Tag: mathematics

Board games enhance math skills in kids

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Newswise — Board games based on numbers, like Monopoly, Othello and Chutes and Ladders, make young children better at math, according to a comprehensive review of research published on the topic over the last 23 years.

Board games are already known to enhance learning and development including reading and literacy.

Now this new study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Early Years, finds, for three to nine-year-olds, the format of number-based board games helps to improve counting, addition, and the ability to recognize if a number is higher or lower than another.

The researchers say children benefit from programs – or interventions – where they play board games a few times a week supervised by a teacher or another trained adult.

“Board games enhance mathematical abilities for young children,” says lead author Dr. Jaime Balladares, from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, in Santiago, Chile.

“Using board games can be considered a strategy with potential effects on basic and complex math skills.

“Board games can easily be adapted to include learning objectives related to mathematical skills or other domains.”

Games where players take turns to move pieces around a board differ from those involving specific skills or gambling.

Board game rules are fixed which limits a player’s activities, and the moves on the board usually determine the overall playing situation.

However, preschools rarely use board games. This study aimed to compile the available evidence of their effects on children.

The researchers set out to investigate the scale of the effects of physical board games in promoting learning in young children.

They based their findings on a review of 19 studies published from 2000 onwards involving children aged from three to nine years. All except one study focused on the relationship between board games and mathematical skills.

All children participating in the studies received special board game sessions which took place on average twice a week for 20 minutes over one-and-a-half months. Teachers, therapists, or parents were among the adults who led these sessions.

In some of the 19 studies, children were grouped into either the number board game or to a board game that did not focus on numeracy skills. In others, all children participated in number board games but were allocated different types e.g. Dominoes.

All children were assessed on their math performance before and after the intervention sessions which were designed to encourage skills such as counting out loud.

The authors rated success according to four categories including basic numeric competency such as the ability to name numbers, and basic number comprehension e.g. ‘nine is greater than three’.

The other categories were deepened number comprehension – where a child can accurately add and subtract – and interest in mathematics.

In some cases, parents attended a training session to learn arithmetic that they could then use in the games.

Results showed that math skills improved significantly after the sessions among children for more than half (52%) of the tasks analyzed.

In nearly a third (32%) of cases, children in the intervention groups gained better results than those who did not take part in the board game intervention.

The results also show that from analyzed studies to date, board games on the language or literacy areas, while implemented, did not include scientific evaluation (i.e. comparing control with intervention groups, or pre and post-intervention) to evaluate their impact on children.

Designing and implementing board games along with scientific procedures to evaluate their efficacy, therefore, are “urgent tasks to develop in the next few years,” Dr. Balladares, who was previously at UCL, argues.

And this, now, is the next project they are investigating.

Dr. Balladares concludes: “Future studies should be designed to explore the effects that these games could have on other cognitive and developmental skills.

“An interesting space for the development of intervention and assessment of board games should open up in the next few years, given the complexity of games and the need to design more and better games for educational purposes.”

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Taylor & Francis

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July 7, 2023
Fossils Reveal Secrets of Nature’s Spirals

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Newswise — Leaf arrangements in the earliest plants differ from most modern plants, overturning a long-held theory regarding the origins of a famous mathematical pattern found in nature, research shows.

The findings indicate that the arrangement of leaves into distinctive spirals, that are common in nature today, were not common in the most ancient land plants that first populated the earth’s surface.

Instead, the ancient plants were found to have another type of spiral. This negates a long held theory about the evolution of plant leaf spirals, indicating that they evolved down two separate evolutionary paths.

Whether it is the vast swirl of a hurricane or the intricate spirals of the DNA double-helix, spirals are common in nature and most can be described by the famous mathematical series the Fibonacci sequence.

Named after the Italian mathematician, Leonardo Fibonacci, this sequence forms the basis of many of nature’s most efficient and stunning patterns.

Spirals are common in plants, with Fibonacci spirals making up over 90% of the spirals. Sunflower heads, pinecones, pineapples and succulent houseplants all include these distinctive spirals in their flower petals, leaves or seeds.

Why Fibonacci spirals, also known as nature’s secret code, are so common in plants has perplexed scientists for centuries, but their evolutionary origin has been largely overlooked.

Based on their widespread distribution it has long been assumed that Fibonacci spirals were an ancient feature that evolved in the earliest land plants and became highly conserved in plants.

However, an international team led by the University of Edinburgh has overthrown this theory with the discovery of non-Fibonacci spirals in a 407-million-year old plant fossil.

Using digital reconstruction techniques the researchers produced the first 3D models of leafy shoots in the fossil clubmoss Asteroxylon mackiei – a member of the earliest group of leafy plants.

The exceptionally preserved fossil was found in the famous fossil site the Rhynie chert, a Scottish sedimentary deposit near the Aberdeenshire village of Rhynie.

The site contains evidence of some of the planet’s earliest ecosystems – when land plants first evolved and gradually started to cover the earth’s rocky surface making it habitable.

