GDT::Math:: Resource | Basic Arithmetic Bits (BABs)
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MathBabbler is on Twitter... Twitter.com/mathbabbler
MathBabbler
babbling about mathematics
{created 17 December 2006}

table of contents
MBNA Checks For Pentagonal Numbers
While working a nBAB for the number 145, MathBabbler learned from NumDic.com that 145 was a pentagonal number.

MathBabbler wanted to add a program to the MBNA (MathBabbler Number Analyst) that will check if a number 'n' a pentagonal number; therefore, this C++ program was written on 11 March 2010.

[11 March 2010, top]

What Does 'Long Way' Mean In Miles?
On 4 March 2010, the New York Times had an article titled "Closing of Rest Stops Stirs Anger in Arizona." NYTimes.com used "It's a long way to Phoenix from here." as its Quotation of the Day.

Hmm... What does long way and here mean?

The definition of long way depends on the value of here and here is Wickenburg, Arizona.

According to Maps.Yahoo.com, the distance between central Wickenburg and central Phoenix is 60.4 miles.

[06 March 2010, top]

What Does 'Shade Above' Mean In Dollars?
The Arizona Republic reported that a baseball player was offered a multi-year contract that was worth a "shade above $50 million."

Hmm... What does shade above mean?

The next day the Arizona Republic reported that the baseball player agreed to a six-year $51.25 million contract.

So in this instance shade above meant $1.25 million, or 2.5%, more than $50 million.

[06 March 2010, top]

Two GOOG Pi Moments
Yesterday (2 March 2010), I had two Pi moments with respect to Google stock (nasdaq: GOOG). Early in the morning I looked at my Finance.Yahoo.com webpage and saw that GOOG was up $3.14. Later, at noon, I looked at my Finance.Yahoo.com webpage and GOOG was up $9.42 (i.e. 3*3.14).

[03 March 2010, top]

Chile Earthquake Shortens Earthly Days
RT @markos: Chile earthquake shifted earth's axis, shortened day by 1.26 millionth of a second

1.26 millionth of a second is 1.26 microseconds.

[01 March 2010, top]

Yahoo! Up 3.14% on 1 March 2010
Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO) was up 3.14% on 1 March 2010. 
   YHOO    4:00pm ET   15.79   Up 0.48   Up 3.14%

Also on 1 March 2010, Alcatel-Lucent (nyse: LU) closed at $3.14.

[01 March 2010, top]

Do Fractions Increase Student Fractiousness Levels?
MathBabbler's iGoogle homepage contains the "Word of the Day" gadget from Dictionary.com. The Word of the Day on 22 February 2010 was fractious.

The first seven letters of the word fractious matches the seven letters of the word fraction 

   1. Tending to cause trouble; unruly.
   2. Irritable; snappish; cranky.

Hmm... Does making students do arithmetic with fractions result in fractious students?

[22 February 2010, top]

Mathematically Unsound Curriculum
Seattle Public Schools used inputs from "mathematicians and teaching professionals" to come up with a "Discovery" math curriculum, but the Washington state Board of Education declared the curriculum "mathematically unsound."

MathBabbler has advocated the abolishment of the U.S. Department of Education. Maybe he should be advocating for a separation of education and state.

SeattlePI.com::Judge rejects Seattle's high school math program

[06 February 2010, top]

A Kilo-Pi Twitter Moment
On 5 February 2010, MathBabbler's @nanofoo tweet countered hit 1413. The number 1413 meant nothing to MathBabbler, but 1413 reversed is 3141, which equals kilo-Pi when Pi (3.14159265+) is truncated to three decimal digits.

[05 February 2010, top]

WolframAlpha's Frostbite Equation
@mathbabbler received the following tweet from @WolframAlpha on 2010.01.20. 
   "Frigid Temperatures + Sufficient Exposure Time = Frostbite". 
    Learn how to calculate your risk in our latest post: 
    http://bit.ly/4zPFhi

[20 January 2010, top]

What is 'Alien' Math?
What the foo is "alien" math?

@MathBabbler received the following tweet from @Mathnasium on 2010.01.20. 

