Two seemingly unrelated problems—one posed to a class of eighth graders, the other posed to a class of high school juniors—uncover a connection through Stirling numbers of the second kind.
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Marion D. Cohen
Studying mathematics-related fiction and poetry helps students develop an appreciation for both mathematics and literature and an understanding of the connection between the two.
Rick A. Hudson
The artwork shown in photographs 1 and 2 is entitled Cubeular Pyramid. Created by the artist Josh Rodenberg, it was first exhibited at the Arlington Arts Center in Arlington, Virginia. The piece expresses Rodenberg's “personal balance between organization and chaos” and was inspired by his self-described obsession with the computer game Tetris®, which requires players to stack pieces consisting of arrangements of four squares.
Ron Lancaster
Students analyze items from the media to answer mathematical questions related to the article. The three clips this month all concern calendar questions surrounding the occurrences of Friday the 13th.
Dohyoung Ryang and Tony Thompson
The authors generate a formula for the sum of squares, cubes, and fourth powers and then generalize for any integral power.
Tongta Somchaipeng, Tussatrin Kruatong, and Bhinyo Panijpan
Students use balls and disks to prove the general formulas for sums of squares and cubes.
Elaine A. Terry
Gauss's method of computing finite sums involves a pattern that can be generalized into a formula—a great introduction to inductive reasoning.
Ysbrand de Bruyn
This article explains how infinite geometric series can be used to calculate areas under graphs of simple power functions, a method first used by Fermat in his work on areas under graphs of parabolas.
Jonaki B. Ghosh
By engaging in recursive and explicit reasoning, students gain insight into the nature of fractal constructions.
Michael H. Koehler
The sculpture entitled Four-Sided Pyramid by Sol LeWitt (1928-2007) is located in the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Installed in 1999, the sculpture takes on a different appearance depending on light conditions and the location of the sun. The square pyramid consists of rectangular blocks stacked twenty-four levels high. It comprises twenty-three vertical slices of blocks from the front to the back of the pyramid and forty-seven rows of blocks from one corner of the base to the opposite corner. The blocks are rectangular prisms of dimensions 1 × 1 × 2 units; thus, each block can be thought of as consisting of two cubes.