The findings revealed that leaves and reproductive structures in Asteroxylon mackiei, were most commonly arranged in non-Fibonacci spirals that are rare in plants today.

This transforms scientists understanding of Fibonacci spirals in land plants. It indicates that non-Fibonacci spirals were common in ancient clubmosses and that the evolution of leaf spirals diverged into two separate paths.

The leaves of ancient clubmosses had an entirely distinct evolutionary history to the other major groups of plants today such as ferns, conifers and flowering plants.

The team created the 3D model of Asteroxylon mackiei, which has been extinct for over 400 million years, by working with digital artist Matt Humpage, using digital rendering and 3D printing.

The research, published in the journal Science, was funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), The Royal Society and the German Research Foundation.

The study also involved researchers from, University College Cork, Ireland, University Münster, Germany and Northern Rogue Studios, UK.

Dr Sandy Hetherington, an evolutionary palaeobiologist and the project’s lead at the University of Edinburgh, said:

“Our model of Asteroxylon mackiei lets us examine leaf arrangement in 3D for the first time. The technology to 3D print a 407-million-year old plant fossils and hold it in your hand is really incredible.

“Our findings give a new perspective on the evolution of Fibonacci spirals in plants.”

Holly-Anne Turner, who worked on the project as an undergraduate student at the University of Edinburgh and is first author of the study, said:

“The clubmoss Asteroxylon mackiei is one of the earliest examples of a plant with leaves in the fossil record.

“Using these reconstructions we have been able to track individual spirals of leaves around the stems of these 407 million year old fossil plants. Our analysis of leaf arrangement in Asteroxylon shows that very early clubmosses developed non-Fibonacci spiral patterns.”

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University of Edinburgh

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June 16, 2023
Tears of the Kingdom Fans Are Building Computers Now

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I mean, it was only a matter of time, right? Nintendo’s hit open-world game Tears of the Kingdom features a surprisingly robust and dynamic physics system you can build with, so it stands to reason that if you create a few “if this then that” scenarios, then bam, you basically have the working fundamentals of a computer system. And that’s exactly what players are doing now. Go ahead and get the “can it run Doom?” joke out of your system. I’ll wait.

SEASON: A letter to the future – Story Trailer

Tears of the Kingdom doesn’t just repeat the same expansive open world formula of its predecessor, Breath of the Wild. With the ability to manipulate various objects, glue them together, and have them interact with a remarkably fluid and realistic physics simulation, players have found interesting ways to traverse the map, build incredible death contraptions, or do silly things like build a pilotable T-rex or, um, Metal Gear Ray. But now, Hyrulian engineers are turning their attention to programming logic, using the game’s building systems to now make more complex contraptions and even rudimentary computational processes. Think of it as Zelda’s version of redstone from Minecraft. And it’s working.

Tears of the Kingdom player builds a basic calculator in the game

The first example of such a device is this one-bit calculator built with rotating panels and lights.

Nintendo / c7fab

Now it may not be entirely obvious what’s going on here, so let’s try to break this down. As software developer Zenni told Kotaku, calculators are essentially “made out of inputs of 1 or 0 and go through logic gates which can determine an output.” She continues:

Instead of gates, [this example uses] mirrors to act as logic gates and a physical gate to determine which inputs to switch between. The example [in the original video] is 1 bit, so adding 1 + 0 which equals 1, or 1 + 1 = 0 with a carry of 1. If you could bypass the drop limit of TotK, you could actually make a working calculator, which is really cool.

As some in the comments of the original video have stated, this is an “Adder,” which, as you might’ve guessed, adds things together. It’s the most fundamental function of how a computer works.

Image: Nintendo / c7fab / Kotaku

Here’s a more basic example illustrating how rotating devices and light objects can be used to create scenarios that control different inputs and outputs:

Nintendo / c7fab

After building this, user c7fab was able to make a slightly less advanced version of the video above with a half adder:

Nintendo / c7fab

Now before you go any further in referencing that darn ‘90s shooter everyone seems bent to get running on just about everything, there is a limit as to how complex this is thanks to Tears of the Kingdom’s 21-object build limit. In theory, if you took multiples of these Hyrulian adders and had them function in concert, you could get more complex computations, leading all the way up to what we’d expect from a fully functioning calculator. But given the game’s limit, it’s unlikely that we’ll see anything beyond simple base two computations.

Other feats of Hyrulian engineering

But, basic calculators ain’t all. As you may well know, Tears of the Kingdom also features physics by way of electricity. That means that creating circuits isn’t just limited to lights and mirrors. Check out this video showing off how with a bit of electricity and moving objects, you can have some interesting interactions.

Another example is a functioning diode, which allows electricity to flow in a specific direction, built using various Zonai devices.

Here’s another feat of engineering from user lyouke on Reddit, this time a transistor that doesn’t need Zonai power to function (Tears of the Kingdom uses two types of power, electricity and mystical Zonai power).

While these examples are very basic compared to what kinds of devices and computational processes we use every day, it’s kind of stunning that this at all works and, when you get right down to it, how simple many modern day feats of technology are at their core.

