A RATE is a comparison between two different measurements.
It is a special type of ratio where the units are not the same, such as cost (price per item), speed (distance per time) or rotations per minute (RPM), which is used to measure spin in ice skating and rotation rate pedalling on a bike.
Australians are the biggest Gamblers in the World,
Helen Sullivan, The Observer, 8 SEPT 2024
Australia is home to a fifth of the world’s slot machines
According to Tom Vanderbilt in The Guardian ( Slot machines: a lose lose situation, 8 JUN 2013)
Once seen as a harmless diversion, hi-tech slot machines now bring in more money than casinos – and their players become addicted three times faster than other gamblers.
You have 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great grandparents, ETC, ETC
The no. of ancestors you have per generation follows an EXPONENTIAL FUNCTION:
Here are the numbers going back 50 generations or 1,000 years.
When you plot YOUR NO. ANCESTORS over a POPULATION OF THE WORLD GRAPH there is a problem.
Population of the World DATA HERE
If you look at the graph (above) you will see that the No. YOUR ANCESTORS equalled the POPULATION OF THE WORLD about 500 years or 25 Generations ago.
You are related to everyone who was alive 500 years ago. Some of your ancestors inlcude:
Of course, EVERYONE else has these ancestors too.
If you go back 50 generations you have more ANCESTORS than the entire POPULATION OF THE WORLD.
Anthropologists say that there was a lot of IN BREEDING especially when humans lived in small tribes and the world population was small.
So way back every one of our family trees has members popping up all over the place. So we had far fewer ancestors than the math suggests.
Here is an example of Gambler’s Fallacy, but for non-gamblers.
We see – in this case – hear a pattern and then attribute meaning to this pattern – It’s a conspiracy!!!! – when there is no pattern and no meaning!!!!! So Apple found when designing their iPod shuffle feature later on the iPad and iPhone.
“When Apple first introduced the shuffle feature on its iPods, the shuffle was truly random; each song was equally likely to be picked than any other. However, the randomness didn’t appear random, since some songs were occasionally repeated, and customers concluded that the feature contained some secret patterns and preferences. As a result, Apple was forced to revise the algorithm. ‘We made it less random to make it feel more random,’ said Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple’
p68 The Decisive Moment How the Brain Makes Up Its Mind Jonah Lehrer (Text Publishing 2009)
Try it. Pick 12 songs to make your playlist.
USE The Random Number Spinning Wheel HERE
Keep in mind that writing a program for a RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR is difficult as all programs are based on some pattern. Click the Spinning Wheel link above and spin the wheel 12 times.
What happened? Did you get too many repeats like the iPod Shuffle customers who complained?
Australia is reviewing its Maths Curriculum.
Sides are taken. Arguments are rife. See the excellent article by Donna Lu, Cracking the formula: how should Australia be teaching maths under the national curriculum?, The Guardian,13 FEB, 2022)
Should teachers teach? Or students explore problems? (Called Cognitive Activation in academe!)
Why not, both? Then add outdoor maths (below) plus defronting the classroom sometimes and try some maths selfies for homework. More ideas here.
It doesn’t matter what’s written in the curriculum, the biggest problem in maths for students is
Here, to tackle boredom are:
“A growing body of research shows us that outdoor play leads to better physical and mental health, has positive effects on cognitive function and learning, and reduces the incidence of behavioural problems.” Maria Zotti, Nature Play, SA.
Peter Dunstan, Principal Kilkenny PS, SA, writes in SAPPA magazine, Primary Focus, that outdoor play fosters “wonderment, independence and freedom” as well as “social skills, imagination, creativity and problem solving”.
Inspired by SAPPA and NaturePlay, Mathspig has produced her own outdoorsy maths list:
References:
7. Robin Hood Give us your best shot.
9. You can measure the volume of your lungs by blowing one breath into a balloon and pushing it into a full bucket of water. Measure the overflow.
15: Outdoor Maths: Times Tables
21. Light intensity links. Here and here.
36. Killer heels that really kill.
Nathan Chen, 22, USA, wins GOLD in the Men’s Figure skating with 5 brilliant, soaring quadruple jumps executed to perfection to Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” and “Rocket Man.”
According to the fab NBC video, Mathletes, nine Figure Skating judges score competitors for the complexity of each element (eg. Triple axel or triple spin jump) and the quality of the performance producing a score out of ten.
Kailani Craine, Australia
This is a typical figure skating score card for one competitor.
The final score, however, is based on the average for only 5 of these scores. Two are eliminated by random selection (Red Brackets). Then the top and bottom scores are removed and the remaining five scores averaged.
Screen grab NBC Mathletes
Four scores are removed. Two by the random selector (in brackets) and then the top and bottom scores (with line drawn through them)
Four scores are removed. Two by the random selector (in brackets) and then the top and bottom scores (with line drawn through them). But this time the random selector eliminates two low scores.
The average:
Same score cards but Skater B gets a higher average score than Skater A.
Skater A is, in fact, beaten by a random number selector!!!!
Matthew Parker is an Australian stand-up comedian, author, YouTube personality and maths communicator.
Albert Digital Mathematical clocks are fascinating.
You calculate the time using +, -, x and ÷ . Such fun and ideal for the math classroom.
Mathspig found the Albert Mathematical clock at the Horsham International Hotel (below).
More info on the Albert Digital Clock here.
You can set the level of difficulty. You get 1 minute to work out the answer and that’s long enough.
According to the fab NBC video, Mathletes, nine Figure Skating judges score competitors for the complexity of each element (eg. Triple axel or triple spin jump) and the quality of the performance producing a score out of ten.
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir win GOLD at Pyeong Chang 2018
Kailani Craine, Australia
This is a typical figure skating score card for one competitor.
The final score, however, is based on the average for only 5 of these scores. Two are eliminated by random selection (Red Brackets). Then the top and bottom scores are removed and the remaining five scores averaged.
Screen grab NBC Mathletes
Four scores are removed. Two by the random selector (in brackets) and then the top and bottom scores (with line drawn through them)
Four scores are removed. Two by the random selector (in brackets) and then the top and bottom scores (with line drawn through them). But this time the random selector eliminates two low scores.
The average:
Same score cards but Skater B gets a higher average score than Skater A.
Skater A is, in fact, beaten by a random number selector!!!!
A raucous romp through the absurdities of American Gun Culture
10 Reasons Students Hate Maths: BUSTED
10 Reasons Students Hate Maths: BUSTED
10 Reasons students hate maths: BUSTED
10 Reasons Why Students Hate Maths: BUSTED
10 Reasons students Hate Maths: BUSTED
10 reasons to hate maths: BUSTED
10 reasons to hate maths: BUSTED
10 reasons to hate maths: BUSTED
10 Reasons to Hate Maths: BUSTED
10 Reasons to Hate Maths: BUSTED
Comic & cutting comment plus random raves.
Mathspig Blog 