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Hexaflexagons [video] (2012)

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Re: Hexaflexagons [video] (2012)

#51

Post by lmm »

miffy900 wrote: post #49
lmm wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nowadays, microfiche is gone, the public library is unfortunately not in most kids vernacular, and the attention span that would be required to enjoy doing the math I did has been hijacked. (TikTok !== figure-out-flexagon) The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.

Weird you would re-surface that quote in response to that, since I don't think a reasonable person would interpret it as a criticism of younger generations, but of the changing times we now live in. No one ever starts at a public library to study a particular topic, you almost always go to an internet resource first [usually Google]. And TikTok/the internet generally, has hijacked attention spans, but not just of chi…

The comment I replied to explicitly talks about "kids" not knowing about the public library.

Re: Hexaflexagons [video] (2012)

#52

Post by mulmen »

sam_goody wrote: post #11

I saw a reference to Martin Gardner's article when I was in, maybe, 9th grade. So I went to the main branch of the NY public library ("reading between the lions") and looked up the article on microfiche. It was fascinating and fun - from how to make a row of equilateral triangles with nothing more than a ruler, pen and paper. Many, many hours were spent on the various flexagon derivatives. Years later, I made a JS pa…

Careful that you do not become the old man yelling at clouds.

TikTok is visible. Kids teaching themselves math isn’t. That doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.

The kids are alright.

Re: Hexaflexagons [video] (2012)

#53

Post by AndrianV »

I don't know why I had this image in my head, but I pictured Stone, Tuckerman, and Feynmann as being around the same age when this took place. Imagine how disheartened I was to learn that they were 23 years old, 24 years old, and 21 years old correspondingly.

Re: Hexaflexagons [video] (2012)

#54

Post by wikfwikf »

sam_goody wrote: post #22
O__________O wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TikTok has a lot of creative content on flexagons: https://www.tiktok.com/tag/flexagon It’s also not intended for long-form content, which is fine. If someone is super interested in the topic, related math, etc — easy to find information elsewhere using search engine and the short videos are much more likely to get someone’s attention.

Oh sure, the internet has a lot more related info readily available than was ever possible by using microfiche. And my phone can keep track of more more phone numbers than I was ever able to memorize. But, I know far fewer numbers now than I did as a kid, and my son will know far less than I did about flexagons. One reason may be because he knows it is readily available, he won't learn it himself. And one reason is b…

Perhaps with your phone being able to remember 10-digit numbers for you, this leaves you and/or young people today with more mental space and energy to do more interesting mental tasks such as exploring recreational mathematics.

And perhaps this is a general process when calculators, computers, phones, etc. automate activities which were mentally challenging (and so were good mental exercise) but ultimately not intellectually interesting?

Re: Hexaflexagons [video] (2012)

#55

Post by teddyh »

SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #32
sam_goody wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh sure, the internet has a lot more related info readily available than was ever possible by using microfiche. And my phone can keep track of more more phone numbers than I was ever able to memorize. But, I know far fewer numbers now than I did as a kid, and my son will know far less than I did about flexagons. One reason may be because he knows it is readily available, he won't learn it himself. And one reason is b…

Counterpoint… there is too much information now. There is just too much to keep in a human brain. So, don’t, or, try and make an effort to separate the wheat from the chaff and know where it’s ok to give some up. No, your kids will probably not know as much about an origami trick, but they will know more about fusion or quantum computing or nanobots than you ever will. That doesn’t make them disadvantaged or you bett…

> there is too much information now.

“[…] of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh. ”

— Ecclesiastes 12:12

Re: Hexaflexagons [video] (2012)

#56

Post by qwertox »

Karellen wrote: post #35
washyourdishes wrote: post #9

I love to recommend ViHart’s “Suspend your Disbelief” video: https://youtu.be/deg1wmYjwtk It takes a special place in my heart for being able to break apart and explain the effects of media and belief - especially of media referenced within media.

Also, "How I Feel About Logarithms": https://youtu.be/N-7tcTIrers Genius.

"Sometimes, to make the harder things simple, you first need to make the simple things harder"

Re: Hexaflexagons [video] (2012)

#57

Post by Aardwolf »

O__________O wrote: post #23
pixl97 wrote: post #17

Hexagons are the bestagons https://youtu.be/thOifuHs6eY

To be fair, hexagons alone are unable to form a sphere like surface: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=btPqKAGyajM And of course the odd response from the UK government to the above petition was to basically say having a realistic football signs would increase the odds of accidents, lol: https://aperiodical.com/2017/10/standupmaths-petition-has-ha...

"The purpose of a traffic sign is not to raise public appreciation and awareness of geometry which is better dealt with in other ways."

Maybe the petition was done the wrong way:

It's not about geometry lessens. Soccer balls literally don't look like that. There are (most likely) way more people appreciating sports than geometry in the UK, so that'd be a better argument

Re: Hexaflexagons [video] (2012)

#58

Post by O__________O »

Aardwolf wrote: post #57
O__________O wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, hexagons alone are unable to form a sphere like surface: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=btPqKAGyajM And of course the odd response from the UK government to the above petition was to basically say having a realistic football signs would increase the odds of accidents, lol: https://aperiodical.com/2017/10/standupmaths-petition-has-ha...

"The purpose of a traffic sign is not to raise public appreciation and awareness of geometry which is better dealt with in other ways." Maybe the petition was done the wrong way: It's not about geometry lessens. Soccer balls literally don't look like that. There are (most likely) way more people appreciating sports than geometry in the UK, so that'd be a better argument

Agree. Video mentions that sports fans likely care and that they only wanted future signed updated, the petition though as far as I am able to tell mentions neither of these points:

https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions/202305

Re: Hexaflexagons [video] (2012)

#59

Post by miffy900 »

lmm wrote: post #51
miffy900 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weird you would re-surface that quote in response to that, since I don't think a reasonable person would interpret it as a criticism of younger generations, but of the changing times we now live in. No one ever starts at a public library to study a particular topic, you almost always go to an internet resource first [usually Google]. And TikTok/the internet generally, has hijacked attention spans, but not just of chi…

The comment I replied to explicitly talks about "kids" not knowing about the public library.

Even then, the OP mentioning that kids don't know about public libraries was NOT a criticism; you quoting Socrates is just bizarrely out of place as Socrates' quote was a strident critique on his perception of the behaviour of younger generations.

Re: Hexaflexagons [video] (2012)

#60

Post by sn9 »

washyourdishes wrote: post #9

I love to recommend ViHart’s “Suspend your Disbelief” video: https://youtu.be/deg1wmYjwtk It takes a special place in my heart for being able to break apart and explain the effects of media and belief - especially of media referenced within media.

This is one of those rare videos that makes me feel less alone by describing something it seems like everyone online is unaware of.
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