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Claire Jackson

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June 14, 2023
Resolving a Mathematical Puzzle in Quarks and Gluons in Nuclear Matter

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The Science

The building blocks of atomic nuclei are protons and neutrons, which are themselves made of even more fundamental particles: quarks and gluons. These particles interact via the “strong” force, one of the four fundamental forces of nature. They make up the nuclei at the heart of every atom. They also make up forms of hot or dense nuclear matter that exhibit exotic properties. Scientists study the properties of hot and cold nuclear matter in relativistic heavy ion collision experiments and will continue to do so using the future Electron-Ion Collider. The ultimate goal is to understand how complex forms of matter emerge from elementary particles affected by strong forces.

The Impact

Theoretical calculations involving the strong force are complex. One aspect of this complexity arises because there are many ways to perform these calculations. Scientists refer to some of these as “gauge choices.” All gauge choices should produce the same result for the calculation of any quantity that can be measured in an experiment. However, one particular choice, called “axial gauge,” has puzzled scientists for years because of difficulties in obtaining consistent results upon making this choice. This recent study resolves this puzzle and paves the way for reliable calculations of hot and cold nuclear matter properties that can be tested in current and future experiments.

Summary

The exotic form of nuclear matter that physicists study in relativistic heavy ion collisions is called the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). This form of matter existed in the early universe. Physicists explore its properties in heavy ion collision experiments by recreating the extremely high temperatures last seen microseconds after the Big Bang. By analyzing experimental data from the collisions and comparing them with theoretical calculations, physicists can ascertain various properties of the QGP. Using a calculation method called “axial gauge” had previously seemed to imply that two QGP properties that describe how heavy quarks move through the QGP were the same.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Washington have now found this implication to be incorrect. The study also carefully analyzed the subtle conditions for when axial gauge can be employed and explained why the two properties are different. Finally, it showed that two distinct methods for measuring how gluons are distributed inside nuclei must yield different results. Gluons are the particles that carry the strong force, This prediction will be tested at the future Electron-Ion Collider.

Funding

This work is supported by the Department of Energy Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics and by the Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics, InQubator for Quantum Simulation (IQuS).

Journal Link: Physical Review Letters, Feb-2023

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Department of Energy, Office of Science

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June 2, 2023
Everybody loves Pi: @CWRU math chair explains the why behind the 3.14 obsession

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BYLINE: Michael Scott

Newswise — “A lot of people know pi through their geometry classes in school, but that’s really it—they’re not sure why it’s important,” said Weihong Guo, chair of mathematics in the College of Arts and Sciences at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. “In reality, pi is really the most useful number human beings have to use for so many things in the real world.”

Those real-world examples range from calculating the surface area of a soda can (“How much material do you need to make this thing? Make a million of them?” Guo said) to sizing age-appropriate soccer balls to using a ‘Bell Curve’ to predict the odds of winning the lottery.

Guo said pi also “gave rise to many important insights in our physical world. It’s been used to help calculate the orbit of planets in the solar system and examine how ripples in rivers carry energy.”

Weihong Guo’s other research interests include Mathematical Image Analysis and Processing, Inverse Problems, Scientific Computing and Computer Vision–but like all of us, she also loves Pi

She is available by request through Pi Day on Tuesday.

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Case Western Reserve University

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March 10, 2023
Do the math: ChatGPT sometimes can’t, expert says.

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BYLINE: Scott Bordow, Reporter, ASU News

Newswise — Paulo Shakarian’s son wanted to have some fun with the natural-language processing tool ChatGPT recently, so he generated a fictitious movie script where Arnold Schwarzenegger fights Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Welcome to the world of artificial intelligence.

ChatGPT, which was designed by OpenAI, a small San Francisco company, is different from other large language models in that it allows the general public to experiment with it directly.

Want to know what to do for your child’s birthday? Ask ChatGPT.

Want poetry written in the style of William Shakespeare? ChatGPT will do that for you.

RELATED: The pros and cons of ChatGPT

But Shakarian, an associate professor at Arizona State University who runs Lab V-2 in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering — the lab examines challenges in the field of artificial intelligence — is not as sold on ChatGPT’s capability of higher-level reasoning. In a paper that was accepted to the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence for its spring symposium, Shakarian detailed results of a study in which he tested ChatGPT on 1,000 mathematical word problems.

“Our initial tests on ChatGPT, done in early January, indicate that performance is significantly below the 60% accuracy for state-of-the-art algorithm for math word problem-solvers,” Shakarian said. “We are conducting a new experiment as OpenAI has stated that they have released a new version of ChatGPT with improvements in solving math problems.”

ASU News talked to Shakarian about the paper and ChatGPT’s uses as a product.

Editor’s note: The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Question: For those not familiar with ChatGPT, what would you say it is and does?

Answer: It’s designed around a concept called next word prediction, where for when you ask it something, it’s going to predict what the related words are based on a corpus (text and speech) data. It uses an underlying technology called the Transformer. This piece is critical because earlier technology … could only give good answers for, say, very short questions as opposed to something longer and more conversational.

