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Beauty and Mathematics is the perfect answer to the question "What do mathematicians do?" Inside, Dr. Wang will show you and your students - through humor, riddles, and concrete demonstrations - a higher purpose of mathematicians: To seek and find structure and order in apparent chaos and disorder.
Again and again in Beauty and Mathematics, Dr. Wang reveals the power that mathematics has to find beauty and pattern. Did you know that in a group of only 23 people, two are likely to share a birthday? Dr. Wang demonstrates and then explains the mathematics behind it. See Dr. Wang approximate pi from the randomly shouted numbers of his audience members. Watch as he bravely risks life and limb in a "death-defying" feat of computational skills! Dr. Wang's demonstrations and the subsequent explanations entertain while they teach.
Teachers, Let Dr. Wang put the fun back into mathematics through his fascinating demonstrations. Or watch the DVD yourself and wow your students with your own demonstrations of how mathematicians can find in virtually every situation some sense of structure and order!
Beauty and Mathematics (DVDs + CD containing classroom activities and handouts) .......... $49.95
Order by phone: 1-866-DOC-WANG
Or print and fill out our Order Form to order ...
By fax: (413) 638-2574
By mail: Wang Education
5237 Sky Lake Dr.
Plano, TX 75093
Free Samples from the Beauty and Mathematics Classroom Kit!
"The Birthday Paradox"
The Birthday Paradox refers to the phenomenon that in a group of just 23 people, there is a greater than 50%
chance that two of the people share a birthday.
Dr. Wang tests this remarkable fact on a live audience of teachers in the following free sample video from the
Beauty and Mathematics DVD:
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The 3-part handout, one of many included in the Beauty and Mathematics Classroom Kit, leads students gently through the mathematics necessary to understand why this remarkable fact is true. Along the way, students learn the fundamental concepts of probability and chance.
Download the "Birthday Paradox" Handout
Accompanying each section of the handout is a worksheet that reinforces the concepts covered in the handout. In Section C, students actually work through a series of carefully constructed questions so that, in the end, they will have gone through the necessary mathematical steps in proving the "Birthday Paradox" true.
Download the "Birthday Paradox" Worksheet A
Download the "Birthday Paradox" Worksheet B
Download the "Birthday Paradox" Worksheet C
Complete solutions accompany each handout/worksheet set.
Download the "Birthday Paradox" Solutions
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Prerequisites: an inquisitive mind and a knowledge of seventh grade mathematics.
Other handouts and worksheets in the Beauty and Mathematics Classroom Kit cover such topics as:
- Using permutations to count the number of possible configurations of the Rubik's cube
- Applying the Pigeonhole Principle to prove that there are two people in New York City with the exact same number of hairs on their heads
- Calculating the greatest common factor of two numbers without factorizing the numbers
- Using the process of "Casting Out Nines" to perform feats of mathemagics
... and more!
Sample Video:
"The Death-Defying Feat"
Dr. Wang tells his audience, "The reason I call it a death-defying feat is that if it doesn't work then you all will be really
disappointed and start throwing things at me. I would then be performing a death-inducing feat."
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In this clip, at the risk of life and limb, Dr. Wang bravely asks a student to give him a 5-digit number and multiply it by another 5-digit number to get a 10-digit answer. However, when reporting the numbers to Dr. Wang, the volunteer scrambles up the digits of each of the three numbers and removes one of the digits from the 10-digit answer. Dr. Wang proceeds to determine the digit that has been removed.
Buy the Beauty and Mathematics DVD today to learn not only how to perform this and other feats but also the theory behind why they work.