Friday, August 31, 2007

Lineage II: Elf

lineage 2 cosplay - elf - meiwai At first glance… This picture made me doubt whether or not she’s human or computer generated…

Mei Wai is a pretty famous Chinese cosplayer, ad this is a photo that can give you a pretty good idea as to why. Her long limbs and model like figure makes her look so perfect that it’s simply inhuman… or perhaps the perfect term would be… goddess-like!

Beautiful cosplay! Go and check out Mei Wai’s Live Spaces for more of her jaw dropping beautiful photos!She could probably change anyone’s minds about cosplaying to be for geeks or nerds…

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Hunter x Hunter: Kurapika

hunter x hunter cosplay - kurapikaNo matter what anyone says, this cosplay is both impressive and scary to me.

Kurapika from Hunter x Hunter, is the last living member of the Kuruta tribe. The Genei Ryodan (aka Phantom Troupe) destroyed the Kuruta Tribe because of their rare “scarlet eyes”; eyes which would change to flaming red when they are angry or emotionally agitated and a priceless treasure among body-part collectors.

Revenge prompted Kurapika to enter the Hunter Exams in order to become a Blacklist Hunter and kill all the members of Genei Ryodan. In order to hide his eyes by wearing black contact lenses.

Stunning cosplay! Kurapika is one of my favorite anime characters! A bit memorable too. I remember one time, when I went to an anime convention, a Kurapika cosplayer on stage brought a heart shaped ballon to the stage. I was one of the many otaku photographers near the stage and for whatever odd reason, the cosplayer gave the balloon to me! Haha! It was so embarrassing! But flattering too!

Excellent cosplay! And I love the blood red eyes.

Image originally from Anime Illusions.

Tales from Earthsea Papercraft (Gedo Senki)



A very brave soul called Tehanu has posted the Tales from the Earthsea papercraft pattern (ゲド戦記Gedo Senki ) on her blog, aptly named, Tehanu's Flight. In it you can see a sort of insight on how the poster completed her dragon. On the book itself, there are two forms of dragons that you can build, one is on a sitting posture and the other is flying. If you like it or if you are a big fan of Studio Ghibili or papercrafting, please buy the book to support the author/creator.

Gedo Senki - [Download]
Tehanu - [Site]

You can purchase the book here: VeryCoolThings.com
and other related stuff here: Gedo Senki

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Tenjou Tenge: Nagi Souichirou

tenjou tenge cosplay - nagi souichirouNagi Souichirou, the bully of the anime Tenjou Tenge, who fights without honor. In spite of that, he still draws the line when it comes to hitting women. Ironically, he doesn’t believe that fighting can solve anything. After he enrolls in Todo Academy, he realizes how weak he really is, and decides to train with Natsume Maya.

This is probably the first time I saw a cosplay that’s prettier than the anime character. Though I’m not entirely sure about Tenjou Tenge, the character outline for Souichirou seems to be very interesting indeed.

Great job with this cosplay! I think I can safely say that guys can do cosplay as well as the girls can, with this picture as proof.

Percent of change

When some quantity changes, such as a price or the amount of students, we can measure either the absolute change ("The price increased by $5" or "There were 93 less students this year"), or the percent change.

In percent change, we express WHAT PART of the original quantity the change was.

For example, if a gadget costs $44 and the price is increased by $5, we measure the percent change by first considering WHAT PART $5 is of $44. Of course the answer is easy: it is 5/44 or five forty-fourths parts.

To make it percent change, however, we need to express that part using hundredths and not 44th parts. this happens to be easy, too. As seen in my previous post, you COULD make a proportion to find out how many hundredths 5/44 is:

5/44 = x/100

To solve this, you simply go 5/44 x 100, which is easy enough to remember in itself. In fact, this is the rule often given: you compare the PART to the WHOLE using division (5/44), and multiply that by 100.




There were 568 students one year, and 480 the next year. By how may percent did the student population decrease?

