Tag Archives: Web Sketchpad

A Geometric Interpretation of Euler’s Identity

While most numbers lead anonymous lives away from the mathematical spotlight, eiπ  occupies hallowed ground. Douglas Hofstadter writes that when he first saw the statement eiπ = −1, “. . . perhaps at age 12 or so, it seemed truly magical, almost other-worldly.”

At the risk of deflating the celebrity status of … Continue Reading ››

A Bevy of Rhombus Constructions

In how many ways can you use dynamic geometry software to build a rhombus that stays a rhombus when its vertices are dragged? This challenge, a mainstay of Sketchpad workshops, invariably leads to great discussions because there are a multitude of ways to construct a rhombus, with each method highlighting different mathematical properties … Continue Reading ››