape and number of angles in numbers are clues to their value, and began counting from 0 to 9 on his fingers instead of 1 to 10.^"

On a slightly less math-related note:
I wonder how mathematical skill relates to arrogance and humility. On his website, it states "he would be even faster, but he can’t speak the answers as fast as he can calculate them in his head!" I understand that this man is very intelligent, but I am not amused by his efforts to advertise his "genius." I feel like Mr. Flansburg's attitude is very elitest and slightly offensive. His website states that he "believes everyone has the ability to be good at math and enjoy it, but that most people have not learned to do math in a way that works for them. The Human Calculator^® is dedicated to helping students and adults to overcome their math-related fears." I understand that math is not the easiest subject for every single person, but to state dedication to help people overcome their fears assumes the mindset that he can go in and fix everyone's problems with his own "nontraditional" methods. He also assumes that everyone can enjoy math, but this is completely false because everyone has their own interests and should not be subject to the same forms of joy. Most math teachers that I know are dedicated to encourage learning and understanding of the subject of math, but they don't try to assert or impose their own views as the correct answer to mathematical situations. Maybe this is just the debater in me, but I felt very uneasy reading about Mr. Flansburg on his website, which is why I refuse to blatantly praise any stories that might exist of him.

Many people can possess the skills that he has, but simply don't have the opportunity to show it off to the world. It would be nice if everyone could stop putting labels on talent because talent can be undiscovered or discovered, but what truly matters is whether it exists or not.

Sources:
http://scottflansburg.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Flansburg

Reponse to Waves in the Pool

After sitting in math class almost everyday, sometimes it's hard to consider the realm of mathematics to extend beyond homework assignments or a test grade simply for the purposes of school. Subconsciously, we all do know that math has real-world applications, but we usually narrow our view to lined-paper and eraser marks. However, after reading Ms. Mariner's blog about the application of sine curves in regards to swimming, I did some research to find other applications of these waves in real life.

The application that I'd like to focus on today would be that of sine waves in music (because who doesn't love music?) It was really interesting to read this little blurb about sine waves and sound by Professor Rogness at UNM. For instance, apparently the A note above middle C's equation is this: , which produces a graph like this:



Then, he states that "if we change the period of the sine wave -- then we change the sound,"e.g. the equations and graphs of C# and E.
 
I always found it interesting that there was such a huge correlation between music and math. One of my favorite Youtubers (ever), Kurt Schneider, was a math graduate from Yale who is incredibly talented at playing various instruments and arranging music. A lot of interviews from his friends and family (and even his math teacher) said that math was the reason of why he understood the way that music works, so well. This makes me think how cool it would be if we could visualize the sine curves of each note as we listened to different songs and sounds in general! Math is pretty cool, isn't it?

Who Uses Trig in His or Her Job and How is it Used?

The answer to this question may seem extremely simple yet extremely complicated at the same time. As students, we often wonder and even criticize when what we learn in school will help us in our future lives. We might think that writing English essays on literature will help improve our literary analysis skills, but what does that say about our possible jobs as musicians or as athletes? Honestly, I think that everything we learn in school will be applicable in our lives in one way or another.

In terms of trigonometry, today I will write about how it is applicable to a very obvious job which requires it: architecture. Without question, one can see that some sort of mathematical skill is needed in order to create buildings/structures that are not prone to collapsing.

According to Ryan Crooks, "Trigonometry is especially important in architecture because it allows the architect to calculate distances and forces related to diagonal elements. Of the six functions in basic trigonometry, the sine, cosine and tangent are the most important to architecture because they allow the architect to easily find the opposite and adjacent values related to an angle or hypotenuse, translating a diagonal vector into horizontal and vertical vectors." Trigonometry allows what architects dream of on paper to be real dreams that can stand before their eyes.

However, the field of architecture isn't limited to structural buildings.

Architecture can also be applied on a smaller scale, such as landscape architecture. Although one would not usually consider this to fall under the category of "trigonometry," many people believe that it actually is - this argument can be justified. For instance, if people required a portion of land for a building, statue, garden, etc. and they needed to clear the space by chopping down trees, then it would probably be best if the height of the tree was known so in the case of it falling no one would get hurt. (Clinometers are great for this!)

