Basic Math in a Flash

Interview with Sue Phillips of mathfoundation

Hello Sue, and many thanks for agreeing to an interview for Fun With Figures readers.  Firstly, who is the Math Foundation website specifically for

Math Foundation is aimed at anyone interested in learning the traditional basic math skills.

Originally the site was designed for the adult returning student.

But then I started receiving all kinds of positive feedback from teachers and tutors and from students themselves who were at the Middle School or High School level, so I broadened the reach.

It is also great for home-schoolers.

؟How did the Math Foundation site come into existence

The story is that I returned to college after 25 years and found that I had forgotten my math.

There were about a zillion other returning adults at this college who were in the same boat.

The solution there was to take 2 courses at $300 a pop just to get up to speed with the math basics.

I went online and tried unsuccessfully to find a Basic Mathematics / Pre-Algebra course that wouldn't bore me to death.

At the time I was also in the process of learning computer animation, and I couldn't believe there were no decent Flash-based or otherwise animated math tutorials.

It seemed to me that animations would work extremely well to demonstrate math procedures. So the light bulb went off in my head.

I called my sister, Dr. Barbara Davis, who is a PHD and an assistant professor at the University of Rochester, and has published 2 college textbooks.

She was equally enthused, so together we went on to build Math Foundation.  It took about a year to create.

The site’s very innovative with the flash animation. What made you choose this type ؟of design, and what do you think the advantages are compared to a traditional book

There is no way a traditional book can make math come alive and demonstrate math in action the way a good Flash animation can!

I believe the animations really help with the effectiveness of the learning, and certainly the enjoyment of the animation and graphics help to keep the student engaged.

Also I just love programming and designing in Flash. I can honestly say that my heart was considerably more involved than my wallet. I was on a mission to bring beauty and life to math.

؟What kind of problems did you have to overcome when setting up the site

The initial layout of the site was quite challenging.  Once I really got the hang of it I went back and re-designed what I had done so far.

My biggest problem was finding ways to animate Algebra... that subject just didn't lend itself well to animations the way the other subjects did. But Geometry made up for it! I really had fun doing Geometry.

؟Do any of your clients find it difficult to use at first

I have never had anyone mention any problems with the interface or any other aspect of using it. I paid considerable attention to keeping it extremely user friendly.

How do you think Internet sites, like Math Foundation, assist people in learning math? Do you think there’s a risk of interfering with traditional forms of teaching, like the classroom?

Many people prefer learning from software for various reasons: it gives them more control, it allows them to move at their own pace, it is often more enjoyable, and they can stay home and learn in their pajamas.

No form of learning is bad.

There are those who prefer a classroom setting and there are those who prefer learning online and there are also those who like to supplement one with the other.

Do you have any stories from clients who have benefited from the site?

I have many such stories and if I ever have a spare moment again I plan to add a testimonials area to the site. I get emails from teachers and tutors, telling me how helpful the site is for their students.

Just one example email I recently received from a high school student:

"I had been struggling with fractions until I found your site. It made them so easy and now I am completely at ease with fractions!!"

And you?  What’s the most important thing you’ve learned about math during your time as the webmaster?

I learned Basic Math inside and out!!

(-:Thanks, Sue, for a great interview.  

: Fun With Figures Review

The clever use of visual imagery to stimulate the right-side of the brain has been proven to assist rapid understanding and increase retention by invoking a "whole brain" approach to learning.

Math Foundation is one of the best online learning resources we've seen in a long time and it gets our highest recommendation.

The site is ideal for anyone studying math, returning to education, or just wanting to brush up on the basics.

You won't find a faster way of learning basic math anywhere.

Mathematical Quotations

Adams, Douglas  1952 - 2001

Bistromathics itself is simply a revolutionary new way of understanding the behavior of numbers. Just as Einstein observed that space was not an absolute but depended on the observer's movement in space, and that time was not an absolute, but depended on the observer's movement in time, so it is now realized that numbers are not absolute, but depend on the observer's movement in restaurants.
The first nonabsolute number is the number of people for whom the table is reserved. This will vary during the course of the first three telephone calls to the restaurant, and then bear no apparent relation to the number of people who actually turn up, or to the number of people who subsequently join them after the show/match/party/gig, or to the number of people who leave when they see who else has turned up.
The second nonabsolute number is the given time of arrival, which is now known to be one of the most bizarre of mathematical concepts, a recipriversexcluson, a number whose existence can only be defined as being anything other than itself. In other words, the given time of arrival is the one moment of time at which it is impossible that any member of the party will arrive. Recipriversexclusons now play a vital part in many branches of math, including statistics and accountancy and also form the basic equations used to engineer the Somebody Else's Problem field.
The third and most mysterious piece of nonabsoluteness of all lies in the relationship between the number of items on the bill, the cost of each item, the number of people at the table and what they are each prepared to pay for. (The number of people who have actually brought any money is only a subphenomenon of this field.)
Life, the Universe and Everything. New York: Harmony Books, 1982.

