Like father, like son

We have been taking Luke to speech therapy, where he gets to play all sorts of fun games while learning to speak more clearly---he doesn't even seem to notice that he is learning something. The therapist has a small plastic tote filled to the brim with wind-up toys: airplanes, cars, flipping ladybugs... The other day Luke was playing with the toys and he started winding one up and watching the wheels on the bottom turn. The toy (a submarine driven by a fox) would go forward and then turn suddenly. Luke explained to me how it changed direction and then he asked the therapist, "Open it, please!" She was confused (part of the reason Luke is hard to understand sometimes is that he says such unexpected things) but he finally made her understand that what he really wanted was to look inside and see how the whole thing was put together. He actually tried to get it apart, before she distracted him with something else.

Better hide our screwdrivers, I think. =)

Comments

Why you should study the history of math

Why you should study the history of math In the mid 1300s a fad made its way around Italy. Mathematicians would challenge each other to “mathematical duels”. They would post problems for their opponents to solve, sometimes along with their solutions in coded poetry. The winners would get support and funding from rich patrons, the losers would descend into obscurity. One such contest, between Fiore and Tartaglia, involved a new method for solving the cubic. In order to win, Tartaglia worked day and night to find Fiore’s method---unfortunately, Fiore did not do the same and only knew his own method and no others. (*Recall that the formula for solutions to quadratic equations of the form use the quadratic formula, Giorlamo Cardano---physician, philosopher, astrologer and mathematician---convinced Tartaglia to share his method and promised never to reveal it. Then Cardano figured out a more general method, and wanted to share it, but was blocked by his promises. Fortunately (for Cardan

Southern butter mints---vegan edition

After the last post, we started to be able to see what the fuss was about. The ones made with twice the butter were the best candy I have ever tasted. Ever. So then we started experimenting. How long do you pull it? Longer than you think. And then pull a minute or two after that. Suddenly every single batch was creaming, pretty much right after we would cut them. I tried adding less than double butter and I think they taste much better (more delicate, according to one taste tester). The latest experiment we did involved using Earth Balance instead of butter. It cooked pretty much the same as usual, although I was distracted right at the moment I had to pull it off the stove so it cooked maybe a bit longer than usual. Amanda and I each pulled a quarter, while Luke pulled the bigger half. Luke's really wasn't turning very fast---perhaps because it was too hot when he took it off the marble. Mine was turning faster than Amanda's so we traded for a while. Aman

Southern Butter Mints part 1

Some friends of ours have a granddaughter getting married (and she's a friend of ours as well) and so I agreed to help out with the shower. Apparently this is to be a "southern" shower, full of tradition and elegance, but not too far over the top. Among things that are needed for a shower are punch with great grandma's punch bowl, sandwiches with cream cheese and green pepper jelly, and southern pulled butter mints. "Ah, nobody can make those anymore. We used to know someone, but the tradition needs to be passed down." Like a fool, I said that I'd be happy to give it a try. I suffer greatly from "I got a PhD in math, how hard could X be?" where X is something like gardening, or quilting, or cleaning, etc. It's always harder than I think it will be. "We'll call Mrs. X who makes these, maybe she'll pass down the method. I hope you don't hate me!" I was actually planning on doing research online, watching a fe

mathmom's blog

Search This Blog