Another example of how trigonometry can be used in architecture of roads (transportation infrastructure) is that it is much better for roads and parking lots to be built on a terrain with as little of a "slope" as possible.

Although these examples only provide a brief view into the endless possibilities of trigonometric applications in professions, I think it's great how some of what we learn in school will be very important in our future endeavors.  

response to 9%

The "grade" of a road can essentially be thought of as the "tangent" trig function of a right triangle. Grade = rise/run x 100, which can also be looked to ask sin/cosine x 100, or the hypotenuse of a right triangle since it is the slope in comparison to a flat, horizontal surface. We usually consider how large the grade of a road is by thinking about its steepness. For instance, my mother really does not like driving on highways or roads that are very "steep," especially if we have to drive downhill. The steeper the road is, the greater its grade. 

When I ride my bike around my neighborhood, I usually abhor going up really steep hills with large grades, since going uphill requires a lot more energy and tires me out more quickly (but it is the better workout)! A road with a 0% grade is the best since it does not rise any feet for every 100 feet! I remember riding my bike all the time with my friends in elementary school and during this time they took out the speed bumps on the biggest road in my neighborhood, thus making our rides downhill so smooth and fun (since we could zoom down the road really, really fast)! 

An "angle of repose" is "the steepest angle at which a sloping surface formed of a particular loose material is stable." According to this site, railroad grades have to have really low values and it's usually preferred that these values range from zero to 1.5%, since "the friction coefficient of steel wheels on steel rails is low." With higher railroad grades, such as those of 2%-4%, the train has to have stronger locomotives and must be operated with a significant increase of care and financial expense.

response to Math Illiteracy - August 22

First, I just think its unfair to generalize and say that "all U.S. citizens are not very savvy mathematically." However, everyone does lack some mathematical skills to a certain extent based on a variety of reasons, with the most obvious one being the amount of exposure that we have to math in our society. 

Often times we always prefer to take the "easiest" way out of a problem. With today's culture, we do not have to use or apply our mathematical skills as much as we would have if we lived in an age where answers to math problems would not be in our hands in a matter of seconds, whether we use a calculator, computer, or smartphone. We rely on technology so much that sometimes we forget that we have minds of our own, despite how harsh sounds. In reality, if one is asked to do a math problem with technology at their hands, simple as calculating the amount of gratuity you owe after eating a meal or complex like those problems found in quantum mechanics, then most people would probably choose to not do the problems by hand or in their head. There are many reasons for this, such as a lack of mathematical knowledge, a method to save time, or pure laziness. 

Another reason I think that we do not emphasize math is because a lot of people do not feel very passionate about the subject. Personally, math and science have not always been my favorite classes, and I find myself much more "eager" to complete assignments for classes I'm very enthusiastic about, such as English or art. This is not to say that I do not enjoy math, but merely a reflection about how I feel about different subjects as a whole. I think this could also be due to the way math is taught overall in educational systems. I do not really know how to explain this thought, but for instance, in other classes, we as students are much more interactive and engaged with "hands on" activities or group activities. I am not aware of what we can do in this regard for math, but I can say that I really enjoyed the "thinking outside of the box" exercises that we did on the first day of class - math should be taught in more creative ways which will let students explore aspects of math that they never knew they liked before.

response to May 2013

TPC
This blog appears to be about new experiences and exploring things that we never knew before while giving a place for expression that time might not exist for in class. It aspires that our class will create some wonderful memories just as the peaches did for Grand Junction. An advantage to these blogs is that they allow us as students with each other and with you to learn more about one another on a more personal level. 

When I read this post, my first thought was about how we should not be afraid to accept suggestions to improve our situations. When Barbara suggested cutting the roses at a certain angle (haha, on a very simplistic level this relates to math because of the mere mention of angles) you were hesitant at first but you learned from what was not working. Indirectly, this speaks to how we as students should not be shy in asking for help in math class or outside of class because there is no harm in it and it actually provides a much greater benefit for everyone involved since we can understand the math that we are learning more deeply and with more confidence. This is definitely something that I plan to work on this year since I'm so shy! Also, we should not be intimidated by math if it is not our strongest subject because there is always room to improve. I think this is the most important message that we should carry away: No one can master a certain skill on their own and by seeking for advice we might discover skill and passion that we would have never imagined.