Q: So, what can someone do with ChatGPT?

A: I think the practical applications in my view are probably going to be more in the creative and artistic space, as well as entertainment, where accuracy is not something that is going to be the most important thing. For things like a creative writing project, it could be really interesting. There was a recent story by a New York Times reporter that had a very long and strange conversation with the chat feature where the thing went a little bit off the rails. But on the flip side of that, having something that appears sentient … does give an impression there’s someone on the other end, and some people might find entertainment value in that. That said, there could be ethical implications with such uses as well, as these models can appear almost human and gain the trust of a user. However, designers have very little control over what they communicate to such a trusting and possibly vulnerable individual. These problems are related to ones of social engineering.

Q: What are the limitations of ChatGPT?

A: One really well-known limitation is the information in it only goes until the end of 2021. The reason for this is that ChatGPT uses what’s called a trained model, which means there’s a corpus of data used to train it. At some point that data has to stop, and it stopped at the end of 2021. So if you add new data, you usually have to start from scratch in this process. That’s significant because estimates for computational cost, just the cost of computers and electricity … is somewhere in the neighborhood of four to five million dollars. So to do that is very expensive, which is why the limitation of the data that’s used to go into it is significant.

Q: So I couldn’t ask it about anything that happened in 2022, right?

A: Right. Now, what has happened recently is Microsoft has announced using similar models created by OpenAI to power Bing (Microsoft’s web search engine). Instead of giving you a response, you type in your prompt and behind the scenes it’s generating search queries, and then taking those search results and putting them back into the language model and using that to give you an answer.

Q: Sounds like Google.

A: It is, except it’s using the language models as layers to communicate between the human and the search engine. Let’s say you have a query around buying a car, and you have specifications about the size of the vehicle because maybe you have a small garage or something. Where before you might have to do some research to kind of identify the sizes of various vehicles, and then you do another set of searches around identifying which ones meet the criteria, what happens with the new Bing is you just have one prompt that goes in and it’s using the language model to do a bunch of different searches all at once. Then it combines it together to give you an end result.

Q: So it’s a quicker process, essentially.

A: Yeah. From the search engine perspective, that’s where there could be some advantages. But there’s also some serious drawbacks because the language model, both in the creation of the queries and in compiling the results together, makes no difference between, say, adding in an extra sentence to kind of make something more readable versus adding in an extra sentence with some false information that just kind of sounds related to the topic. Because of that, people who have been experimenting on this have noticed that it has factual errors in the results; and by factual, I mean discrepancies between the final results and what the search engine actually found. So these are some of the problems that these companies will need to overcome.

Q: What were you trying to find out with your paper and what did the results tell you?

A: When ChatGPT first came out, there were all kinds of comments about how it was bad at math. There is a line of research in the field of natural language processing where people have studied how to create algorithms to solve mathematical word problems. Take a word problem that a junior high student would see that would maybe lead to a system of equations, nothing too bad, like two trains going at different speeds (to the same place). You can use algebra to solve those simultaneous questions. One key aspect about these math word problems is that they require multiple steps of inference. This simply means that once you take a look at the problem, there’s kind of a translation step, which is taking the words and turning it into the equations. These are all multiple steps we’ve done in high school, and we wanted to see if ChatGPT could correctly do these steps. What we can conclude is one of the limitations with ChatGPT is it’s just not capable of doing good multistep logical inference. And this makes sense because the underlying technology really wasn’t designed for that.

Original Article in ASU News.

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Arizona State University (ASU)

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February 21, 2023
The optical fiber that keeps data safe even after being twisted or bent

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Newswise — Optical fibres are the backbone of our modern information networks. From long-range communication over the internet to high-speed information transfer within data centres and stock exchanges, optical fibre remains critical in our globalised world.

Fibre networks are not, however, structurally perfect, and information transfer can be compromised when things go wrong. Tßo address this problem, physicists at the University of Bath in the UK have developed a new kind of fibre designed to enhance the robustness of networks. This robustness could prove to be especially important in the coming age of quantum networks.

The team has fabricated optical fibres (the flexible glass channels through which information is sent) that can protect light (the medium through which data is transmitted) using the mathematics of topology. Best of all, these modified fibres are easily scalable, meaning the structure of each fibre can be preserved over thousands of kilometres.

The Bath study is published in the latest issue of Science Advances.

Protecting light against disorder

At its simplest, optical fibre, which typically has a diameter of 125 µm (similar to a thick strand of hair) comprises a core of solid glass surrounded by cladding. Light travels through the core, where it bounces along as though reflecting off a mirror.

However, the pathway taken by an optical fibre as it crisscrosses the landscape is rarely straight and undisturbed: turns, loops, and bends are the norm. Distortions in the fibre can cause information to degrade as it moves between sender and receiver. “The challenge was to build a network that takes robustness into account,” said Physics PhD student Nathan Roberts, who led the research.

