Ultimate Origami = Origami plus Mathematics

Ted talks scores another hit with me via Robert Lang’s talk on origami.  I have always been fascinated with the connections between art and mathematics; fractal geometry, chaos theory, polyhedron nets, music and sequences, … So — check this out !  Some of my Holiday time will undoubtedly be spent folding

]]> http://jedward706.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/ultimate-origami/feed/ 0 jedward706 http://jedward706.wordpress.com/2009/12/04/postman-speaks/ http://jedward706.wordpress.com/2009/12/04/postman-speaks/#comments Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:14:20 +0000 jedward706 http://jedward706.wordpress.com/?p=312 ]]>

Stephen Clawson, a valued friend of mine, turned me on to the works of Neil Postman some time ago.  Today I ran across a new (at least new to me) blog of Robert Talbert, who I have followed for some time via his Casting Out Nines blog.  He had the following quote from Postman posted    Postman, as usual is incredibly insightful and clear, yet this only serves to raise the question — What do we do with this insight?  Do we simply accept it and deal with it somehow? Do we seek to make societal changes and if so, how in the world do we begin to turn the tide?   Do most folks even see this as a problem, or is it just those, like me, who came of age in a seemingly different world, who are troubled?

http://rtalbert.tumblr.com/post/265498253/how-television-stages-the-world-becomes-the-model

“How television stages the world becomes the model for how the world is properly to be staged. It is not merely that on the television screen entertainment is the metaphor for all discourse. It is that off the screen the same metaphor prevails. As typography once dictated the style of conducting politics, religion, business, education, law and other important social matters, television now takes command. In courtrooms, classrooms, operating rooms, board rooms, churches, and even airplanes, Americans no longer talk to each other, they entertain each other. They do not exchange ideas; they exchange images. They do not argue with propositions; they argue with good looks, celebrities and commercials.” -Neil Postman”

— http://artofmanliness.com/2009/12/01/amusing-ourselves-out-of-our-manhood/

Lord Christopher Monckton speaks on October 14th, 2009 at a climate skeptic event sponsored by the Minnesota Free Market Institute.

This screencast shows users how to use Mathematica as a whiteboard.For more Mathematica screencasts and videos, please visit:http://www.wolfram.com/broa…

This link takes you to a book review written by Kate Kirkpatrick.

The book:

Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies (Yale University Press) –

by David Bentley Hart

Hart, a visiting professor of theology at Providence College, begins by looking at the New Atheist phenomenon, lambasting Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett et al. for their carelessness with and rhetorical manipulation of philosophy, theology, and history. But that is quickly left behind; in the book’s second half, we begin to see the Orthodox theologian’s real intent: to offer a counter-narrative of religion’s role in human history.

Reframing Human History | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

Posted using ShareThis

The President encourages students to overcome and work hard to succeed.

Ok, so here is one more template in LaTeX which is useful for standard math and science problem solving homework.  I have just cleaned it up a little to make it a bit more generic and to highlight the problem solving strategy.  The next LaTeX blog will explore new territory — getting away from the “homework template” examples.  Of course, if someone makes a comment and has something specific they would like to see, I’ll do my novice best to post something to address the need.

HwkTemplate2 The code used to produce this .pdf file is found below.

% Physics Homework Template using MEMOIR class
\documentclass[openany]{memoir}

%preamble
\usepackage{calc}
\usepackage{color}
\usepackage{graphicx}

%define title and other basic document info
%the title should reflect the style and give a foretaste of the document
%work on making a stylized title page — or title on a page as in ARTICLE class
\title{\huge \textbf{Ch 1 Problems}}
\author{J Edward Ladenburger}
\date{25 Aug 09}                    % could use \today  , but I like this date format better
%\publisher{}                            %one day I’ll need this 
%\thanks{Special thanks to God for the ability to work}        %produces a footnote to the title