   Amusing math in the news: UK student uses math to show 
   why he can't find a girlfriend. http://bit.ly/6xaDBC

At the time of this posting, MathBabbler knew nothing about the "Drake Equation" and he has added it to his list of things to ponder.

Blogs.DiscoverMagazine.com::Alien Math Shows Why Grad Student Doesn't Have a Girlfriend

[20 January 2010, top]

Reggie Bush: Trojan 5; Saint 5^2
@MathBabbler posted the following tweet on 2010.01.17. 
   I'm an Arizonan who recently visited New Orleans... Reggie Bush 
   as a USC Trojan wore 5; today as a Saint wears 5^2.

I wonder how Reggie Bush decided to where number 25 as a member of the New Orleans Saints?

[17 January 2010, top]

DSCM (Drugstore.com) Up Pi Percent
Pi moment on 2010.01.13... "DSCM 1:03pm ET 3.28 Up 0.10 Up 3.14%"

Note: DSCM is the stock symbol for Drugstore.com.

[13 January 2010, top]

Mean, Median, Mode Related Tweet
@MathBabbler received the following tweet from MathGuide on 2010.01.12. 
   "My 10th-grader student said today he has never seen any 
    real-life application for the concepts of mean, median, 
    mode, nor can he imagine 1 !"

Note: Due to the 140-character maximum tweet length, the tweeter wrote '1' instead of 'one.'

[13 January 2010, top]

Google's 'This Week in Search' Full of Math Fodder
@MathBabbler tweet# 439 tweeted on 2010.01.10. 
   I'll be mining Google's "This week in search..." for arithmetic 
   fodder during spring'10 semester.  http://ow.ly/UPpt

Fractions, ratios, proportions, percents, metric, approximation and more.

[10 January 2010, top]

Expressions Using Digits 1-10 That Evaluate To 2010
@MathBabbler received the following tweet from @pmacoun on 2009.01.05. 
   RT @courosa Various mathematical equations using 1-10 in 
   sequence that equal 2010. #math #mathteachers http://is.gd/5MtOo

[05 January 2010, top]

Pi Computation Record
@MathBabbler tweeted the following on 2010.01.05. 
   Bellard.org "Pi Computation Record" http://ow.ly/SUvN

In a nutshell, 2,699,999,990,000 decimal digits of Pi were calculated using a Linux-based desktop computer.

[05 January 2010, top]

DSCM (Drugstore.com) Opens 2010 at $3.14
Pi moment... Drugstore.com (nasdaq: DSCM) ended 2009 at $3.09, but it opened 2010 at $3.14.

[04 January 2010, top]

GOOG (Google) Hits 2 Hecto-Pi USD
Pi moment... The per share price of Google (nasdaq: GOOG) hit 2 hecto-Pi USD ($628.30) shortly after the stock market opened on 2010.01.04.

[04 January 2010, top]

Keeping Those Math Neurons Firing
The @compumath Twitter account was created for the primary purpose of keeping a student's math neurons firing. A secondary purpose is to to help students learn about Twitter.

The following is example compumath tweet. 

   Evaluate: 2^3 + 2^1 + 2^0 + 2^-1 + 2^-2 
   http://ow.ly/SgcR (check)

Although not true in this case, the "check" webpage could contain the solution along with a hyperlink to "help." In this example, the "help" could be to instructional material about order of operations and exponents.

I used HootSuite.com to manage multiple Twitter accounts. HootSuite allows tweets to be scheduled. This feature will enable me to schedule multiple tweets to occur on a daily basis.

Note: Students will not be required to follow compumath in order to successfully complete the class.

[03 January 2010, top]

About the Math Babbler
The Math Babbler is a blog about math and it was started on 17 December 2006. This blog was created because "math" (along with science) are "hot" fields here in the early part of the 21st century. The Math Babbler starts 2010 with 470 postings.

Math Babbler Archives: 2009  |  2008  |  2007-06

[01 January 2010, top]

Creator: Gerald Thurman [gdt@deru.com]
Created: 17 December 2006
Last Modified: Thursday, 11-Mar-2010 14:32:18 MST