Mathematics Videos

THIS IS THE BEST EXPLANATION FOR PYTHAGORAS THEOREMAuthor: lalit_warkde Tags: MATHEMATICS Posted: 07 November 2009 Rating: 0.0 Votes: 0

The winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine included two women. It's a sign of growing success for female scientists. But the National Science Foundation reports that women still make up only 33 percent of all people in science. That's especially true in the hard disciplines, such as the study of radioactive elements.

Ever wondered whether it is scientifically possible to become a superhero? In a new series of podcasts, Dr Christopher Pettigrew (aka Dr Boob*) and I are going to tackle this question. Chris is a post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Biochemistry in University College Cork, and in these podcast episodes - which we will publish more than a few times a year - we will uncover whether it is possible now to possess the powers of superheroes, and if we can't, whether in the near future we could engineer ourselves to become superheroes. The first superhero we are tackling is Mystique from X-Men. X-men get their powers from an "X gene" that normal humans do not possess, and Mystique is a shapeshifter who naturally looks blue. Actress Rebecca Romijn portrayed Mystique in the X-Men films - I know I clearly remember the blue body-paint... Mystique has a number of powers including: The ability to change skin colour; The ability to shape-shift - that is, change form; She can impersonate other voices; She can rapidly grow her hair. Within nature, chameleons are able to change their skin colour to match their environment. There are also technologies under current development, such as metamaterials, that can be used to make something look invisible. Through a combination of genetic manipulation to activate melanocytes (and possibly chromatophores), and the use of surface coatings, it is not unforeseeable that we could develop human chameleons. The difficulty here lies in whether we can make a skin colour change a conscious decision - how can you wire up the body such that skin colour responds your thoughts? The challenge of being able to impersonate another person's voice should be easy enough to conquer in the near future through a combination of electronics and simple mimicry. It is also possible to foresee rapid hair growth - this could be accomplished by rapid protein synthesis, such as in spider webs. The biggest difficulty comes with the shape-shifting - how can one change their 3D shape? Tune in to the podcast here (or press play below) to discover what scientific techniques we came up with to tackle the problem of scientifically engineering Mystique: A few extra notes to explain some of the random comments in the show: Iva Davies is the front man of Australian band Icehouse; Shane Warne, Greg Matthews and Graham Gooch are all cricketers who advertised the hair-loss company Advanced Hair; Let us know your thoughts on how we could scientifically engineer Mystique. We rated this a 7.5 out of 10 possibly for the next 200 years - if someone really wanted to, notwithstanding the ethical concerns along the way. Also let us know which superheroes you would be interested in us tackling. * From here on in, Chris will be referred to as Dr Boob - this nickname stems from the fact that Chris's PhD and some of his post-doctoral has been into the study of breast cancer - yes, someone who is actually changing the world!

Take a look at examples of exponential functions, such as Compound Interest and Nuclear Radiation. Find out how a growing bank account and radioactive decay deal with exponential functions. Did you know that exponential functions never equal zero?

In this mathematical video learn all about inequalities on a number line.

There are other roots we need to learn besides square roots.

Learn how to use a Tree Diagram to find the prime numbers of a composite number. Click for details.

A comprehensive review of important, basic geometry concepts. Lines, points, angles, planes, space, proofs, and more!

Geometry basics-- let's start thinking about thinking. Did you know that most of what we study in geometry today is called Euclidean geometry? Let's start studying the relationships between shapes and its relationships... "visually."

Learn about the standard form of polynomials-- important, general concepts and terms to understand. Here's a fun, out-of-this-world review.

Shortcuts! Shortcuts! Two helpful shortcuts on how to factor quadratic equations. Save trial-and-error testing time on tests.

As quadratic equations are the product of two binomial factors, learn how to reverse the FOIL process and find the real root.

Why are Quadratic equations called so if their degree level is two? Doesn't quad mean four??

Learn about linear equations and slope, and how to put all these into a slope intercept form!

Check out this real-life example of how algebraic functions work, including how to do a vertical line test!

A little history on the puzzling universal arithmetic that replaces numbers with letters.

Let's learn to find X in different equations and in some examples.

Brains!, Sight For the Blind, Whiskers On Robots, Death To Mosquitos!, Musical Brains, Regenerating Nerves, What s Up With The Bees?, The Best Dino Ever, and Interview w/ Dr. Bill Schutt re: Sanguivores.