You know when you were little and you got sick on your birthday? It’s not quite the same thing, but I was down and out yesterday — on Pi Day! (I didn’t even get to wear my “cool” Pi sweatshirt.)
Histograms: Illustrations of variance
In our interview on Monday, professional photographer Sally Wiener Grotta talked about using histograms to help determine the exposure she needs to best reflect her subject in a photograph. If you took any statistics in high school or college — or have
Cubism: Deconstructing geometry in art
When my brother Graham was in kindergarten, he learned a little bit about Pablo Picasso. And so my mother decided to take the whole family to a touring Picasso exhibit at the Smithsonian, which featured five or so of his paintings, including some of
Drawing the Human Figure: Relative proportions
My middle school daughter aspires to be a fashion designer, and so she’s been concentrating lately on learning to draw female human figures. Last Friday, she came home from school and immediately logged on to the internet in search of
Composing a Painting: The Rule of Thirds
In my interview with painter, Samantha Hand, she mentioned something called the Rule of Thirds. I’ve heard of this, but I honestly had no idea what it was about. Turns out the Rule of Thirds isn’t really about thirds, per se. Instead
Fibonacci: When art imitates nature
On Monday, I introduced you to Elizabeth Perkins, an up-and-coming glass artist in Seattle. (She also happens to be one of my former students, but that is mere coincidence. I take no credit whatsoever for her success and talent.) In her
Welcome to February: Warm up with art
Last night, my family and I had a real treat. In the midst of an impossibly busy week, we took time out to sit in a darkened theatre and be transported to another land and another time. As the lights
Watch Your Language (And Your T-Shirts)
Earlier this year, Forever 21 and J.C. Penny had problems with moms and teen girls, when they retailed their own versions of math-as-gender-warfare–t-shirts that read: Allergic to Algebra and I’m Too Pretty for Homework, So My Brother Does It for Me. Within days,
What to Do When the Math Gets Tough
Today, I’m guest posting at Math Boot Camps, a blog designed for high school and college students who are taking upper-level math classes. Take a look! Everyone who has studied math has felt overwhelmed, confused, and downright frustrated at one time
Film Friday: Nature by Numbers
In her quest to convince me that math is a stupid subject, my daughter started playing a little game with me last year. She really thought she could come up with something that doesn’t have to do with math. For a couple
Allergic to Algebra? Use these resources
One of the complaints I’ve heard about Math for Grownupsis that it only covers basic math. And I’m not apologetic about that. The whole point of the book is to make basic math a little less mysterious and a little more
Film Friday: Tessellations
Raise your hand if you’ve heard of M.C. Escher. Now raise your hand if you know what tessellations are. Surprise! If you know of M.S. Escher’s work, you are also familiar with tessellations — even if you don’t recognize the term.