“Whenever you fabricate a fibre-optic cable, small variations in the physical structure of the fibre are inevitably present. When deployed in a network, the fibre can also get twisted and bent. One way to counter these variations and defects is to ensure the fibre design process includes a real focus on robustness. This is where we found the ideas of topology useful.”

To design this new fibre, the Bath team used topology, which is the mathematical study of quantities that remain unchanged despite continuous distortions to the geometry. Its principles are already applied to many areas of physics research. By connecting physical phenomena to unchanging numbers, the destructive effects of a disordered environment can be avoided.

The fibre designed by the Bath team deploys topological ideas by including several light-guiding cores in a fibre, linked together in a spiral. Light can hop between these cores but becomes trapped within the edge thanks to the topological design. These edge states are protected against disorder in the structure.

Bath physicist Dr Anton Souslov, who co-authored the study as theory lead, said: “Using our fibre, light is less influenced by environmental disorder than it would be in an equivalent system lacking topological design.

“By adopting optical fibres with topological design, researchers will have the tools to pre-empt and forestall signal-degrading effects by building inherently robust photonic systems.”

Theory meets practical expertise

Bath physicist Dr Peter Mosley, who co-authored the study as experimental lead, said: “Previously, scientists have applied the complex mathematics of topology to light, but here at the University of Bath we have lots of experience physically making optical fibres, so we put the mathematics together with our expertise to create topological fibre.”

The team, which also includes PhD student Guido Baardink and Dr Josh Nunn from the Department of Physics, are now looking for industry partners to develop their concept further.

“We are really keen to help people build robust communication networks and we are ready for the next phase of this work,” said Dr Souslov.

Mr Roberts added: “We have shown that you can make kilometres of topological fibre wound around a spool. We envision a quantum internet where information will be transmitted robustly across continents using topological principles.”

He also pointed out that this research has implications that go beyond communications networks. He said: “Fibre development is not only a technological challenge, but also an exciting scientific field in its own right.

“Understanding how to engineer optical fibre has led to light sources from bright ‘supercontinuum’ that spans the entire visible spectrum right down to quantum light sources that produce individual photons – single particles of light.”

The future is quantum

Quantum networks are widely expected to play an important technological role in years to come. Quantum technologies have the capacity to store and process information in more powerful ways than ‘classical’ computers can today, as well as sending messages securely across global networks without any chance of eavesdropping.

But the quantum states of light that transmit information are easily impacted by their environment and finding a way to protect them is a major challenge. This work may be a step towards maintaining quantum information in fibre optics using topological design.

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University of Bath

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January 10, 2023
What Is a Function in Algebra? | Khan Academy Blog

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What is a function?

I’m sure that many of you have heard the term “function” in math class before. But, if you’re anything like me, you might be thinking “What the heck is a function, anyway?”

Simply put, a function is a rule that connects one set of numbers to another set of numbers. It’s kind of like a translator for math. For example, if you have the function f(x) = 2x, this rule is telling you that for any number you input (x), you multiply it by 2 to get your output (f(x)).

Functions can get a lot more complicated than that, of course. Sometimes they involve fractions, exponents, square roots, and all sorts of other funky math symbols. But at the end of the day, they’re all just rules that tell you how to take one set of numbers and turn it into another set of numbers.

So next time your math teacher asks you to find the value of a function, just remember: it’s not as scary as it sounds. It’s just like following a recipe, except instead of ending up with a tasty cake, you end up with a bunch of numbers. Yum?

Want to Learn Algebra for Free?

Khan Academy has hundreds of lessons for free. No ads, no subscriptions.

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Jeremy Schifeling

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October 31, 2022
What Is Linear Algebra? | Khan Academy Blog

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What is linear algebra?

What is linear algebra? Well, if you’re like most people, you might think it’s just another boring math subject you thankfully avoided in school. But trust us, it’s a little more interesting than that!

Linear algebra is essentially the study of mathematical structures that can be defined in terms of linear equations. So, in a nutshell, it’s all about lines. Think of it as the cooler, more sophisticated cousin of geometry.

What do you do in linear algebra?

But what do you actually do in linear algebra? Well, you might work with things like vectors, matrices, and tensors, and use different operations to manipulate them. For example, you could multiply two matrices together, or find the inverse of a matrix.

Why is linear algebra important?

Now, you might be wondering: why would anyone want to study this stuff? Linear algebra is actually pretty important in a lot of fields. For example, it’s used in computer graphics to help render 3D images, and in data science to build machine learning models.

So next time someone asks you what linear algebra is, you can give them the lowdown. Or, if you want to sound really smart, just tell them it’s the study of vector spaces and linear mappings between them. That should do the trick.

Want to Learn Linear Algebra for Free?

Khan Academy has hundreds of lessons for free. No ads, no subscriptions.

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Jeremy Schifeling

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October 31, 2022
Who Invented Algebra? | Khan Academy Blog

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It’s the question that haunts every student who’s ever stared blankly at a jumble of letters and numbers, wondering how on earth they’re supposed to make sense of it all: Who invented algebra?

