My daughter's nursery is currently decorated with a La Linea cartoon, which leaves a lot of space.
I'd like to put up some useful equations so that she can become familiar with them. Wallpaper would not really be suitable as the equations would repeat all the time, so I think transparent stickers would be better.
As this product doesn't exist, I'm painting them on. So far I have decided on the proof of Pythagorean theorem, the Golden Ratio of a pentagon/pentagram (which will make us look like Wiccans), a chaos theory graph and some chemical reactions.
At the risk of forming a list, any ideas?-- marklar, May 07 2011 Gorey Alphabet http://takalak.narod.ru/gorey/ [mouseposture, May 10 2011] Simon Stevin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_StevinYou can see his balls on a string if you scroll down a bit. [MaxwellBuchanan, May 11 2011] Video Game Alphabet http://9gag.com/gag/121129/Cool alphabet that will never mean anything to her [marklar, May 16 2011] Black Country Alphabet http://www.teetshir...-shirts/cat_24.htmlThe accent from my home town. [marklar, May 16 2011] No Prize for Math? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fields_Medal [MechE, May 18 2011] Print them on to OHP film.
Where the equation maps to geometry or a graph, include the graphic.
The Mandelbrot diagram always looks cool.-- 8th of 7, May 07 2011 Basic mechanics - F=ma, Ke=1/2mv^2, F=kx (paint a spring over that one).
Basic electronics V=IR (with schematic symbols).
Some constants might make sense as well, g=9.81, Pi=3.141592... etc.-- MechE, May 07 2011 etc! hah.-- po, May 07 2011 Don't bother with Planck's constant, though- it's not big, and it's not clever.-- 8th of 7, May 07 2011 Diagrams is better than equations (seems to be your opinion, too). How about Cantor's diagonal proof for the existence of an uncountable infinity?
It'd be a real achievement if you could get your daughter comfortable -- while still young and mentally flexible -- with concepts like infinity, that give adults difficulty.-- mouseposture, May 07 2011 Exponential growth.
Statistics would be very useful too - the normal distribution, errors on measurements, percentages of percentages, etc.-- pocmloc, May 07 2011 I've tried it and it doesn't work. Well, not with my daughter. Not sure about [eleventeenthly]. He's comfortable with uncountable and countable infinities because we've talked about them since he was about four. My daughter watched an OU programme on the Hilbert Hotel back in the 'nineties and was keen but hates mathematics.
I think talking works better than visual for these children. They're all different of course.-- nineteenthly, May 07 2011 The continuity equation.-- daseva, May 07 2011 //Planck's constant, though- it's not big, and it's not clever.// But it is nu. (Well actually it's h, but it is inversely proportional to nu. So maybe it's old.)-- csea, May 07 2011 Add some fractals if you have the time. Or add a graph of the fishpond equation, which is beautiful and simple.
Also, e-to-the-i-pi = -1 (looks prettier with superscripts).
Also also, there is a beautiful graphic proof to do with sines and slopes and gravity. It shows a triangular wedge (3:4:5, I think, and flat on the bottom) around which is looped a series of balls linked by string. It's self-evident that the chain of balls doesn't spontaneously turn, which proves that the force imposed by the 5 balls on the long sloping side is exactly balanced by the force imposed by the 3 balls on the short vertical side. It's on some mathematicians headstone, somewhere.
Also, you HAVE to have a number line with the primes marked out. Primes are everything.
Feynman diagrams are cute too.
Ooooh! I just thought of something relating to primes. It doesn't really fit here, though.-- MaxwellBuchanan, May 07 2011 [MaxwellBuchanan] The golden ratio is pretty much the basis of fractals, so that's covered (pentagon/pentagran).
Primes and then perfect squares, Pythagorean triples, the Fibonacci sequence and stuff I think will be things that go round the wall at waist level, like the alphabet (below La Linea's line of course).
[8th of 7] It's not the length of your Planck, but the chasm you span it with*.
Disclaimer: I'm drunk now and typing between hiccups.
*As far as I know, I made that up.-- marklar, May 07 2011 [19tly] //They're all different of course.// If they take after you, then they certainly are.