You first calculate the absolute change, which is 568 − 480 = 88. Then we find what part of the original population is 88 (it is 88/568), and express that using hundredth parts (percents):

88/568 x 100 = 15.49%

The student population decreased by 15.49%.




Often we are given the opposite problem: we know the percent of change and the original situation, and are asked about the new situation.

The price was $4.55 and increased by 14.78%. What is the new price?

Here, we'd need to find the price increase, or the absolute change in price first. We know the percent part of the total (it is 14.78/100) and the total amount, so multiplying those we get the part as a dollar-amount: 14.78/100 x $4.55 = $0.67249. So this is the increase. To find the new price, add the increase to the original: $4.55 + $0.67249 = $5.22249 = $5.22.

Instead of multiplying by 14.78/100, it is far quicker to multiply by 0.1478 — or to change the percent-amount 14.78% to a decimal 0.1478 and multiply by it.

And, since in the end we need to add the original total, the whole calculation looks like this:

0.1478 × $4.55 + $4.55

Here, using distributive property we can make it look like this:

= $4.55 (0.1478 + 1) = $4.55(1.1478) = 1.1478 × $4.55

So it can all be done in one multiplication. Instead of multiplying by the decimal 0.1478, you add 1 to it before multiplying.




Then one more possible problem type is that you know the percent of change and the actual change amount (absolute change), and are asked the original and/or the new total.

The price increased by 13%, or by $10.14. What was the original price?

Let the original price be p. Then you can build an equation based on the idea that the price increase is 13% of p:

0.13p = $10.14   or   13/100p = $10.14

p = $10.14/0.13 = $78.

The new price would be found by adding.




Some other lessons to read are below:

Percent Of Change - Lesson and Problems

General Increase and Decrease Examples from Purplemath.com

Percent of change calculator - enter the original and the changed quantities, and it calculates the percent of change.

PERCENT INCREASE OR DECREASE lesson from TheMathPage.com

Percent of change

When some quantity changes, such as a price or the amount of students, we can measure either the absolute change ("The price increased by $5" or "There were 93 less students this year"), or the percent change.

In percent change, we express WHAT PART of the original quantity the change was.

For example, if a gadget costs $44 and the price is increased by $5, we measure the percent change by first considering WHAT PART $5 is of $44. Of course the answer is easy: it is 5/44 or five forty-fourths parts.

To make it percent change, however, we need to express that part using hundredths and not 44th parts. this happens to be easy, too. As seen in my previous post, you COULD make a proportion to find out how many hundredths 5/44 is:

5/44 = x/100

To solve this, you simply go 5/44 x 100, which is easy enough to remember in itself. In fact, this is the rule often given: you compare the PART to the WHOLE using division (5/44), and multiply that by 100.




There were 568 students one year, and 480 the next year. By how may percent did the student population decrease?

You first calculate the absolute change, which is 568 − 480 = 88. Then we find what part of the original population is 88 (it is 88/568), and express that using hundredth parts (percents):

88/568 x 100 = 15.49%

The student population decreased by 15.49%.




Often we are given the opposite problem: we know the percent of change and the original situation, and are asked about the new situation.

The price was $4.55 and increased by 14.78%. What is the new price?

Here, we'd need to find the price increase, or the absolute change in price first. We know the percent part of the total (it is 14.78/100) and the total amount, so multiplying those we get the part as a dollar-amount: 14.78/100 x $4.55 = $0.67249. So this is the increase. To find the new price, add the increase to the original: $4.55 + $0.67249 = $5.22249 = $5.22.

Instead of multiplying by 14.78/100, it is far quicker to multiply by 0.1478 — or to change the percent-amount 14.78% to a decimal 0.1478 and multiply by it.