The answer isn’t simple. The earliest recorded evidence of algebra comes from the ancient Babylonians, who had their own algebraic system as early as 1900 BC. But other ancient civilizations such as the Egyptians, Greeks, and Chinese also had methods for solving equations that bear similarities to modern algebra.

It wasn’t until the medieval Islamic world, however, that algebra really started to take shape as we know it today. Mathematician and scholar Al-Khwarizmi is often credited as the “father of algebra” for his work in the 9th century. He wrote a book called “The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing” (rolls right off the tongue, doesn’t it?) that laid out the basic principles of algebra and popularized the use of symbols and letters to represent unknown quantities.

So the next time you’re stuck on a particularly gnarly algebra problem, don’t just curse your teacher – you’ve got thousands of years of history to blame, too… 🙂

Want to Learn Algebra for Free?

Khan Academy has hundreds of lessons for free. No ads, no subscriptions.

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Jeremy Schifeling

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October 31, 2022
Veeko Creates Streaming After-School Platform to Combat Lack of Education Resources in the United States

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Press Release
–

Dec 15, 2021

SAN RAMON, Calif., December 15, 2021 (Newswire.com)
–
The United States is facing a crisis in the area of afterschool education. Recent polling suggests that over 90% of parents believe that afterschool programs are essential for their child’s education, but for most parents, high-quality afterschool programs are out of reach. According to a recent study, more than 24.6 million children in the U.S. are unable to join after-school programs.

Understanding the problem

Among the reasons listed by parents for not sending their children to afterschool programs, these highlight the difficulty that parents face when trying to give their kids a quality education:

Cost: A majority of parents cited cost of afterschool programs as being largest barrier that stood between them and enrolling their child in a program. With some courses coming in at $3,600 per year, the cost is impossible to manage.

Availability: More than 42% of parents reported that afterschool programs were not available in their community, indicating that nearly half the children in this country are unable to attend afterschool programs because there aren’t enough of them.

Transportation: Parents said transportation played a role in their inability to send their kids to afterschool programs. With some parents working two jobs, there isn’t time to get their kids out of the house. For other families in larger cities, parents worry about safe transport because they don’t have access to a car.

Quality: Another factor stopping parents from putting their children into afterschool programs is quality. Most afterschool programs are more daycare than education, with kids only playing around instead of learning something that’s truly beneficial.

Becoming the Solution

Veeko was created by passionate professionals and teachers to ensure that every child in America can access genuine, high-quality, afterschool education regardless of geography or financial status.

To make this possible, we created an innovative new app and hired the best teachers in the field to design fun, creative lessons to keep kids engaged and on the path to success.

Afterschool classes include: Math Tricks, Guitar, Piano, Ukulele, Fine Arts, Painting, Drawing, Storytelling, Magic, Yoga, Kung Fu, Spanish, Chinese, & Singing

We want every child to benefit from these amazing courses, so we’re offering it for just $99! You’ll get a year of access to all 15 courses, and a shared family login so that everyone will be free to explore all kinds of lessons and discover their real interests!

We also created a series of arts-based masterclasses with the finest instructors in the nation. For just $198 you can select two masterclass courses and enjoy 15 afterschool courses!

Masterclasses include: Piano, Violin, Ballet, Guitar, Singing, Music Theory, Oboe, Clarinet, Viola, Double Bass, & More

Visit Veeko.com today and use the code VEEKOGIFT to get this special offer!

Email: info@veeko.com

+1 (202) 709-3912

Veeko Inc. reserves all rights to its online classes and related educational products, © Veeko Inc. 2021

Source: Veeko Inc.

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December 15, 2021
Veeko Announces Launch of Streaming Education Platform

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Press Release
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Dec 15, 2021

SAN CARLOS, Calif., December 15, 2021 (Newswire.com)
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The United States is facing a crisis in the area of afterschool education. Recent polling suggests that over 90% of parents believe that afterschool programs are essential for their child’s education, but for most parents, high-quality afterschool programs are out of reach. According to a recent study, more than 24.6 million children in the U.S. are unable to join after-school programs.

Understanding the problem

Among the reasons listed by parents for not sending their children to afterschool programs, these highlight the difficulty that parents face when trying to give their kids a quality education:

Cost: A majority of parents cited cost of afterschool programs as being largest barrier that stood between them and enrolling their child in a program. With some courses coming in at $3,600 per year, the cost is impossible to manage.

Availability: More than 42% of parents reported that afterschool programs were not available in their community, indicating that nearly half the children in this country are unable to attend afterschool programs because there aren’t enough of them.

Transportation: Parents said transportation played a role in their inability to send their kids to afterschool programs. With some parents working two jobs, there isn’t time to get their kids out of the house. For other families in larger cities, parents worry about safe transport because they don’t have access to a car.

Quality: Another factor stopping parents from putting their children into afterschool programs is quality. Most afterschool programs are more daycare than education, with kids only playing around instead of learning something that’s truly beneficial.