(For you, yourself have said it. And it's greatly to their credit. And yours.)-- mouseposture, May 08 2011 //fishpond equation//
It only counts as a Googlewhack if it works without the quotes...-- Wrongfellow, May 08 2011 [Ian Tindale] To the majority of people, I'm sure equations are pointless, but having worked on financial software, I've used quite a few.-- marklar, May 08 2011 [IT] Ever ridden in a plane, train, automobile, used a computer, crossed a bridge, etc., etc.? If so you've used quite a few equations, if only at one remove.-- MechE, May 08 2011 The space filling fractal that proves there are as many points on a one dimensional line as on a two dimensional plane.-- Voice, May 08 2011 //seen as a detectable early sign of antisocial mental abnormality// ... and applauded for precisely that reason.-- pertinax, May 08 2011 //At the risk of forming a list// hehe What other outcome did you imagine?
As long as I'm at the keyboard, add "Murphy's Law."-- Grogster, May 08 2011 // a bit like latin //
I generally use Latin so i don't accidentally kill people by giving them something poisonous, contraindicated for them, or lead them to overdose. Equations are similar in that they allow people to do trivial things like design aircraft which don't fall out of the sky unexpectedly or buildings which don't fall over and crush all the occupants to death. People have this irrational desire not to die in agony for some reason. Can't think what that's about.-- nineteenthly, May 08 2011 A masterly summary of solipsism, [IT].
// i don't accidentally kill people //
May we enquire which language you employ when you deliberately kill people, [19thly] ?-- 8th of 7, May 08 2011 French. He kills people in agony with really bad French poetry.-- Voice, May 08 2011 Yes, French would be ideal for that purpose. [Ian], i'm definitely on the same frequency as you there but i have no idea how to describe the waveform to you.-- nineteenthly, May 08 2011 //I generally use Latin so i don't accidentally kill people// Understood. Paradoxically, where I am, Latin* is prohibited for exactly that reason: things like "qid" "qd" & "po" are verboten, because of the potential for misunderstanding.
*well, Latin initialisms, anyway. But if someone wrote "per os," the problem would be non- rather than mis- understanding.-- mouseposture, May 08 2011 I think Frank Gilbreth, in the _Cheaper_By_The_Dozen_ book, did something like this. (But maybe he had the decency to wait until the kids were out of the nursery.)-- baconbrain, May 08 2011 [Mouseposture], the Institute insists we write our Rx in Latin. It would be problematic with them if they found out we didn't and other herbalists wouldn't understand us unless they knew English. I think the answer to that is to abandon English as the medium for communication in schools and universities.-- nineteenthly, May 08 2011 That's already happened in the USA.-- 8th of 7, May 08 2011 //if someone wrote "per os," the problem would be non- rather than mis- understanding.//
I suspect a French medic would read that instruction and then just ask you to drop your trousers and bend over.-- MaxwellBuchanan, May 08 2011 The French (so Durrell tells us) are very into PR.-- mouseposture, May 08 2011 //The golden ratio is pretty much the basis of fractals// ? On the other hand, the golden ratio IS the basis for the Fibonacci sequence (basis? well, they're intimately inter-related). It's quite fascinating that an equation primarily using an irrational number can give whole-number results.-- neutrinos_shadow, May 08 2011 Ah yes … the cube roots of unity, another good one to include. And the formula for non-integer Quadratics.-- 8th of 7, May 08 2011 The i's have it…-- 8th of 7, May 08 2011 When I was small, Teacher made me memorize the roots of unity up to about 37 or so. I can still remember most of them.-- mouseposture, May 09 2011 The only one that people SHOULD learn is the Rule of 78 (The one to calculate interest/principal ratios in loan repayments). It's desperately misunderstood by the great majority of people, who are held in financial servitude by banks and employers as a result of their ignorance.-- infidel, May 09 2011 War is peace; freedom is slavery; ignorance is strength.-- rcarty, May 09 2011 That may be true, [Ian Tindale], but you still live near the end of that god-awful Docklands line, out with the muggers, toerags and TV thriller camera crews spend the day shooting each other, shooting up and shooting shooting scenes.-- infidel, May 10 2011 What is a cartoon?-- pashute, May 10 2011 It's what someone from Noo Yawk plays on the sound system in their vee-hikkle.-- 8th of 7, May 10 2011 Back to the idea- I like it! [+] You can put up little plus or minus signs contained in brackets so she will be familiar with the hb.-- xandram, May 10 2011 I was going to do something like this once we had our first. I would paint pictures that had noticeable patterns, some basic XY graph-inspired pictures, things that would mean something inspiring and mathematical to a young mind that didn't quite grasp equations yet.
