How does social distancing change the spread of COVID? Why do cicadas only appear in prime numbered years? What do cell phone antennas, African villages, and Lord of the Rings movies have in common? How is high school geometry now used to destroy kidney stones? How does a deck of cards hold more possibilities than there are grains of sand on Earth? Is there a best way to cut diamonds? How does UPC coding work? How are prime numbers used to protect online transactions? Why are Pringles potato chips all the same shape? How are the digits of Pi used in forensic accounting? Why should contestants always change doors on Let’s Make A Deal? All of these questions have mathematical explanations. Let’s explore these and other amazing connections between math and nature, music, art, finance, and more. Many hands-on activities.
Instructor: Len Bonifacio
Len has been involved in math education for over 50 years as a teacher, department head, provincial examiner, and district consultant. He is a contributing author to the math textbooks used currently in high schools in Western Canada. He was a co-winner of the MCATA Math Educator of the Year in 2000, and was twice a semi-finalist for a provincial Excellence in Teaching award. Len has presented with ELLA for 10 years.