And, since in the end we need to add the original total, the whole calculation looks like this:

0.1478 × $4.55 + $4.55

Here, using distributive property we can make it look like this:

= $4.55 (0.1478 + 1) = $4.55(1.1478) = 1.1478 × $4.55

So it can all be done in one multiplication. Instead of multiplying by the decimal 0.1478, you add 1 to it before multiplying.




Then one more possible problem type is that you know the percent of change and the actual change amount (absolute change), and are asked the original and/or the new total.

The price increased by 13%, or by $10.14. What was the original price?

Let the original price be p. Then you can build an equation based on the idea that the price increase is 13% of p:

0.13p = $10.14   or   13/100p = $10.14

p = $10.14/0.13 = $78.

The new price would be found by adding.




Some other lessons to read are below:

Percent Of Change - Lesson and Problems

General Increase and Decrease Examples from Purplemath.com

Percent of change calculator - enter the original and the changed quantities, and it calculates the percent of change.

PERCENT INCREASE OR DECREASE lesson from TheMathPage.com

Final Fantasy X Papercraft - Rikku




The great Ninjatoes has done it again, this time it's the claw wielding Al Bhed girl - Rikku (リュックRyukku ) from Final Fantasy X. This is a great paper model to add to your collection and as always, don't forget to check out his other great videogame based papercrafts like Advance Wars, Tomb Raider, Zelda, and many more.

Final Fantasy X Papercraft - Rikku [ninjatoes]

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Final Fantasy X: Yuna 04

I was surprised to see the response of people from Sanriotown with my Cosplay Blog. But I didn’t think I could get to feature a Sanriotown Member as one of the cosplayers..!

I came across this picture from Luty’s Blog and immediately emailed her to ask if I could feature her. She sent me her original photo. She happily accepted my request, and this is what she has to say about her cosplay:

And the very last?

Is Yuna, from FF X! This one i?ve made everything!! Cutting, sewing, painting little flowers! It was a lot of work, but I love to do this kind of thing! And here you can see that I was with sore eyes too, like Raein?. XD

From: Luty Mishima

Very impressive! One of the best home-made cosplays I’ve ever come across! And her sore eyes doesn’t really show on this picture…

Great job, Luty! I hope I get to see more of your cosplays soon!

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GuanYin Papercraft - Goddess of Mercy



Do you guys remember the Heavenly Military Officer paper model from Answer Ideas Studio I posted a few months back? well, here's another addition to it - GuanYin (asian Goddess of Mercy). Just like before, this papercraft requires no gluing. And of course if you want to know more about her, here's her wiki entry.

GuanYin - [Download]
Answer Ideas Studio - [Site]

Sunday, August 26, 2007

A free download of a digital Algebra 1 book

Kinetic Books Algebra 1 looks really interesting! It is not really just a book, but software, or a digital interactive textbook.

It contains text, interactive problems and activities, and a scoring system all on the computer. Students can get step-by-step assistance in the form of audio hints and one-click access to relevant examples.

See a demo here. But the best is that the company Kinetic Books is even offering a free download of the product till September 30!

That really sounds fantastic, so if you have algebra 1 student(s), don't fail to take advantage of this tremendous offer.

A free download of a digital Algebra 1 book

Kinetic Books Algebra 1 looks really interesting! It is not really just a book, but software, or a digital interactive textbook.

It contains text, interactive problems and activities, and a scoring system all on the computer. Students can get step-by-step assistance in the form of audio hints and one-click access to relevant examples.

See a demo here. But the best is that the company Kinetic Books is even offering a free download of the product till September 30!

That really sounds fantastic, so if you have algebra 1 student(s), don't fail to take advantage of this tremendous offer.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Equation wizard


Back last spring I promised I'd write something about this tool, so here goes.

Equation Wizard is a software, a tool, that solves first, second, third, and fourth degree equations, simplifies expressions, and calculates values of complex expressions.

I had my assistant use it when checking and making answers to my Algebra 1 worksheets.

Based on our experience, the tool works really well and was useful, for example with rational expressions, or checking answers to equations.