Go for Escher pictures, anything that has a superset repeating transitional pattern. Choose good pictures that are like good music in their relation to mathematics.
Add some of that chalkboard paint. Add hidden features that the child can discover on their own.
Perhaps a tree with branches that divide evenly, repeatably, like a fractal pattern.
Don't try to go too many different directions with it. The main purpose is to inspire in a direction.
A number line is in definite order.
But also bring in pictures of the physical world that clearly have some relation to the math subtly presented. A suspension bridge picture, perhaps.-- RayfordSteele, May 10 2011 The best gag is to put up one of those" learn the letters" charts- A is for apple, B is for bee, C is for cat … but give them a french one, where P is for Pomme, C is for Chien, M is for Maison …
Hilarity ensues.-- 8th of 7, May 10 2011 "A is for aitch...C is for ctenophoreD is for djinnE is for effF is forgottenG is for gneiss...K is for knittingL for leatherM is for mnemonicO is for oweP is for psychiatry....T is for tsar...W is for writingX is for xenonY is for ytterbiumZ is for later."
There. That should fuck'em.-- MaxwellBuchanan, May 10 2011 N is for Neville, my favorite Gashlycrumb tiny <link>-- mouseposture, May 10 2011 As mentioned I'd start with the laws of motion, then gravity. The one not mentioned is Kepler's laws as they have good associated graphics. Particle mechanics, Maxwell's equations, SOHCAHTOA, basic integrals and thermodynamics. I've thought about this a lot as our next child may be a boy, so I'd get to design the room. My wife suggested a Wall-E theme, but I thought I could slide in some real science in the design.-- MisterQED, May 11 2011 I could visulize putting together some basic integral graphics pretty easily.-- RayfordSteele, May 11 2011 Simon Stevin. That was the guy with the balls-on-a-string proof. Very pretty gedankanken experiment. See link.-- MaxwellBuchanan, May 11 2011 [MB]'s prime transparencies would make an apt wall hanging here.-- nineteenthly, May 12 2011 I don't think that's a thought experiment, [MB]. More of a demonstration? Unless adding an extra 'ank' changes the translation...-- daseva, May 12 2011 [Daseva] as fr as I know, he never actually built the illustrated device. The picture alone is enough - it's clear from the picture that the loop will not spontaneously rotate round and round - it'll just hang there. That in turn proves that the forces on both slopes are balanced. So, it was the perfect gedankenen experiment.-- MaxwellBuchanan, May 12 2011 //it's clear from the picture that the loop will not spontaneously rotate round and round// Plenty of perpetual motionists would disagree vehemently with this assessment.-- pocmloc, May 12 2011 //It's clear from the picture// <quickly substitutes a piece by Escher>-- lurch, May 12 2011 //Plenty of perpetual motionists would disagree vehemently with this assessment//
[marked-for-tagline]-- infidel, May 13 2011 //perpetual motionists// is that people with chronic squits?-- MaxwellBuchanan, May 16 2011 Good idea --- but leave infinity out until it is observed and good luck with that. All mathematical proofs are meaningless without confirmation by an observer.
Unless you can somehow indicate that in the abscence of reality maths is just fantasy. Perhaps thats why there is no prize for maths...-- madness, May 18 2011 Why, it's madness!-- daseva, May 18 2011 //meaningless without confirmation by an observer//...and [madness], though blind, insists on being the observer.-- lurch, May 18 2011 <Major_Clipton> Madness. Madness! </Major_Clipton>
So, you were serious, huh? Wow that's an interesting stance. Does it have a name? Have people written about it?-- mouseposture, May 18 2011 You can't forget Reimann, or Fourier, or you could do the Navier Stokes thing, which as I understand is really infinitely long (so choose as many terms as you like to make a nice wrap around)...-- ShawnBob, May 20 2011 Menger sponge …-- 8th of 7, May 20 2011 Yeah??! I said YEAH??? Sierpinski gasket!-- MaxwellBuchanan, May 20 2011 random, halfbakery