Moon-lines and Apple-pathways

Today (6.28 for Americans; 28.06 for people who are wrong*... :P) is Tau Day, a day dedicated to Pi's obscure rival: Tau. There are those who argue that π (the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter) is not the best choice as the circle constant, and τ (the ratio of a circle's circumference to its radius) is the better choice. The website I linked to makes a compelling argument: after all, just look at how many times "2π" appears in mathematical formulas.

Anyway, since a circle's radius is half its diameter, τ is always equal to 2π, or approximately 6.283185307179586… Here, snagged from The Nerdist, is a clip of Michael John Blake's musical tribute to Tau: (It's gorgeous!)



(*Kidding! You're not wrong. I agree it makes more logical sense to go Day-Month-Year. But my birthday is 1.23 under the American system, and I am not giving that up. :P)



Day 01: Introduce yourself. List your likes and dislikes.
Day 02: Make a bulleted list of everything that happened in your day.
Day 03: Smile! We want to see your teeth today. Post a self-portrait.
Day 04: Share your favorite quote/song lyric.
Day 05: Share your favorite recipe.
Day 06: List 5 countries you'd like to visit.
Day 07: Provide pictures of 5 celebrity crushes.
Day 08: Create a bucket list, whether or not your aspirations are rational.
Day 09: Describe your food consumption today.
Day 10: Share some of your current favorite tunes.
Day 11: List some of your favorite tumblrs. ( Read more... )
Day 12: Set a goal.
Day 13: Provide the HEX code(s) of your favorite color(s).
Day 14: Post a Youtube video that makes you laugh/inspires you.
Day 15: Make a voicepost in another language besides your native one.

Everyday at work, I compose a few questions for the kids to answer to get them started thinking about math. I always think them up about 5-10 minutes before we open, so they're often rushed. I always say that I'm going to sit down and write a bunch of questions beforehand so I don't have to scramble, but...yeah, doesn't happen.

The first question is always easy and designed for my youngest students to answer; it also bolsters the confidence of the older kids. The next couple questions vary in difficulty based on which kids I have coming that day. The last question is always the most difficult, and often tailored around the oldest/most advanced student I have that day.

Here's an example of the questions I used the other day:



(If you can't read the writing, the first bag says: "20 candies". The next bag says "2 lbs flour" and the measuring cup says "8 oz. flour". The last bag says "3 1/2 tons of gravel (!)" and the little pile of gravel says "314 lbs of gravel".)

I'm always trying to come up with new and creative math questions, and interesting concepts to explore with the kids, so if anyone has any ideas, let me know!

And if you'd like to answer the questions for a little virtual pat on the head, please feel free! (The questions are designed to use mental math, so no paper! And it's only fair to give you the supplementary information I give my students, so:

1 lb. = 16 oz.
1 ton = 2,000 lbs.)