The two features I was missing were:
1) The ability to solve (even simple) systems of equations. There's quite a bit of work when solving a bunch of these by hand!
2) The ability to give exact roots (in our case to second-degree equations). It only gave them as decimals.

See screenshots and more here:
Equation Wizard
You can even get this software for free, with something called "TrialPay".

TrialPay allows you to purchase products by trying something else. Sign up with any one of our preselected partners and we will pay for your product.

Equation wizard


Back last spring I promised I'd write something about this tool, so here goes.

Equation Wizard is a software, a tool, that solves first, second, third, and fourth degree equations, simplifies expressions, and calculates values of complex expressions.

I had my assistant use it when checking and making answers to my Algebra 1 worksheets.

Based on our experience, the tool works really well and was useful, for example with rational expressions, or checking answers to equations.

The two features I was missing were:
1) The ability to solve (even simple) systems of equations. There's quite a bit of work when solving a bunch of these by hand!
2) The ability to give exact roots (in our case to second-degree equations). It only gave them as decimals.

See screenshots and more here:
Equation Wizard
You can even get this software for free, with something called "TrialPay".

TrialPay allows you to purchase products by trying something else. Sign up with any one of our preselected partners and we will pay for your product.

Gundam Seed: Athrun Zala and Cagalli Yula Athha

gundam seed destiny cosplay - athrun zala and cagalli yula athha

I believe it was back in Gundam Seed when Cagalli first wore the costume she’s wearing in this picture. I can’t remember it too well, but with the controversy of who Athrun really ends up with at the end of Seed Destiny, I’d prefer to label this “Seed”.

This is really quite a sweet picture… Although it’s obvious Athrun is portrayed by a girl..! Maybe less eye make-up next time for Athrun.

It’s still a pretty and cute cosplay… I hope you guys enjoy this too!

Measure the circumference of the earth - contest

I got word of an interesting contest where school children will form teams and attempt to measure the circumference of the Earth using the same method as Eratosthenes used back in ancient times.

Any students from USA, Mexico, and Peru can form these teams, whether homeschooled, after-schooled, public schooled or whatever.

Whether you will participate or not, go see the animation that explains the method Eratosthenes used (in the left sidebar).

This sounds like an exciting opportunity to connect geometry, measuring, and math history in a project!

And here's some more information:



Please help us get the word out on this new, exciting student centered event!

Measure Your World!

Join us this fall as we pilot a new student-centered project where teams from the United States, Chile, and Mexico partner to replicate the technique introduced by Eratosthenes to determine the circumference of the Earth. Around 240 BC, Eratosthenes used trigonometry and knowledge of the angle of elevation of the Sun at noon in Alexandria and in Syene to calculate the size of the Earth. Windows to the Universe, Educared, and CREA are working together to offer school children in the U.S., Chile, and Mexico the opportunity to form partnerships, take local measurements, and collaborate using the Eratosthenes method to Measure Your World.

All of the information necessary to participate in this pilot student project can be found on the Measure Your World Web sites (www.measureyourworld.org and www.MideTuMundo.org). Student teams must have a parent or adult sponsor to participate. At least one of the team members or adult sponsors must be fluent in both English and Spanish. This event is open to all students in the three participating countries and does not have to be affiliated with a formal K-12 school. Home-schooled children and children participating in after-school programs (e.g. the Scouts, 4-H, etc.) are welcome to participate.

In addition to taking the measurements and calculating the circumference of the Earth, student teams will be encouraged to learn more about their partners in the other participating countries. Suggested activities to promote cultural exchange can be found on the Web site.

Registration for the Measure Your World event will be open from August 13 — September 14, 2007. Student teams will be notified of their partners by September 21, 2007. The time period for taking the measurements will be September 29 till October 7, 2007.

