Eldest and a moth (Io moth?)
No that wasn't our 'lecture' subjects today but it was on the menu for the homeschool activity group that we participate in. We started off at a butterfly show which was packed with school tours and suffocating compared to the cool fall air outside. Despite the winged beauties most of us quickly retreated to the second part of our tour which was exploring the work of a family member of the group - a prof of math.
That was way fun! Eldest (and the rest of the group) sat rivetted as he wrote some fancy looking differential equations on the board. She sat forward and said to the mums sitting next to her, "I can't read that." Neither could I. In fact, prof claims few can. Anyhoo, after introducing what he did as a lecturer, he started cutting loops of paper. Now that was fun.
A single loop cut along one side creates: 2 loops
A twisted loop or mobius strip creates: one big loop.
A double twisted loop where two sides are once again obvious creates: 2 joined loops.
and so on...
This is seriously fun so here's a link to explore further. http://www.metacafe.com/watch/331665/no_magic_at_all_mobius_strip/
Afterward, he asked the kids who liked art and math and all the rest which prompted a range of questions being throw at him like "How does the sun make light" and "How was the Earth formed." Poor math prof. We had to hush the children.
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