Becoming the Solution

Veeko was created by passionate professionals and teachers to ensure that every child in America can access genuine, high-quality, afterschool education regardless of geography or financial status.

To make this possible, we created an innovative new app and hired the best teachers in the field to design fun, creative lessons to keep kids engaged and on the path to success.

Afterschool classes include: Math Tricks, Guitar, Piano, Ukulele, Fine Arts, Painting, Drawing, Storytelling, Magic, Yoga, Kung Fu, Spanish, Chinese, & Singing

We want every child to benefit from these amazing courses, so we’re offering it for just $99! You’ll get a year of access to all 15 courses, and a shared family login so that everyone will be free to explore all kinds of lessons and discover their real interests!

We also created a series of arts-based masterclasses with the finest instructors in the nation. For just $198 you can select two masterclass courses and enjoy 15 afterschool courses!

Masterclasses include: Piano, Violin, Ballet, Guitar, Singing, Music Theory, Oboe, Clarinet, Viola, Double Bass, & More

Visit Veeko.com today and use the code VEEKOGIFT to get this special offer!

Email: info@veeko.com

+1(202)709-3912

Veeko Inc. reserves all rights to its online classes and related educational products, © Veeko Inc. 2021

Source: Veeko Inc.

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December 15, 2021
Westside Christian Academy Announces the Launch of the SME Westside High School Membership Program

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Henry Wells, III, Campus Principal and Head of Westside Christian Academy recently announced the formation of the Westside SME (Society of Manufacturing Engineers) Membership Program, to further educate students on the value of manufacturing and the career possibilities available to them.

Detroit, Michigan, February 5, 2018 (Newswire.com)
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“This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to learn the many opportunities for a career in manufacturing including skilled trades, engineering, designing and programming,” said Wells.

There are currently more than 600,000 jobs available in manufacturing in the US, with the expectation that number could grow to 2 million by 2025 because of an aging workforce and new technologies creating more jobs.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to learn the many opportunities for a career in manufacturing including skilled trades, engineering, designing and programming.”

Henry Wells, III, Principal and Head of Westside Christian Academy

“Our students will envision a more positive future when they learn about the manufacturing resurgence in Detroit and realize that they can be a part of it and begin to work toward that goal,” said Wells.

The SME high school student membership program provides a wealth of knowledge for the student members including access to programs and activities that provide them with both hands-on and virtual access to resources and information related to manufacturing including a mentorship program and scholarships.

“Our students are discovering that manufacturing is undergoing a renaissance in their own community with high paying manufacturing jobs and successful careers opening up to them,” said Wells. “They need to learn what opportunities are out there for them, and becoming involved in the SME High School Membership Program will give them access to that information.”

About SME

SME is a nonprofit organization has served practitioners, companies, educators, government and communities across the manufacturing spectrum for more than 80 years. Through its strategic areas of events, media, membership, training and development and the SME Education Foundation, SME is uniquely dedicated to the advancement of manufacturing by addressing both knowledge and skills needed for the industry.

About Westside

Westside Christian Academy is a beacon of hope providing children a holistic, Christ-centered education in a loving community. Founded in 1994, Westside Christian Academy is located at 9540 Bramell Street on the western edge of Detroit. Westside Christian Academy is led by Mr. Henry Wells, Campus Principal and Head, and is supported by a board of directors dedicated to excellence. Graduates of Westside can be found in colleges and universities, the military and various careers such as business, education, ministry and law enforcement. 313-255-5760, www.westsideca.org

Source: Westside Christian Academy

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February 5, 2018
Opening Up for Student Success

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Lyryx announces the release of “Linear Algebra with Applications” (W. Keith Nicholson) as their latest open educational resource (OER).

Press Release
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updated: Jan 8, 2018

CALGARY, Alberta, January 8, 2018 (Newswire.com)
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Today marks the official release of the latest open educational resource (OER) from Lyryx Learning. W. Keith Nicholson’s Linear Algebra with Applications, a text published for many years by a traditional publisher, has now been released with an open license and is freely available to all.

OERs are educational materials that are open, freely accessible and can be fully used, shared, and adapted in the digital environment.

The main goal of most publishers is profit, and the result has been a sales-driven business model as opposed to one driving student success.

Dr. Nicholson, Author & Mathematics Professor

When asked why he opted to release his text under a Creative Commons license, Dr. Nicholson said, “The main goal of most publishers is profit, and the result has been a sales-driven business model as opposed to one driving student success. This results in frequent new editions of textbooks motivated largely to reduce the sale of used books rather than to update content quality. It also introduces copyright restrictions which stifle the creation and use of new pedagogical methods and materials. The overall result is high-cost textbooks which may not meet the evolving educational needs of instructors and students.”

He added that with OER, “The cost to students is significantly lower, and open licenses return content control to instructors. Through editable file formats and open licenses, OER can be developed, maintained, reviewed, edited, and improved by a variety of contributors. Instructors can now respond to curriculum change by revising and reordering material to create content that meets the needs of their students.”