Measure the circumference of the earth - contest

I got word of an interesting contest where school children will form teams and attempt to measure the circumference of the Earth using the same method as Eratosthenes used back in ancient times.

Any students from USA, Mexico, and Peru can form these teams, whether homeschooled, after-schooled, public schooled or whatever.

Whether you will participate or not, go see the animation that explains the method Eratosthenes used (in the left sidebar).

This sounds like an exciting opportunity to connect geometry, measuring, and math history in a project!

And here's some more information:



Please help us get the word out on this new, exciting student centered event!

Measure Your World!

Join us this fall as we pilot a new student-centered project where teams from the United States, Chile, and Mexico partner to replicate the technique introduced by Eratosthenes to determine the circumference of the Earth. Around 240 BC, Eratosthenes used trigonometry and knowledge of the angle of elevation of the Sun at noon in Alexandria and in Syene to calculate the size of the Earth. Windows to the Universe, Educared, and CREA are working together to offer school children in the U.S., Chile, and Mexico the opportunity to form partnerships, take local measurements, and collaborate using the Eratosthenes method to Measure Your World.

All of the information necessary to participate in this pilot student project can be found on the Measure Your World Web sites (www.measureyourworld.org and www.MideTuMundo.org). Student teams must have a parent or adult sponsor to participate. At least one of the team members or adult sponsors must be fluent in both English and Spanish. This event is open to all students in the three participating countries and does not have to be affiliated with a formal K-12 school. Home-schooled children and children participating in after-school programs (e.g. the Scouts, 4-H, etc.) are welcome to participate.

In addition to taking the measurements and calculating the circumference of the Earth, student teams will be encouraged to learn more about their partners in the other participating countries. Suggested activities to promote cultural exchange can be found on the Web site.

Registration for the Measure Your World event will be open from August 13 — September 14, 2007. Student teams will be notified of their partners by September 21, 2007. The time period for taking the measurements will be September 29 till October 7, 2007.

Changes in the blog appearance

I upgraded the blog template to the new one that Blogger provides, and then added the searchable "labels" in the side bar.

So now you can click on any of those "labels" (down on the right side), and find my past posts on that topic. I've written nearly 300 posts since I started the blog (in late 2005). Of course not all of those posts are of mathematical topics, but there is still quite a bit of material that is still as good as ever.

Hope this new feature improves the functionality of this blog. Enjoy reading!

Changes in the blog appearance

I upgraded the blog template to the new one that Blogger provides, and then added the searchable "labels" in the side bar.

So now you can click on any of those "labels" (down on the right side), and find my past posts on that topic. I've written nearly 300 posts since I started the blog (in late 2005). Of course not all of those posts are of mathematical topics, but there is still quite a bit of material that is still as good as ever.

Hope this new feature improves the functionality of this blog. Enjoy reading!

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Prisoners Dancing to Haruhi-ism

Remember that time I posted a World-Wide version of the Haruhi Dance? Well, now the Philippines is in the spotlight. The very same prison that brought you Michael Jackson’s Thriller and the Algorithm March give you… Haruhi-ism!

This is apparently just practice… Should be interesting to see if they perform this seriously.

This is making me think I’m missing something for giving up on the anime… I need to try and find time to watch it again.

Article found from Kotaku and Dark Diamond.

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Air Gear: Wanijima Akito a.k.a. Agito

air gear cosplay - wanijima akito agitoI got to watch a few episodes of Air Gear last weekend, and I really loved it. It’s amazing what they can do on those skates (air trecks)..!

But the character Wanijima Akito / Agito amused me the most.

He is an ordinary boy who was forced by his older brother, Kaito, to violence for the benefit of his Wind SWAT Team. Not wanting to be a part of it anymore, he created his violent alter ego called Agito.

Agito took over the title as “Fang King” and Akito became a mediocre rider of ATs. After being rescued by Minami Itsuki, aka “Ikki”, he became one of the founding members of Kogarasumaru. Akito becomes Agito when his eye patch is covering his left eye.

