Math Machines

09/11/2022

I found this on another timeline but had trouble sharing it, so I am re-posting it.

GREAT SEA STORY
The passenger steamer SS Warrimoo was quietly knifing its way through the waters of the mid-Pacific on its way from Vancouver to Australia. The navigator had just finished working out a star fix and brought Captain John DS. Phillips, the result. The Warrimoo's position was LAT 0º 31' N and LONG 179 30' W. The date was 31 December 1899. "Know what this means?" First Mate Payton broke in, "We're only a few miles from the intersection of the Equator and the International Date Line". Captain Phillips was prankish enough to take full advantage of the opportunity for achieving the navigational freak of a lifetime.
He called his navigators to the bridge to check & double check the ship's position. He changed course slightly so as to bear directly on his mark. Then he adjusted the engine speed.
The calm weather & clear night worked in his favor. At mid-night the SS Warrimoo lay on the Equator at exactly the point where it crossed the International Date Line! The consequences of this bizarre position were many:
The forward part (bow) of the ship was in the Southern Hemisphere & in the middle of summer.
The rear (stern) was in the Northern Hemisphere & in the middle of winter.
The date in the aft part of the ship was 31 December 1899.
In the bow (forward) part it was 1 January 1900.
This ship was therefore not only in:
Two different days,
Two different months,
Two different years,
Two different seasons
But in two different centuries - all at the same time!

09/11/2022

01/07/2022

Our non-profit organization has now been dissolved. COVID and other factors made it impractical for us to conduct workshops and carry on with other activities in the way we did before. Math Machines will continue, however, as a resource for educators and learners who are seeking (as we have) to build stronger links among the STEM fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
This page will continue to exist for a while longer as will our YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/user/MathMachines
We are transitioning our website, https://www.mathmachines.net/, to a new format which will still provide access to our software, hardware designs and curriculum
Thank you for all you do to improve STEM education--and to help expand the integration to include Art and Medicine. STEM, STEAM and STEAMM live on!!!

06/05/2019

Interesting follow-on to our book, The Physics of Destructive Earthquakes. The article compares the current Japanese engineering strategy (which aims to minimize damage in major earthquakes) to the US strategy which designs many buildings to "crumple"--sacrificing the building to save lives, decreasing short-term construction costs while greatly increasing the cost and disruption of reconstruction.

At stake is whether places like Silicon Valley, Seattle, Salt Lake City, San Francisco or Los Angeles might be forced to shut down after a direct hit.

03/20/2019

We've posted a new video on YouTube which shows the Color Mixer in action. See it at https://youtu.be/1N7YHNu3vNA

12/01/2018

In Anchorage, horizontal ground accelerations can exceed 10 m/s^2. Learn more in our book "The Physics of Destructive Earthquakes" or on our YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC32QNLMCz69vTwKP8tWy19Q

12/01/2018

In Anchorage horizontal accelerations can exceed 10 m/s^2. Learn more in our book "The Physics of Destructive Earthquakes" or our YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC32QNLMCz69vTwKP8tWy19Q

10/27/2018

Quantitative investigations of the impact of earthquakes on simple objects can be a great way to learn physics. This clip is one of several included in our new book, The Physics of Destructive Earthquakes, which allows for direct video analysis as well as suggesting further hands-on investigations by physics learners. You may find that understanding how to knock something over is more complex than it first appears.

This sample video clip from our book, The Physics of Destructive Earthquakes, shows an investigation into the physics and mathematics of why some earthquakes...

10/26/2018

Happy to announce that our book, The Physics of Destructive Earthquakes, is now officially published. At the moment, it is available in e-book form as part of a package of resources for universities, high schools and other institutions. Both print and Kindle versions will also be distributed on Amazon and elsewhere. We think the book includes lots of interesting and valuable physics stuff--for example how to find the horizontal acceleration which the building you are now in should have been designed to withstand. It also gives instructions for a bunch of hands-on STEM activities, such as how to design and create small-scale earthquakes that are effective in knocking things down. Many thanks to Bob, Richard and everyone else who was involved!! If you happen to buy a copy, all royalties go to Math Machines. http://iopscience.iop.org/book/978-1-64327-078-4😀

This book is a concise introduction to the interactions between earthquakes and human-built structures (buildings, dams, bridges, power plants, pipelines and more). It focuses on the ways in which these interactions illustrate the application of basic physics principles and concepts, including inert...

01/02/2018

We are pleased that our article, “Math Machines: Using Actuators in Physics Classes” was published in the January 2018 issue of The Physics Teacher 56, 49 (2018). The article is grounded in 20+ years of interdisciplinary workshops which began with support from NSF’s Advanced Technological Education program--the first major NSF program to focus on 2-year colleges and the program which initiated “STEM.”

We much appreciate all those who have participated in our project, and we especially invite comments about the article's core idea that introductory physics courses in secondary schools, community colleges and universities can and should use actuators and “actionware” in much the same way they use sensors and probeware. The article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1119/1.5018695. Software and more information are available at http://www.mathmachines.net.

With "Math Machines" learners design mathematical functions to produce real, dynamic results!