Numbers written on restaurant bills within the confines of restaurants do not follow the same mathematical laws as numbers written on any other pieces of paper in any other parts of the Universe.
This single statement took the scientific world by storm. It completely revolutionized it. So many mathematical conferences got held in such good restaurants that many of the finest minds of a generation died of obesity and heart failure and the science of math was put back by years.
Life, the Universe and Everything. New York: Harmony Books, 1982

Mann, Thomas  1875-1955

A great truth is a truth whose opposite is also a great truth.
Essay on Freud. 1937.

I tell them that if they will occupy themselves with the study of mathematics they will find in it the best remedy against the lusts of the flesh.
The Magic Mountain. 1927.

Some of the men stood talking in this room, and at the right of the door a little knot had formed round a small table, the center of which was the mathematics student, who ws eagerly talking. He had made the assertion that one could draw through a given point more than one parallel to a straight line; Frau Hagenström had cried out that this was impossible, and he had gone on to prove it so conclusively that his hearers were constrained to behave as though they understood.
Little Herr Friedemann.

Minkowski, Herman

From henceforth, space by itself, and time by itself, have vanished into the merest shadows and only a kind of blend of the two exists in its own right.
In J. R. Newman (ed.) The World of Mathematics, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1956.

 ابن هیثم

 ابو علی حسن ابن حسن بن هیثم دانشمند و ریاضیدان و فیزیکدان در سال ۳۵۴ هجری در بصره تولد یافت .

تالیفات وی بالغ بر پنجاه مجلد است .

مشهور ترین کتاب وی مناظر می باشد .که به زبان های مختلف ترجمه و منتشر گردیده است . وی در سال ۴۳۰ هجری در قاهره وفات یافت .

 جمشید کاشانی

 غیاث الدین جمشید کاشانی ریاضیدان ایرانی معروف به کاشی دو رساله ی مهم دارد :"مفتاح الحساب" و "رساله ی محیطیه".

تاریخ تولد و مرگ کاشی دقیقا" معلوم نیست .گمان می رود که در یک سوم یا ابتدای ربع آخرسده ی چهارده متولد شده باشد.

کاشی نه تنها ریاضیدان بلکه پزشک هم بود.

او راهنمای رصد خانه بزرگ سمرقند بود که به دستور الغ بیگ اختر شناس ساخته شد .

کاشی در رساله ی محیطیه مقدار عدد (پی) را تا ۱۷ رقم اعشار محاسبه کرده است که دقیقترین مقدار پی تا آن زمان است . کاشی همچنین واضع کسرهای دهدهی است و با حل معادله های درجه سوم مقدار سینوس یک درجه را به دست آورد .

منبع : مجله انجمن ریاضیدانان جوان

ارشميدس  (Archimedes)

212 ق.م - 278 ق.م

ارشميدس يكي از بزرگترين دانشمندان رياضي و مكانيك در عصر خودش بود. پدرش فيدياس كه منجم بود او را براي آموزش از سيراكوز به مدرسه رياضيات اسكندريه فرستاد. شهر اسكندريه را اسكندر مقدوني در سال 323 ق.م در زمان حمله و حركت به سوي شرق بر كرانه مديترانه در خاك مصر ساخت. اين شهر پس از ركود آتن - پايتخت يونان - مركز علم و تجارت شد و بزرگاني چوت اقليدس و بطلميوس و ارشميدس را تربيت كرد. اين شهر حتي موقعي كه به دست مسلمانان فتح شد، از مراكز مهم علوم يوناني بود و در انتقال علم و انديشه يوناني به فرهنگ و تمدن اسلامي نقش مهمي داشت. درباره خصوصيات زندگي ارشميدس اطلاعات زيادي در دست نيست. اما علاقه اش به رياضيات و مسائل علمي مكانيك سبب شده است كه كارهاي با ارزشي از او باقي بماند. گفته مي شود كه وقتي به مسأله اي علاقمند مي شد از خوردن و خفتن غافل مي شد و چنان خود را سرگرم كار و حل مشكل مي كرد كه هر مسأله ديگري او را از كار باز نمي داشت. وقتي كه ارشميدس روي شنهاي ساحل دريا اشكال هندسي خود را رسم كرده بود سربازي بدون توجه با راه رفتن روي شنها اشكال او را لگد كرد و ارشميدس چنان اعتراض كرد كه موجب خشم سرباز شد و سرباز با شمشيرش به ارشميدس حمله كرد و او را كشت. از آثار علمي او مي توان كشف قانون مايعها و گازها (معروف به قانون ارشميدس در شاره ها)، تعيين جرم حجمي طلا و نقره و بعضي فلزات ديگر و اختراع پيچ مخصوص حلزوني شكل به نام پيچ ارشميدس براي بالا بردن آب اشاره كرد.

همچنين تأليف كتابهايي از جمله اصول مكانيك - درباره اجسام شناور - درباره كره و استوانه - اندازه گيري دايره و پيچها از ديگر كارهاي برجسته اين دانشمند دوران باستان است.

منبع : سایت صدا و سیما