Math In The News

Happy Days premiered 50 years ago this month. Shifted to today, the same show would be portraying the long-lost days of 2005.

@WaltHickey Absolutely. I had to tell internet strangers because my wife is sick of me describing every other page to her. Great work!

Whoa! Thank you, this is so kind!

I’ve stopped posting, but if you enjoyed anything I ever did here, you need to ask someone to buy this book for you this holiday season. @WaltHickey has written the definitive book for all pop culture math nerds everywhere.

Today’s source: floridatoday.com/story/news/202… The winner could choose the full $1.08 billion paid over 30 years, or a one-time payout of $558.1 million. Which would you choose?

Last night’s Powerball was a $1 billion jackpot, just the third time the jackpot reached this amount. One ticket had the correct numbers: 7-10-11-13-24 (with a Powerball of 24). Can you write a mathematical rule for the sequence 7-10-11-13-24?

Today’s source: washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/07… A certain Italian mathematician might have thoughts on this situation.

Two years ago, a pair of lionhead rabbits were abandoned in Wilton Manors, FL and started breeding. Residents now estimate up to 100 of the animals are roaming free. What is the monthly growth rate of the rabbit population?

Today’s source: unaids.org/en/resources/d… Botswana, Eswatini, Rwanda, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe have already achieved the 95–95–95 targets, and at least 16 other countries are close to doing so.

A number of African countries are reaching “95-95-95” targets: 95% of people with HIV know their status, 95% of those are on lifesaving antiretroviral treatment, and 95% of those see their HIV being virally suppressed. What percent of those with HIV see it virally suppressed?

@LongFormMath @stevenstrogatz Fantastic! Strong Tom Lehrer vibes here.

Check out the winning performance for the @stevenstrogatz Prize in Math Communication, high schooler Zoë Nadal with her ‘Zero’s Lament’ youtu.be/J88mTS84swM

@geomathsblog I use vertical for lines- easy to connect early ideas of coordinates and slope. I use vertical for anything past lines- easier to point out symmetries and transformations.

How do you set out your table of values? Discussed at dept meeting tonight. I've always used horizontal but vertical gives you the coordinates beautifully!

Wrapping up a great week of #mathinthemountains. Huge thanks to @PaulAZeitz, @AChung, @JamesTanton, and all the amazing instructors! Hope to be back next summer! mathmountains.org

@ddmeyer Rather than teach about the exact answer, teach about the approximate answer: emphasize that every time we (or the calculator) round, it is approximate. Let “exact” be the lack of approximation, rather than “approximate” being the lack of exactness.

Tremendous teaching challenge. What do you do with wrong ideas that FEEL so right? twitter.com/bowmanimal/sta…

Today’s source: nbcdfw.com/news/national-… Barnes is on the track and basketball teams, is bilingual in English and Spanish, is president of National Honor Society, and holds a 4.98 GPA.

16-year-old graduating senior Maliq Barnes has been accepted at 170 colleges and has been offered a total of $9 million in scholarships directly from those schools. How much is the average college offering him?

We are 1:1 with iPads. Smart Boards in every room. You will be asked about Desmos in the interview. Your course load would be teaching three 80-minute blocks each day. If certified, CE classes will be opening in the district soon.

Our coordinator is NBCT certified PAEMST awardee who visits buildings and leads math-centric PD that stretches across a year. The last two years have been focused on Building Thinking Classrooms and Questioning techniques.

Our 11-person math department has an opening for the first time in years. Come teach with me! PM for details. Friendly department, willing to share plans and resources. Common assessments are set and discussed in weekly PLCs.

Today’s source: bloomberg.com/news/articles/… Starry will replace Mountain Dew as the official soda of the NBA this season, as Pepsi makes a push to get the new soda into people’s hands.

Sprite is the most popular lemon-lime soda by far, as shown in the pie chart below. Pepsi has stopped making Sierra Mist and is introducing Starry, a drink “softer and sweeter than Sprite.” What are the central angles for the pie chart?