HAVE FUN WITH MATHEMATICS
Who needs expensive math coaching? Savio
D’Souza & Ashutosh Desai tell you about some fantastic free resources that
will not only help with high school and college mathematics, but will also
cultivate an appreciation of the subject in you
Everything we know can be communicated with
the help of numbers; our computers and smartphones bear witness to this fact.
Indeed, if intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe, math will be the
language in which humans will be able to “speak” with them. But besides
functionality, there is beauty in numbers too. You will find it in
entertainment and art; author Dan Brown made extensive use of the Golden Ratio
in his bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code. Musicians manipulate numbers to
create complex time signatures for their compositions, and Tool—a progressive
rock band—has even used the Fibonacci series in their song Lateralus.
Sadly, the way math is taught in school forces
children to memorise formulas instead of discovering the beauty in them.
Thankfully, there are many resources on the internet that will not only help
you discover the beauty in maths but will also help kids in understanding the
subject better.
MATHGAMES.COM
Kids learn better when they are having fun. To
this end, Math Games is packed with games and printable worksheets that make
numbers exciting. Imagine learning algebra while rescuing animals and
destroying zombies, or testing your ninja skills in geometry, measurements and
ratios.
The learning material here is graded from
kindergarten to the eighth standard, and educationists can create custom
assignments that assess or review math skills in arithmetical operations,
algebra, fractions, estimations, decimals and statistics.
The worksheets on this site can be downloaded
and printed, or completed online. The best part? Math Games is completely free.
MATHANTICS.COM
I n 2008, two friends, Rob and Jeremy, began
dabbling in math video production. At the time, Jeremy was involved with
homeschooling his children and was having trouble finding math resources that
were simple, effective and engaging. He and Rob therefore developed animated
tutorial videos that would bring math “to life” for school-going kids.
Today, Math Antics boasts of one-million subscribers,
and has more than 70 free videos in topics like numeracy, arithmetic,
algorithms, fractions, mixed numbers, percentages, ratios and proportions,
geometry, statistics, measurements, integers, exponents and algebra.
For a small fee, at the end of each video
tutorial, students also get access to downloadable exercises and worksheets,
along with their answers.
COOLMATH.COM
P eople either love math or they detest it.
The wonderful thing about Cool Math is that it caters to both types. This
website, in existence since 1997, is packed with mathematical lessons for folk
of all ages, 13 onwards. Need help with high school homework? No problem. Here,
you can brush up on factors and primes, decimals, function and even calculus.
Children under 12 can be introduced to math
via Coolmath4Kids, which packs in games, math operations, math puzzles and
brainteasers. And finally, there’s CoolMathGames that’s filled with activities,
where logic meets fun and games to make kids forget they’re actually getting a
mental workout.
MATHIGON.ORG
In school, kids are expected to memorise
formulas and then apply them to solve homework questions. Mathigon hopes to
change that by encouraging students to explore the subject. Its content is
split into many small sections, and students have to actively participate at
every step—by solving problems, exploring simulations, finding patterns and
drawing conclusions—before the next one is revealed.
The exercises are packed with illustrations,
reallife applications, puzzles, historic context, and even fictional stories.
As students solve problems, Mathigon builds up
a model of how well they have grasped concepts, and this data is used to
personalise the lessons. A virtual tutor provides step-by-step guidance and
students can even ask questions.
Mathigon is intended to be used by students
who are struggling with math and need additional help; also those who want to
go beyond what they learn at school.
MATHPORTAL.ORG
This resource is home to online calculators,
formulas, math lessons and tests for school and college-going students.
Here you will find more than 70 online math
calculators in subjects such as polynomials, quadratic equations, calculus,
geometry, statistics, trigonometry and more. These are designed to perform
exact computations and even generate a step-by-step explanation at the click of
a button.
Students will also find a list of downloadable
formulas that are especially useful as a ready reckoner to brush up on math
concepts just before a test.
Lessons includes 65 modules in algebra,
calculus, analytic geometry and linear algebra along with examples and solved
problems in every lesson.
And finally, students can even test their
knowledge by attempting over 1300 questions in more than 30 categories. These
encourage the student to use logic and understand the matter. After a test is
completed, it is auto-graded and students will be able to see which questions
were answered correctly and which they got wrong along with correct answers.
QUICKMATH.COM
I f you are a high-school student, and need
help with algebra, or just need to brush up on basic concepts in the subject,
head to Quick Math. Here, you can simply type an expression, hit a button and
get the answer right there on your screen.
Its algebra section allows you to expand,
factor or simplify expressions; the calculus section will carry out
differentiation as well as definite and indefinite integration; the matrices
section contains commands for the arithmetic manipulation of matrices; the
graphs section contains commands for plotting equations, and its numbers
section has a percentages command for explaining the most common types of
percentage problems.
For all these mathematical operations, Quick
Math gives you step-by-step solutions along with context-sensitive explanation
for each step.
M4MATHS.COM
This website is designed for software
engineers who want to ace interview tests in companies such as Infosys,
Accenture, TCS, IBM, etc. M4Maths even has material that will help folk prepare
for placement exams, interviews, CAT entrance, or to brush up on
problem-solving skills. This website is packed with user-posted questions that
they were asked at interviews, and you can even read up topics that were used
in group discussions.
But it finds a mention in this list because it
has an active community that’s dedicated to solving interesting math problems.
The resource posts daily math puzzles, and it even has a section dedicated to
math tricks and shortcuts.
NUMBERPHILE.COM
Numbers hold many beautiful secrets and the
best way to discover these is with the help of mathematicians. Numberphile is
packed with entertaining videos and podcasts that deep dive into seemingly
complex subjects to make them extremely simple to understand.
Here, for instance, you will find hyperbolic
helicoids explained to you by a girl who has it tattooed on her back. Then,
there is the entire video on why 42 has been stumping scientists for over 60
years; there are videos on ‘666’ the number of the beast, the value of Pi
proved with the help of real pies, the best (and worst) ways to shuffle cards,
the mathematical way to choose a toilet stall, and much more.
So, if you’re keen on understanding theorems,
proofs, and even blowing your mind with groundbreaking math concepts, this is
the place to go.
APPS FOR ANDROID AND IOS
This reference app
for school and college students (called Maths Formulas Lite on the Apple App
Store) is packed with equations from algebra, geometry, matrices, trigonometry,
statistics, derivatives and integration.
You can browse
these topics from a side bar menu or use the search function to locate an
equation quickly. Long press on an equation and you can bookmark a formula and
share it with friends.
You also get a
unit converter for calculating length, area, volume, speed and temperature.
A “Tools” section lets you
solve geometric and algebraic equations to compute area, volume and root values
as well. MFF also lets you add new tools to solve custom calculations in a
jiffy.
Microsoft
Math Solver
Microsoft Math Solver, like QuickMath, uses AI to solve
arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry, calculus and statistics problems. It even
gives you a step-by-step explanation of the solution, along with graphs,
wherever applicable.
Just click a picture of the equation; the app uses OCR to
convert the picture into text, and solve it in a matter of seconds. You can
even switch to the Draw mode to scribble the problem on the screen; MMS will
convert your scrawl to numbers and letters, which you can edit later. A Type
mode also lets you enter the problem with a scientific calculator interface
that contains log, derivative, integral and limit functions.
In case MMS is unable to find a solution, it will display web
searches related to the question.
Source | Times of India |18th
January 2020
Regards!
Librarian
Rizvi Institute of Management
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