Here’s an interesting trivia… I found this picture from Deviant Art, and the photographer’s account name is Shiroin. I found out that he is also the photographer behind the Card Captor Sakura picture I posted back in July. Make sure you go check out Shiroin’s Gallery for more great cosplay pictures!

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Some percent basics

The word "percent" means "per hundred", as if dividing by hundred — a hundredth part of something.

We treat some quantity (say 65 or $489 or 1.392 or anything) as "one whole". This "one whole" is then divided to hundred equal parts in our minds, and each such part is one percent of the whole.

If the "one whole" is 650 people, then 1% of it would be 6.5 people (if you have a practical application, you'd need to round such an answer to whole peoples of course).

If the "one whole" is $42, then 1% of it is $0.42. Also, 2% of it would be $0.84.

So to find 1% of something, divide by 100.
To find 24% or 8% or any other percentage, you can technically first find the 1%, then take that times 24 or 8 or whatever is your percentage.

For example:
To find 7% of $41.50, first go $41.50/100 to find 1% or 1/100 of $41.50, then multiply that by 7. But this is the same as (7/100) x $41.50, and 7/100 is 0.07 as a decimal. In most calculations, it is more practical to use decimals instead of this "divide by 100, then multiply" stuff.

So to find 7% of $41.50, I simply calculate 0.07 x $41.50 with a calculator.

To find 10% of something, you could first divide by 100 and then multiply by 10, but it's far quicker to simply divide by 10.

For example:
10% of 90 is 90/10 = 9.
10% of 250.6 is 25.06.

When you can find 10%, it's so easy to find 20%, 30%, 40%, etc., and 5% of anything just by using the 10% as a starting point.

For example:
20% of 52. First find 10% of 52 as 5.2, then double that: it is 10.4.

Example:
A gadget costs $48 and is discounted by 15%. What is the new price?

Imagine the price $48 is divided to 100 equal parts. Then you take a way 15 of those parts. That leaves 85 of those parts - what is the dollar amount that is left? Remember you're not taking away $15 but 15% of the total.

The student needs to realize that $48 is 100% - a "one whole", and 15 of those 100 parts will be taken away.

Solution:
10% of $48 would be $4.80.
5% of $48 would be $2.40 (half of 10%).
So 15% of $48 is $7.20. Subtract that from the orignal price to get the discount price of $40.80.
With a calculator, I'd go 0.85 x $48. (MAKE SURE YOU FIGURE OUT WHERE THE 0.85 COMES FROM!)

How many percent is it?


Of the class of 34 students, 12 are girls. How many percent of the class are girls?

Here, the "one whole" is 34, the whole class. The problem is, if that 34 "one whole" was divided to 100 parts, how many of those parts would we need to make 12 students?

Or, you could compare 34 people side-by-side with 100 "something". Imagine all those 34 people put head-to-toe so they form a long line, and those 12 girls are at the one end of that line. If you'd find 100 equal-size measuring units that would total exactly the same length as your people-line, how many of those measuring units would the 12 girls equal?

This easily leads to a percent proportion:

12/34 = x / 100

Solving x, you'd get
x = (12/34) × 100.

After you do this kind of proportion a few times, you notice that each time we just compare the part to the total using division, such as 12/34 in my example. So it's quite fast then to just write that directly, when solving "what percent" problems.

For example:
A $199 guitar was discounted by $40. How many percent discount was that?

Here, the "one whole" is the original (total) price, $199. It's simply asking how many percent is 40 of 199? Just calculate 40/199, and multiply the given decimal by 100 (which is easy to do mentally).

Hope this helps some. We'll tackle the percent of change next time.

Some percent basics

The word "percent" means "per hundred", as if dividing by hundred — a hundredth part of something.

We treat some quantity (say 65 or $489 or 1.392 or anything) as "one whole". This "one whole" is then divided to hundred equal parts in our minds, and each such part is one percent of the whole.