\definecolor{shadecolor}{gray}{0.9}
\definecolor{ared}{rgb}{.647,.129,.149}
\renewcommand\colorchapnum{\color{ared}}
\renewcommand\colorchaptitle{\color{ared}}
\chapterstyle{bringhurst}
%one of a number of chapter styles available…this one doesn’t use the ared color
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

\begin{document}
%title
\thispagestyle{empty}
%\begin{minipage}{300pt}
\begin{center}{
\begin{shaded}
\hrule \vspace{30pt}
\hspace{10pt} \thetitle  \vspace{30pt}
\newline \theauthor \hspace{30pt} \thedate  \vspace{26pt}
\hrule
\end{shaded}
}
\end{center}
%\end{minipage}
\clearpage

%\frontmatter    %use if needed –page numbers as lower case roman numerals i, ii,…

%\mainmatter
%%other declarations
\pagestyle{Ruled}                    %one of a number of possible page styles
\midsloppy                             %to minimize overfull lines

%Layout the page
%%Try this manual golden ratio layout or…           default seems better for now
\settypeblocksize{*}{\lxvchars}{1.618}
\setulmargins{50pt}{*}{*}
\setlrmargins{*}{*}{1.618}
\setheaderspaces{*}{*}{1.618}
%\semiisopage[12]                       %try this predefined layout — others predefined ones are options in MEMOIR…
%this one looked best but did not work

\checkandfixthelayout          %make the layout happen and provide details in log during build

\chapter{Chapter 1 Problems}

\section*{Problem 3}
\subsection{Given}
Clearly describe the problem, writing down all information so you do not have to look at the text again. Draw sketches or tables to organize information when possible. Define variables.
\subsection{Find}
Clearly state the problem.  What are you to answer?
\subsection{Plan}
Describe your approach here… Collect relevant theorems and laws and formulas
\subsection{Calculations}
Perform the necessary calculations and show your reasoning.

\subsection{Solution}
\begin{minipage}{300pt}
\begin{center}{
\begin{shaded}
\hrule
\vspace{20pt}
A nicely written sentence solution goes here.
\vspace{16pt}
\hrule
\end{shaded}
}
\end{center}
\end{minipage}

\end{document}

It has been really interesting to note that of all posts, the LaTeX post has gotten the most hits.  I consider myself a novice user, who loves the concept of “content focus”,  with lots of specific publishing and formatting options.  I offer a simple template for basic problem solving with this post.  A link to the  .pdf result (when compiled)  is provided here. PhysHwkTemplate2

% Physics Homework Template using MEMOIR class
\documentclass[openany]{memoir}

%preamble
\usepackage{calc}
\usepackage{color}
\usepackage{graphicx}

%define title and other basic document info
%the title should reflect the style and give a foretaste of the document
%work on making a stylized title page — or title on a page as in ARTICLE class
\title{\large \textbf{Physics Example From Knight — Friday Night Football}}
\author{J Edward Ladenburger}
\date{28 Aug 09}                    % could use \today  , but I like this date format better
%\publisher{}                            %one day I’ll need this 
%\thanks{Special thanks to God for the ability to work}        %produces a footnote to the title

%\definecolor{shadecolor}{gray}{0.9}
\definecolor{ared}{rgb}{.647,.129,.149}
\definecolor{shadecolor}{cmyk}{.3,.1,0,0}
\renewcommand\colorchapnum{\color{ared}}
\renewcommand\colorchaptitle{\color{ared}}
\chapterstyle{thatcher}
%one of a number of chapter styles available…this one {bringhurst} doesn’t use the ared color; bianchi, chappell, dash, lyhne, ntglike,pedersen thatcher,
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

\begin{document}
%title
\thispagestyle{empty}
%\begin{minipage}{300pt}
\begin{center}{
\begin{shaded}
\hrule \vspace{30pt}
\hspace{10pt} \thetitle  \vspace{30pt}
\newline \theauthor \hspace{30pt} \thedate  \vspace{26pt}
\hrule
\end{shaded}
}
\end{center}
%\end{minipage}
\clearpage

%\frontmatter    %use if needed –page numbers as lower case roman numerals i, ii,…

%\mainmatter
%%other declarations
\pagestyle{Ruled}                    %one of a number of possible page styles
\midsloppy                             %to minimize overfull lines

%Layout the page
%%Try this manual golden ratio layout or…
\settypeblocksize{*}{\lxvchars}{1.618}
\setulmargins{160pt}{*}{*}
\setlrmargins{*}{*}{1.618}
\setheaderspaces{*}{*}{1.618}
%\semiisopage[12]
%try this predefined layout — other predefined ones are options in MEMOIR…
%this one looked best but did not work

\checkandfixthelayout          %make the layout happen and provide details in log during build

\chapter{Motion With Constant Acceleration}
\section{Ex. 2.14 Friday Night Football}
\subsection{Given}
Fred catches the football while standing on the goal line and he immediately starts running forward with an acceleration of $ 6 \frac{ft}{s^2} $.  At the moment that Fred catches the ball, Tommy is 20 yards away and is heading directly toward Fred with a steady speed of $ 15 \frac{ft}{s}$. Neither player deviates from a straight-ahead path.

\subsection{Find}
Find where Tommy will tackle Fred.
\subsection{Plan}
Write equations of motion for Fred and Tommy, determine \textit{when} they will be at the same location and use this time to find \textit{where} the collision will occur.  I’ll use the same coordinate system for both Fred and Tommy with zero at the goal line and the positive direction coinciding with Fred’s direction. Since the acceleration and velocity are provided with length dimensions in feet, I convert Tommy’s initial position to feet.
\subsection{Calculations}
The equation for Fred’s position:
\[ x_F = \frac{1}{2} a_F t^2 + 0 \cdot t + 0\]
The equation for Tommy’s position:
\[ x_T = 0 \cdot t^2 + v_i t + 60\]
By setting these equal, we can solve for the time at which they will be at the same position.  \\\\
\begin{eqnarray*}
\frac{1}{2} 6 t^2 &=& -15 t + 60 \\
3 t^2 +15 t -60  &=& 0 \\
t^2 + 5t – 20    &=& 0 \\
t^2 + 5t + \left(\frac{5}{2}\right)^2 &=& 20 + \left(\frac{5}{2}\right)^2 \\
\left(t + \frac{5}{2}\right)^2 &=& \frac{105}{4} \\
t &=& \frac{-5 \pm \sqrt{105}}{2} \\
\end{eqnarray*}
Using only the positive time solution, we see that the collision occurs at
\[t =     \frac{-5 + \sqrt{105}}{2} \]
or approximately at $ t \approx 2.6 s $.\\

We can substitute this value into either Fred’s or Tommy’s position equation to find out where the collision [presumably a tackle] occurs.
\[ x_T = -15 (2.6) + 60 = 20.6479 \approx 21 feet\]
or, right about the 7 yard line.\\

\subsection{Solution}
\begin{minipage}{300pt}
\begin{center}{
\begin{shaded}
\hrule
\vspace{20pt}
Tommy tackles Fred at the seven (7) yard line.
\vspace{16pt}
\hrule
\end{shaded}
}
\end{center}
\end{minipage}

\end{document}

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% SAVE THIS SECTION TO COPY AND PASTE –AS NEEDED FOR ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\section{}%<problem # goes here>}
\subsection{Given}

\subsection{Find}

\subsection{Plan}

\subsection{Calculations}
\[    \]        %<math stuff here — calculations>

\subsection{Solution}
\begin{minipage}{300pt}
\begin{center}{
\begin{shaded}
\hrule
\vspace{20pt}
%nicely written sentence solution goes here
\vspace{16pt}
\hrule
\end{shaded}
}
\end{center}
\end{minipage}
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

One of the absolute joys of teaching, tutoring, and mentoring students is in following their successes after they have moved on. I spent some time working with Patrick McCammond, who needed a little boost with his mathematics. He has gone on to great success in the academy and has become a solid leader and an exemplary young man. I recently received the following picture of Patrick on the rocket team (SMAW) in Combat Town at Quantico– this is a guy with honor and integrity, with whom I would trust my life.

Semper fidelis!

Patrick