Math Wonderland is a museum of interactive mathematical models in Hokkaido, Japan, founded by one of the authors, Jin Akiyama, in 2003. The models in Wonderland, many of which have been exhibited all over Japan and in cities around the world, are meant to help children and young adults discover and experience the wonders of mathematics. This book is centered around the experiences of three fictional middle-school students during a visit to Wonderland. They spend a day in Wonderland, handling the interactive models and participating in the activities offered there. At the end of the day, they leave with a genuine appreciation of mathematics gained from witnessing its beauty, applicability and inevitability.This book is an important contribution to the genre because it presents mathematics and models that have never before appeared in books in the same category: reversible solids, plane tiling with developments of tetrahedrons, and double-packable solids, which are derived from the authors' own research papers published in mathematics journals. It is designed to entertain, inform and even teach some mathematics. Although it is targeted at young adults, parents and teachers may learn something from the book as well.
Author(s): Jin Akiyama, Mari-Jo Ruiz
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company
Year: 2008
Language: English
Pages: 233
Math is Fun?......Page 6
Math Wonderland......Page 11
Fat Triangles & Flattened Bagels......Page 12
Curves of Constant Width......Page 16
Construction of a Reuleaux Triangle......Page 19
Construction of Other Curves of Constant Width......Page 20
Square Hole......Page 23
Hexagonal Hole......Page 24
Epitrochoid......Page 27
Cool Curves......Page 32
Tautochrone Property......Page 38
Clothoid......Page 45
A Roomful of Right Triangles......Page 48
Pythagoras Room......Page 50
All is number......Page 51
Pythagorean Theorem......Page 53
Math in Music......Page 64
This way to the Music Room......Page 65
Musical Staircase......Page 67
Pachinko Math......Page 78
Gcf-Lcm Machine......Page 86
Baumkuchen Spaghetti & Watermelon......Page 94
Area of a Circle......Page 96
Surface of a Sphere......Page 100
Volume of a Sphere......Page 101
Automat(h)......Page 106
Automat(h)......Page 108
A Slice of a Cone......Page 124
Conic Sections......Page 126
Conic Sections......Page 127
Reflective Property......Page 132
Reflective Property......Page 134
Reflective Property......Page 144
Paper Twists......Page 146
Fold & Cut......Page 162
Jigsaws From Tetrahedrons......Page 176
Ichiro's robots......Page 188
Single & Double Duty Solids......Page 190
Tiling the Plane with Edge-Developments of a Cube......Page 198
These three pieces can be assembled to form a cube......Page 201
Reversible Solids......Page 208
