[Edu-sig] seasonal challenge to calculator dominance in high schools

[Wes Turner]

On Sunday, June 23, 2019, C. Cossé <ccosse at gmail.com> wrote:

> I'll bet every one of those graphing calcs has also been replicated as a
> phone app
>

> That's cool stuff there!  (yours)
>

Yeah, that's really cool. Was the MoCap (motion capture) done at the
University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO)? They've a new Biomechanics facility
next to the soccer field over there.

There are a bunch of cool videos demoing simulated agents learning to walk
with evolutionary algorithms (mutation, crossover,  cost function)
https://github.com/openai/mujoco-py/blob/master/README.md#usage-examples

https://youtube.com/results?search_query=openai+learning+to+walk

By comparison, my old offline graphing calculator is a frustrating piece of
work with no QWERTY keyboard.

In building a table out of a rolling cart, 2x6's, a melamine sheet, and
some brackets, I had need for rigid body dynamics; to determine how much
force would cause the table to fall over. After not finding any existing
open source software with actual calculations and a few q&a questions with
some equations and parameters, I considered trying to add support to
FreeCAD (with cadquery and Jupyter Notebook) for rollover risk.

It was a good review of counterbalancing forces:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigid_body_dynamics


>
> On Sun, Jun 23, 2019 at 12:30 PM kirby urner <kirby.urner at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>>
>> Another modeling activity that's fun is starting with a giant spreadsheet
>> (maybe a pandas DataFrame) wherein the columns are xyz coordinates of
>> ballerina body sensors. As we know, the movie industry uses these sensors
>> routinely, to bring an actor into a virtual reality (e.g. Gollum in Lord of
>> the Rings).
>>
>> We had an outfit in Nebraska do the recordings and I translated the
>> sensor data into stick figure renderings, kind of eerie.
>>
>> Pipeline:  sensor data (excel) --> python --> povray --> frame-joiner -->
>> movie
>>
>> https://youtu.be/38iz0-dopSg
>> https://youtu.be/3WehC6LxZe8
>>
>> This requires knowing enough scene description language to have Python
>> write out coherent scripts, frame after frame, to the rendering engine
>> (free open source povray).
>>
>> Lots of coordinate system practice, with movie-making an end result.
>>
>> I'd like students to have access to Civilization type games but with full
>> planets rendered as hexapents.  No need to code it from scratch unless they
>> pay you.  At some point, you need to say "hey, even adults aren't working
>> this hard for nothing".
>>
>> Calendar time including timezones and daylight savings definitely core
>> curriculum, no question, glad we have datetime tools.
>>
>> Again, back to the end of the calculator era, they suck at calendar
>> datetime, and besides, the API of a bazzillion little buttons sucks.
>>
>> Kirby
>>
>> https://mybizmo.blogspot.com/2006/04/more-first-person-physics.html
>> (First Person Physics, University of Nebraska)
>> https://youtu.be/sguOvRlHjn0 (more hypertoons)
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Jun 23, 2019 at 12:04 PM Wes Turner <wes.turner at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Another plotting exercise: MathClock / MathCircle
>>>
>>> With X, Y coordinates,
>>> - Draw a circle
>>> - Draw a circle around the origin
>>> - Label degrees (360; Babylonian base 12)
>>> - Label fractional radians
>>> - Label 12 hours
>>> - Label the 60 minutes
>>> - Draw clock hands
>>>
>>> And then do the same with radial coordinates
>>>
>>> ... Number representations: change of base; Columns in e.g.
>>> Pandas; Trigonometry: Sin, Cos
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
>
> ccosse.github.io
>
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