Maths-Whizz Blog

Fun Geometry for Maths Geeks

September 17th, 2009

Voronoi Diagrams explain much more than their apparently random patterns seem to indicate.

With the help of a pen, paper, ruler, set-square and some patience, you can make your very own honeycomb-like Voronoi Diagram (via Metafilter).

Read the rest of this entry »

Friday Maths Paradox

August 14th, 2009

Not what you might generally expect to read on a Friday, but a reminder of an elegant geometry puzzle in today’s Financial Times letters page.

Take a square of 8 x 8 units = 64 square units. Divide it into two triangles of 3 units x 8 units and two polygons with two sides of 5 units and one side of 3 units and rearrange those four pieces into a rectangle – see above. The resultant rectangle will be 5 units by 13 units = 65 square units! One square unit out of nothing?

Without giving too much away, the apparent paradox of taking one shape and making a larger shape using the same pieces in fact isn’t a paradox at all. It’s more of a sneak.

I won’t link directly to a solution, but if you want one, I suggest you give the excellent ‘Cut the Knot‘ website a try.

We suggest you explore their website for puzzles that will draw on and enrich your child’s experience with our maths tutor.

Pythagorean Punning

June 19th, 2009

Courtesy of Miazagora’s Homeschool Minutes, a fantastically bad geometry pun.

The wives of three English country gentlemen all became pregnant at about the same time. Two of these gentlemen provided the traditional cow hide as a bedcovering, while the third gentleman sent off to Africa for a hippopotamus skin to use as a bed covering for his wife. The first two women each had a boy while the third was blessed with twin boys.

Which goes to show that: The sons of the squires of the hides is equal to the squire of the hippopotamus.

[groan]

Of course, if you’ve forgotten Pythagoras’ theorem, refresh your memory, or just get some top maths tutoring with Whizz.com!
That’s all! Have a lovely weekend…

Christmas Triangles

December 2nd, 2008

Via Year 6 Blog, Here’s a little seasonal ditty to help you remember the properties of Isosceles Triangles (sing to the tune of ‘Oh Christmas Tree’, or ‘O, Tannenbaum’):

ISOSCELES, ISOSCELES,
TWO ANGLE HAVE THE SAME DEGREES
ISOSCELES, ISOSCELES,
YOU LOOK JUST LIKE A CHRISTMAS TREE

TWO SIDES THE SAME,
THREE VERTICES
TWO ANGLES HAVE
THE SAME DEGREES

ISOSCELES, ISOSCELES,
YOU LOOK JUST LIKE A CHRISTMAS TREE!

I can hear it now! But if you’ve forgotten the tune, here’s a clutch of well-scrubbed choristers singing ‘O, Tannenbaum’ to remind you:


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