Claude Laflamme, Founder and CEO of Lyryx Learning, says, “This isn’t the first traditionally published text Lyryx has released as an OER and we know it won’t be the last. The need for accessible, affordable and adaptable resources is enduring and we are excited to contribute to the increased adoption of OER at post-secondary institutions in Canada by providing such resources.”

To find out more about Lyryx Learning and this new open text, visit: http://lyryx.com

About Lyryx Learning
Lyryx Learning is an open educational resources (OER) company based in Calgary, Alberta that began in the Mathematics Department at the University of Calgary. Lyryx was established in 2000 and is supporting instructors across Canada by sustaining OER and developing adaptable, accessible and affordable resources for higher education. Lyryx provides quality OER and services including open texts, assessments, supplements and support in the subjects of Mathematics, Statistics, Accounting and Economics.

Lyryx offers a modern model strengthening open educational resources, providing excellent materials and services to students at an affordable price. We are advancing learning as champions of access to knowledge.

For more information contact:
Tamsyn Murnaghan

Director of Client Services
P: 877-670-6726 ext.222
tamsyn@lyryx.com

Source: Lyryx Learning Inc.

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January 8, 2018
NEF’s 2017 STEM Award Goes to Martins Ferry Schools, Ohio

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National Education Foundation Grants to help a million students in STEM nationwide

Washington, DC, May 25, 2017 (Newswire.com)
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National Education Foundation (NEF), the national nonprofit leader in holistic STEM education solutions, awarded its 2017 STEM Leadership Award for $10,000 to Martins Ferry City Schools, OH, on May 19, 2017.

The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Leadership Award celebrates the exemplary implementation of NEF’s STEM+ Academy by a school district that motivates its students toward acquiring 21st century STEM skills, both academic and hands-on.

Martins Ferry students advanced a remarkable one grade level in math and reading in 29 and 27 learning hours respectively. The students also earn college credits.

Martins Ferry’s success stands out as a clear example of how to cost-effectively improve student achievement by involving and motivating all the stakeholders — students, teachers, parents, and administrators.

Martins Ferry successfully implemented NEF’s STEM+ Academy (STEM, reading, social studies, SAT/ACT, IT, career tech, business and personal/professional development) holistic system solution that includes personalized learning using top-rated online courses, teacher training, a state-of-the-art learning management system, teacher stipends, student awards, parent training and tech support.

NEF’s STEM+ Academies have been implemented in school districts across the U.S. by the State University of New York (SUNY), the largest university in the U.S., in partnership with local universities, with students eligible to receive college credits from SUNY, NEF’s academy partner, for $60 per credit, with a 90% subsidy.

At the awards ceremony, NEF Chairman Dr. Appu Kuttan stated, “NEF is concerned that the U.S. is ranked 31st in math in global rankings. Our world-class STEM academies, funded by the $100 million NEF-SUNY STEM grants and federal grants, help students in disadvantaged schools across the nation improve their STEM skills, thus enabling them to compete for jobs in the highly competitive 21st-century global economy.”

75-year-old NEF Chairman and philanthropist, Dr. Appu Kuttan, was challenged by Martins Ferry students and staff to a fitness contest. Dr. Kuttan won the contest with 30 students and teachers and donated the $1,000 winner’s prize to Martins Ferry to start a fitness program for students in 2017-18.

In addition, Dr. Kuttan announced national STEM design contests for K-12 students to start next school year. Contest winners will earn scholarships.

Merit cash awards were also presented to schools in Canton, NY, Steubenville, OH, Lehighton, PA, and Warren County, PA.

In addition to this annual award, NEF provides significant matching grants to disadvantaged school districts/schools nationwide. Martins Ferry’s STEM+ Academy was fully funded by the Federal QZAB (www.qzab.org) program and NEF’s significant matching grant. NEF’s STEM+ Academy, with its attractive motivational rewards, provides a well-rounded educational experience for students of all grade levels.

For additional information about NEF’s grant programs for schools, students, jobseekers, teachers, and veterans, please contact the National Education Foundation at 703-823-9999, or visit www.stemgrant.org

About NEF
The National Education Foundation (NEF), winner of the 2016 Global STEM Leadership Award from the prestigious World Economic Forum, is the national non-profit leader in bridging the academic and job skills divides by providing world-class STEM+ (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, English, test prep, digital literacy, career tech, IT, business, management and personal/professional development) education to millions of disadvantaged students and adults. See www.stemgrant.org.

About QZAB
The Qualified Zone Academy Bond (QZAB) program is a federal program that provides qualified schools with funds for energy programs, STEM, renovations, and technology. See www.qzab.org.

About STEM+ Academy
Through the STEM, QZAB and Adopt-A-School national grant programs, NEF and State University of New York (SUNY) have created the most cost-effective, high-quality holistic STEM+ education solution. There are STEM+ Academies in 20 states and several major cities. NEF’s ultimate goal is to provide STEM+ education to students in most disadvantaged school districts in the U.S. by 2020.

Source: National Education Foundation

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May 25, 2017