X, Y, Z
One of the many pleasures of having kids is helping with their homework. I truly enjoy helping them with their math homework. It is amazing how much you remember from that long ago and what is more wonderful is that you realize how much you struggled at that age and how simple it is now. It all makes sense now, but I have the greater perspective on life and my homework is no longer being graded.
Last year I had a serious bout with Cartesian coordinates or for those of you who have been out of school for a while, graphing. Taking those pairs of numbers and making the designs in two dimensions or getting the equation for a line and plotting on the graph paper. I really enjoy the wonder of my children as the light goes on and they start putting the lines on the paper. It makes me realize how much of the math I actually use in my day to day routine. Now I don’t sit in my office and make graphs for fun but I recognize that I use parts of the long forgotten math to make my life easier. Remember those fun story problems? Well if you budget to pay your bills, you have the never ending story problem.
I really wanted to talk about the origin of Cartesian coordinates. They were introduced in 1637 by the French philosopher, Rene Descartes, hence the name. Descartes is primarily remembered as a philosopher but he was also a physicist and a mathematician. His philosophical direction was that the only thing we could be certain of was doubting. This led him to write the famous phrase “Cogito ergo sum” (I know Latin again), which translates to “I think, therefore I am.”
Well now that I am older and actually understand how to do all of those homework assignments, I can say I think, therefore I understand.
Icool
Cobb
Last year I had a serious bout with Cartesian coordinates or for those of you who have been out of school for a while, graphing. Taking those pairs of numbers and making the designs in two dimensions or getting the equation for a line and plotting on the graph paper. I really enjoy the wonder of my children as the light goes on and they start putting the lines on the paper. It makes me realize how much of the math I actually use in my day to day routine. Now I don’t sit in my office and make graphs for fun but I recognize that I use parts of the long forgotten math to make my life easier. Remember those fun story problems? Well if you budget to pay your bills, you have the never ending story problem.
I really wanted to talk about the origin of Cartesian coordinates. They were introduced in 1637 by the French philosopher, Rene Descartes, hence the name. Descartes is primarily remembered as a philosopher but he was also a physicist and a mathematician. His philosophical direction was that the only thing we could be certain of was doubting. This led him to write the famous phrase “Cogito ergo sum” (I know Latin again), which translates to “I think, therefore I am.”
Well now that I am older and actually understand how to do all of those homework assignments, I can say I think, therefore I understand.
Icool
Cobb
posted by Cobb at
7:19 AM
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