Daniel Bernoulli and law of hydrodynamic pressure: reaction

Although Bernoulli's father had been the one to introduce him to mathematics, his father would later be the reason why he would give up on mathematics. Daniel Bernoulli idolized Isaac Newton. He wished to be the Isaac Newton of his time period, but his father had robbed him of his dream to find the fluid-flow equation. Bernoulli studied blood flow and arteries. He also used research from other scientists, such as Williams Harvey and based his equation off of Leonardo's Law of Continuity. I find it interesting that he idolized Newton and used Newton's ideas, but his father tried to go against Newton's ideas. Bernoulli's father had always been the one to challenge bernoulli and teach him anything he knew about mathematics. His father's book, Hydraulics, was published before Bernoulli, so he never got the chance to take credit for his equation and ideas.

Isaac Newton and the Universal Law of Gravity - Shaiona

Newton appears to be very religious by his constant references to the bible. I believe that Newton felt that he had to prove how intelligent he was and also craved his mother's pride. He attempted to prove how smart he was and challenged those who brlieved that they were smarter than him. Isaac Newton's law of gravity began when he questioned what made apples fall straight down to the Earth's surface. I find it interesting that he believed that there were two realms; the earthly and the heavenly, that he tried to find the relationship between the two. Newton believed that there was a force that pulled the moon away from the Earth and the Earth's pull balanced out to create the gravitational force. I still wonder what made Newton think about the Earth and space being a force of nature as a whole. What makes these mathematicians think about what makes things in nature occur. I cannot believe that this whole idea began with just an apple falling off of a tree =]

Welcome 2011-2012 AP Chemistry Students!!

I am so looking forward to your comments about this most interesting book (which I am of course going to reread and comment on myself!) This is all about making math and science come alive through the lives of those who forged the way. I find all of this historical information so interesting! More...later....after finals and grades. Dr. D

5 Geeks Who Changed the World

Of course they were not called "geeks" in their time, but the 17th and 18th centuries were amazing times in mathematics and science.  As you read, you will meet each of the scientists first in adolescence (the author's hook) and then learn about their education and accomplishments.  Skip around in the book if you wish to get your bearings or choose one character to read about in detail first.

Consider this--several of the math/sci geniuses knew and communicated with each other...in LATIN--the only language they had in common!  And you thought Career's Latin requirement was just a quaint throwback to classical learning.

Welcome summer 2011 AP students!

This is the Career High AP Math and Science blog--formerly known as the "AP Calculus blog" started in 2010 by Mr. Wight.  For 2011, the math and science departments have teamed to provide the summer reading of the book "5 Equations that Changed the World".

Students are invited to post  comments on this blog as they read the book and respond to comments by others.  Anyone may read this blog, but posting comments is restricted to registered participants (Career AP students and others approved by the blogczar, Mr. Wight).  If you wish to post, you must contact Mr. Wight at his school email address and request that your name be added to the list.

For now, the 2010 posts remain on the blog.  If this becomes too cumbersome, I will delete them.

I am neither a prolific nor proficient blogger,  but I am curious about the possibilities of a group conversation about our book and the AP year ahead.

I look forward to your postings.

To help students grasp key concepts in Calculus and Algebra, I have been using brief writing assignments with prompts. I want students to use the formal vocabulary we have been learning, but I also want them to correctly express concepts, operations or definitions in terms that they can remember and use. There are often 3 or 4 different ways to express the same concept (in calculus such as, slope, rate of change, tangent to a curve, derivative). Linguistic understanding of the connections is essential for being able to solve a variety of problems. Vertical teaming flows naturally from this since we introduce math concepts in one way (usually "slope") in Algebra I and advance through the courses introducing additional terms. We like to say that Calculus is "Algebra on steroids"--a sweeping together and upward of lots of earlier learning--vocabulary from earlier courses takes on new meaning but never goes away!

See you in class Thursday!

To all my Calc bloggers-- I am so impressed with the thoughts and ideas you are sharing on this site about the 5 equations book. This is the first time I have tried blog communication and I think those of you who succeeded in posting your reactions to the book demonstrate powerfully the value of this exercise. I look forward to the start of our class and to the other projects you created this summer. We can discuss whether a continuation of this blog would be helpful during the school year. See you all soon.