MCS-115 The Nature of Mathematics Useful Links

MCS-115: The Nature of Mathematics (Spring 2010)
Useful Links

MCS-115 homepage	Assignments and class schedule	Useful Links Archive
Tentative Schedule	Homework Guidelines	Project
Karl Knight	Course description	Russ Park

General links
- Textbook's webpage (requires registration)
- What is mathematics? (an article by R. Lewis, Fordham)
Chapter 1 stories
- Math in the Movies (A problem similar to Story 3 is featured in a popular movie. Which one?)
- Story 7
  - Stick or Switch simulation (java applet)
  - Another simulation
  - Another simulation which makes it easy to do 200 trials
  - More Monty
- Why mathematicians care about hat color (this is related to the "dot problem" in Story 9)
Pigeon Hole Principle (2.1)
- World Population Clock
Fibonacci Numbers (2.2)
- Fibonacci numbers and the golden section home page
  - Fibonacci numbers and nature
  - Golden Ratio in nature
  - Who was Fibonacci
- Fibonacci bio at St. Andrew's history of math archive
- Fibonacci Nim (java applet)
Clock Arithmetic and Check Digits (2.4)
- How UPC bar codes work.
- Check Digit Calculator
- Practice Clock Arithmetic (with answers) (More)
- Credit Card Validation
- Verify check digits of UPC and ISBN codes (select Applet 10 in Chapter 8)
Infinity (3.2, 3.3)
- Biography of Cantor
- Infinity at the History of Math Archive
- Story of the Hotel Ad Infinitum
- More about Infinity
Pythagorean Theorem (4.1)
- About Pythagoras
- Pythagorean theorem and baseball
- Pythagorean theorem in a court case (pdf)
  Case upheld by State of NY Court of Appeals
- Proof in book (animated)
- Another proof
- Euclid's proof of the Pythagorean Theorem (java applet)
- Thirty-nine proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem
- More proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem
Golden Rectangles (4.3)
- Golden ratio in art and architecture
- The golden ratio everywhere (EKGs, teeth, nature, art, architecture, handwriting ?)
- Controversy surrounding the golden ratio
- Misconceptions About The Golden Ratio (George Markovsky) (pdf)
- Review of psychological research
- 5000 Digits of the Golden Ratio
Platonic Solids (4.5)
- Platonic Solids (java applets)
- Platonic Solids (why are there only 5)
- Another Platonic Solids (why are there only 5)
- About Plato
- Make your own dodecahedron desk calendar
- George Hart's Site, containing lots of pictures, history, activities, and links related to Polyhedra in general.
Rubber Sheet Geometry (5.1)
- Turn an inner tube inside out
- Perplexing Pencil Puzzle
- Sculpture inspired by topologically interesting surfaces
  - Helaman Ferguson
  - Carlo Séquin's links to similar artists
Möbius band and Klein bottle (5.2)
- Möbius band
- Klein bottles
  - Klein bottle you can rotate (Mathworld)
  - Pictures of Klein bottle
  - Klein bottle image (John Sullivan)
  - Another good picture of a Klein bottle
  - Movies of Klein bottle (various formats)
  - Large Klein bottle(from movie)
  - Klein bottle with grid
  - Klein bottle in 4D space (Banchoff)
  - Klein bottle products
  - Torus and Klein Bottle Games
John Conway's Game of Life (6.2)

Game of Life at www.math.com
Article in Scientific American by Martin Gardner
Alan Hensel's fast, powerful life applet with many complex starting patterns
Alan Hensel's life applet can also be found here

Fractals and Chaos Game (6.3)

Fractals in the arts
Fractal antennas (fractal antenna company)
Chaos Game (Target Practice)
Chaos Game applet

Chance Surprises (7.1, 7.2)
- Pennies
Risk (8.2)
- Population and HIV/AIDs data (CDC) (HIV InSite)

MCS-115: The Nature of Mathematics (Spring 2010) Useful Links

MCS-115: The Nature of Mathematics (Spring 2010)
Useful Links