MATHEMATICS/

NUMERACY

Moments in Mathematics

Junior School

Year 9 I&E students ventured outside to measure tall things using a nifty app called “iHandy level”. When used at eye level, and pointed to the top of an object, the app measures the angle of elevation (see images). Students use that angle measurement along with the ground distance to estimate the height of the tree or the flag pole, applying trigonometry knowledge they gained in the classroom to do so. This is a concrete example of when triangle properties and trigonometry can be put to work in, and help make sense of, our world. This app is like a spirit level in your pocket so it can also help straighten your photo frames.

Senior School

We’ve all heard of The Matrix, but have you heard about the mathematics behind matrices? Matrices are a table-like format used to store data that make it easier to analyse and transform the information. They are used in many fields, including movement controls in robotics, quantum mechanics in physics, optimization problems in economics, coding and encrypting messages in programming, seismic surveys in geology, algorithms for search engines, and perhaps most familiar is the generation of graphics in computer-animated movies and video games. Our Year 12 Methods students have been using matrices to transform data and functions, learning how they work and how to apply different operations to transform them. They have also explored how to represent various transformations in matrix-form and made connections with other methods of function transformation.

Family Fun

The answers to last week’s brain teasers were “3 because the grandfather is also a father and the father is also a son” and “666 + 66 + 6 + 6 + 6”. Prepare to employ some lateral thinking for this week’s puzzles, then check your answers in the next edition of Highlights!

- A duck was given $9, a spider was given $36, a bee was given $27. Based off of this information, how much money would be given to a cat?

- Which of the following is the largest? Triangle, circle, square, or rectangle?