The Computational Contortionist

Rendering complex objects realistically requires a whole new kind of geometry. Here is a link to an interesting science (and mathematics) site. Popsci

Halloween Humour

Q. What do you get if you divide the circumference of a jack-o-lantern by its diameter?

A. Pumpkin pie.

Happy Halloween. Joke courtesy of @MarcusduSautoy

This is incredibly funny if you remember that C = pi x D so, pi = C / D

Scalextric Modelling

What size that barrel?

A standard oil barrel is defined as 42 US gallons. This equates to 231 cubic inches.

Given that 1 inch = 0.0254 m this implies that a barrel is 0.159 cubic metres.

A standard oil barrel is approximately 0.9 m high, what is the circumference?

Scalextric models are made to a scale of 1:32.

In the picture the oil barrels are actually 26mm tall, assuming the barrels are in proportion what is the scale of the barrels? If the barrels were to a true scale of 1:32 what would be their dimensions?

Exploding People

Still on the subject of exploding people watch the following clip and then try to solve the problems.

Assuming the man weighs 12 stone and that the average density of a human being is 1.4 g/cm cubed what is his volume?

If the man was broken into pieces approximately 2cm by 2cm by 2cm (approx. 1 inch cubes) how many pieces would the FBI agents have to pick up?

Estimate the weight of the ear that Walter Bishop holds up in the video.

Properties of Polygons

There are two new "Homework" tasks set up on MyMaths. You need to complete these to the normal standard i.e. keep doing them until you get a Green Smiley Face.

If you struggle you will need to do the associated lesson.

Your individual MyMaths passwords are on the DLG.