by Jason Marshall Sometimes statistics* seems magical. Of course, there isnt really anything magical going onbut the fact that statistical methods can be used to pull useful information out of a hatful of messy data is, at a minimum, remarkable. And,...
by Jason Marshall A few months ago we talked about how to multiply fractions. Now that were comfortable doing this and weve talked about a few applications of multiplying fractions such as how to convert units and how to estimate how fast someone is...
by Jason Marshall A few weeks ago, we began talking about the meaning of prefixes in math. In particular, we talked about the prefixes used in the metric system to represent lengths smaller than one meter. Today, were going to continue this topic by...
by Jason Marshall We use a lot of math words in our day-to-day lives without really understanding what they mean or where they come from. For example, prefixes like mega, giga, and tera that we use to describe computer hard drive sizes (think megabyt...
by Jason Marshall A few weeks ago I had a Twitter conversation with the former host of QDTs Modern Manners Guy, Trent Armstrong, in which Trent said something along the lines of: I've always wondered how to tell how fast a football player is going ba...
by Jason Marshall In the last article, we began discussing how to convert from one system of units to anotherfor example from miles to kilometersand how all of this relates to the multiplicative identity. But we didnt quite have enough time to get to...
by Jason Marshall In the last two articles weve talked about the meaning of multiplication and how to use this meaning to make multiplying fractions easier. Today, were going to put everything weve learned about multiplication to good use by learning...
by Jason Marshall In the last article, Is Multiplication Repeated Addition? we talked about what it really means to multiply two numbers. We found that the conventional meaning of multiplicationrepeated additionbreaks down when multiplying fractions,...
by Jason Marshall In past articles weve talked at length about three of the big four traditional processes used in basic arithmetic: addition (see also How to Add Quickly), subtraction, and division. However, for one reason or another, we havent yet...
by Jason Marshall In the first secret-agent math article, How to Use Math to Send Encrypted Messages, we learned how to decrypt messages secured with absolutely unbreakable encryption using nothing more than simple integer arithmetic. It was all grea...
by Jason Marshall The last article about how to use math to send encrypted messages ended with a bit of a cliffhanger. The good news is that you will soon find out how the story ends. But, as I warned last time, the bad news is that that isnt going t...
by Jason Marshall Would you believe its possible to send someone a secret message secured with absolutely unbreakable encryption using only a bit of simple arithmetic? Well, it isthe solution is surprisingly simple and was used by British, German, an...
by Jason Marshall Theres been a lot of talk about 2D versus 3D in the television and movie industries lately. But what exactly does one, two, and three-dimensionality really meanboth in the everyday world and in math? Well, prepare to have your curio...
by Jason Marshall In todays article, were wrapping-up our introductory series on fundamental statistics by talking about how knowledge of statistical quantities like the mean and standard deviation can help you understand the significance of the late...
by Jason Marshall In recent articles, weve talked about two methods of calculating average values, the mean and the median, and weve talked about some everyday uses for them such as how to use median averaging to get better photos. But thats not all...
