WOW

This is a cool article about math so i thought that i would put it up
It relates to both career choices and math. It is also interesting that gesticulating helps one to process a math problem. I am going to try this on the next math exam and see for myself if it actually works.

Copyright to The Economist magazine
source:http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13139611
HUMAN language is the subject of endless scientific investigation, but the gestures that accompany speech are a surprisingly neglected area. It is sometimes jokingly said that the way to render an Italian speechless is to tie his wrists together, but almost everyone moves their hands in meaningful ways when they talk. Susan Goldin-Meadow of the University of Chicago, however, studies gestures carefully—and not out of idle curiosity. Introspection suggests that gesturing not only helps people communicate but also helps them to think. She set out to test this, and specifically to find out whether gestures might be used as an aid to children’s learning. It turns out, as she told the AAAS, that they can.

The experiment she conducted involved balancing equations. Presented with an equation of the form 2 + 3 + 4 = x + 4, written on a blackboard, a child is asked to calculate the value of x. In the equations Dr Goldin-Meadow always made the last number on the left the same as the last on the right; so x was the sum of the first two numbers. Commonly, however, children who are learning arithmetic will add all three of the numbers on the left to arrive at the value of x.


In her previous work Dr Goldin-Meadow had noted that children often use spontaneous gestures when explaining how they solve mathematical puzzles so, to see if these hand-movements actually help a child to think, or are merely descriptive, she divided a group of children into two and asked them to balance equations. One group was asked to gesture while doing so. A second was asked not to. Both groups were then given a lesson in how to solve problems of this sort.

As Dr Goldin-Meadow suspected, the first group learnt more from the lesson than the second. By observing their gestures she refined the experiment. Often, a child would touch or point to the first two numbers on the left with the first two fingers of one hand. Dr Goldin-Meadow therefore taught this gesture explicitly to another group of children. Or, rather, she taught a third of them, taught another third to point to the second and third numbers this way, and told the remainder to use no gestures. When all were given the same lesson it was found those gesturing “correctly” learnt the most. But those gesturing “incorrectly” still outperformed the non-gesturers.

Gesturing, therefore, clearly does help thought. Indeed, it is so thought-provoking that even the wrong gestures have some value. Perhaps this helps to explain why the arithmetic-intensive profession of banking was invented in Italy.

Leaning tower. I have decided that the slope of the tower is 10.75. I solved this knowing that at the base of the tower there is no lean. I gave this point 0,0. At the top of the tower the book said that there was a lean of 5.2 meters and the tower was 55.9 meters off of the ground. Using those two points(0,0 and 5.2,5.9) i got my answer.

Y2-Y1 over X2-X1 this was 55.9 over 5.2. By dividing I got my answer of 10.75.
I tried to put photos up but i couldn't copy them and the computer that I am using does not allow me to download images. Oh well ill put pictures up later

WOW

I'm going to talk about computers and biology.
Most people know how a computer stores information and everybody who has tried to program knows that computers use what is called a binary system, billions of little switches that can be either on or off. This means that when you save a word document it flicks combinations of switches to store that word document in its memory. What most people do not know is how similar this is to the workings of a human body. A persons genetics are stored in DNA, but this is not binary. It is actually quaternary, which means that there are 4 different ways that each switch can be instead of 2. These four molecules are arranged in different sequences to store your genetics. The really interesting thing is when it comes to a persons memory, a brain stores information exactly like a computer does. In a binary sequence i.e. on and off switches. The difference is that instead of switches the human brain stores info in neurons. These neurons are either on or off and thus information is stored. It is almost crazy how similar the human body is to a machine. When you touch something hot your brain receives an ELECTRICAL impulse that says to it, that hurt! You re brain sends more impulses back saying that you should move your finger. The line between biological and mechanical is steadily blurring as scientists come up with more and more ideas such as computers made with DNA. Just food for thought





it should be noted that there were no sources for this information and no research was done. These are just thoughts that i had during a boring car ride.

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Yay hooray! I am so happy with myself I got it to work.