Monthly Archives: November 2010

The mathematics of human knots

Posted on November 19, 2010 by Brent

Have you ever played “human knot”? It seems to be a common icebreaker/team-building sort of exercise (just do a Google search for “human knot” and you’ll find quite a few pages discussing it). Everyone stands in a circle, then reaches … Continue reading →

Posted in games, people, probability | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Fractals without a computer

Posted on November 15, 2010 by Brent

What happens when you hook up three projectors to a single video camera, and then point the camera at the projected images? RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME THINGS, that’s what!

Posted in fractals, video | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Book Review: The Mystery of the Prime Numbers

Posted on November 7, 2010 by Brent

Several months ago, Matthew Watkins sent me a review copy of his new book, Secrets of Creation Volume One: The Mystery of the Prime Numbers. It’s taken me a while to get around to reviewing it, but not for lack … Continue reading →

Posted in books, number theory, primes, review | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Penn Alexander: subset counting and Gray codes

Posted on November 2, 2010 by Brent

I’m volunteering again this year with the middle school math club at Penn Alexander. I’m going to try to be better this year about posting what we do each week, for posterity’s sake and in case it inspires anyone else! … Continue reading →

Posted in counting, pattern | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment