NET-HAPPENINGS Digest - 2 May 2000 (#2000-248)
Automatic digest processor
Topics of the day:
1. MISC> Government of the Cook Islands
2. MISC>Live Cam-Peregrine Falcons Hatching!
3. K12> Inverse Symbolic Calculator -- Network Nuggets
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Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 14:48:04 -0500
From: Gleason Sackmann <gle...@rrnet.com>
Subject: MISC> Government of the Cook Islands
Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2000 2:43 PM
From: jea...@oyster.net.ck
http://www.cook-islands.gov.ck
Government of the Cook Islands central site containing Government news,
media releases and
links to Government sites.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 14:48:11 -0500
From: Gleason Sackmann <gle...@rrnet.com>
Subject: MISC>Live Cam-Peregrine Falcons Hatching!
From: "Saranne Gans" <SG...@CISTERCIAN.ORG>
To: <LM_...@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2000 2:14 PM
Subject: GEN->Live Cam-Peregrine Falcons Hatching!
Dear All,
Here is a site that's been on the LM_NET before, but it's spring and
time to watch again.
http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/odnr/wildlife/diversity/falcon/columbus/falcons.h
tml
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Saranne Lowrey Gans
Librarian/Educator 27 years, mom 7 years
Cistercian Preparatory School
(a private school for 340 boys grades 5-12 in Dallas-Ft. Worth area)
One Cistercian Rd.
Irving, TX 75039
http://cistercian.org (Library web page available by clicking FACULTY,
then my picture!)
sg...@cistercian.org (work)
biolo...@earthlink.net (home)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The most expensive book is the book purchased and not used."~~Fellow
librarian, Earl Sande
"Those who don't read have no advantage over those who can't."~~Mark
Twain
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Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 14:48:16 -0500
From: Gleason Sackmann <gle...@rrnet.com>
Subject: K12> Inverse Symbolic Calculator -- Network Nuggets
From: "Dave Rogers" <nug...@cln.etc.bc.ca>
To: <network...@etc.bc.ca>
Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2000 12:00 PM
Subject: Inverse Symbolic Calculator -- Network Nuggets
* [[[ INVERSE SYMBOLIC CALCULATOR ]]] *
The calculator's answer to the math question was:
0.28867513459
What (if any) is the significance of that number?
Sounds like a job for... the Inverse Symbolic Calculator!
<http://www.cecm.sfu.ca/projects/ISC/>
Sure enough: the Inverse Symbolic Calculator, or ISC, says
that's equal to (1/12)^(1/2), or the square root of one-twelfth.
The ISC is hosted at Simon Fraser University. It was developed
by another mathematician, Simon Plouffe, who mantains his own
version of it ("Plouffe's Inverter") at L'Université du
Québec à Montréal. (http://www.lacim.uqam.ca/pi/).
That is about all it does: you enter a decimal number, and
the ISC tells you how that number could have been calculated.
It really is a calculator that works backwards.
Many ISC answers are the sums of infinite series -- thus
they address a Principles of Mathematics 12 topic. Others
are mixtures of roots, sines, and natural logs.
In an algebra class, the ISC provides a game opportunity:
one group of students concocts a small expression that
produces a decimal answer on a calculator. They are
limited to (say) a maximum of three operators in the equation.
They can use a graphing or a scientific calculator, or a
spreadsheet, to produce the answer in decimal form. Then
the other group punches that answer into the Inverse Symbolic
Calculator and figures out what the original expression was.
(If the last decimal digit was rounded up, students should
round it down before keying it into the ISC -- or else leave
out the last digit.)
Often the ISC will produce a different result. In my example,
it gave (1/12)^(1/2) plus five other expressions that all
evaluate to the same decimal number. None was exactly the
one I used, which was the square root of three, divided by 6.
Then the race is on: which group can first prove that the
ISC's result is equivalent to the starting expression!
The ISC provides a diversion for Algebra students in Grades
10 through 12, while giving them a better feel for the
relations between equivalent forms of a rational expression.
It also provides links to a few other sites that deal with
unusal or record-breaking computations.
----------------------
Network Nuggets is a free service of the Community Learning Network
(http://www.cln.org/) and Open School (http://www.openschool.bc.ca/).
We send these announcements to subscribers on CLN's NetworkNuggets, to
inform them about potentially useful educational resources on the
Internet-- but we are not guaranteeing that these resources will be
valuable and without frustrations.
Network Nuggets Archives: http://www.cln.org/lists/nuggets/archives.html
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Dave Rogers, Interim Moderator of Network Nuggets
(mailto:Nug...@cln.etc.bc.ca)
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End of NET-HAPPENINGS Digest - 2 May 2000 (#2000-248)
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