If the "one whole" is 650 people, then 1% of it would be 6.5 people (if you have a practical application, you'd need to round such an answer to whole peoples of course).

If the "one whole" is $42, then 1% of it is $0.42. Also, 2% of it would be $0.84.

So to find 1% of something, divide by 100.
To find 24% or 8% or any other percentage, you can technically first find the 1%, then take that times 24 or 8 or whatever is your percentage.

For example:
To find 7% of $41.50, first go $41.50/100 to find 1% or 1/100 of $41.50, then multiply that by 7. But this is the same as (7/100) x $41.50, and 7/100 is 0.07 as a decimal. In most calculations, it is more practical to use decimals instead of this "divide by 100, then multiply" stuff.

So to find 7% of $41.50, I simply calculate 0.07 x $41.50 with a calculator.

To find 10% of something, you could first divide by 100 and then multiply by 10, but it's far quicker to simply divide by 10.

For example:
10% of 90 is 90/10 = 9.
10% of 250.6 is 25.06.

When you can find 10%, it's so easy to find 20%, 30%, 40%, etc., and 5% of anything just by using the 10% as a starting point.

For example:
20% of 52. First find 10% of 52 as 5.2, then double that: it is 10.4.

Example:
A gadget costs $48 and is discounted by 15%. What is the new price?

Imagine the price $48 is divided to 100 equal parts. Then you take a way 15 of those parts. That leaves 85 of those parts - what is the dollar amount that is left? Remember you're not taking away $15 but 15% of the total.

The student needs to realize that $48 is 100% - a "one whole", and 15 of those 100 parts will be taken away.

Solution:
10% of $48 would be $4.80.
5% of $48 would be $2.40 (half of 10%).
So 15% of $48 is $7.20. Subtract that from the orignal price to get the discount price of $40.80.
With a calculator, I'd go 0.85 x $48. (MAKE SURE YOU FIGURE OUT WHERE THE 0.85 COMES FROM!)

How many percent is it?


Of the class of 34 students, 12 are girls. How many percent of the class are girls?

Here, the "one whole" is 34, the whole class. The problem is, if that 34 "one whole" was divided to 100 parts, how many of those parts would we need to make 12 students?

Or, you could compare 34 people side-by-side with 100 "something". Imagine all those 34 people put head-to-toe so they form a long line, and those 12 girls are at the one end of that line. If you'd find 100 equal-size measuring units that would total exactly the same length as your people-line, how many of those measuring units would the 12 girls equal?

This easily leads to a percent proportion:

12/34 = x / 100

Solving x, you'd get
x = (12/34) × 100.

After you do this kind of proportion a few times, you notice that each time we just compare the part to the total using division, such as 12/34 in my example. So it's quite fast then to just write that directly, when solving "what percent" problems.

For example:
A $199 guitar was discounted by $40. How many percent discount was that?

Here, the "one whole" is the original (total) price, $199. It's simply asking how many percent is 40 of 199? Just calculate 40/199, and multiply the given decimal by 100 (which is easy to do mentally).

Hope this helps some. We'll tackle the percent of change next time.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Death Note: Amane Misa

death note cosplay - amane kisa The famous model, singer, actress of the anime “Death Note”, Amane Kisa devotes her life to the first Kira, Yagami Light, for killing the people who murdered her parents. She posses the Shinigami Eyes, allowing her to know a person’s name and life span when she looks at their face, particularly, their eyes.

I’ve been wanting to watch Death Note for a while now… Unfortunately, I’m missing the copies of this anime from my recent stash…

Moving on, this is an impressive cosplay of Misa-Misa. She may even rival Toda Erika from the live action film of Death Note in terms of appearances. I really don’t like Erika’s brown hair in the film, since I’m such a perfectionist in cosplay…

Maritan Papercraft


Just received this one today (thanks to anon sender btw), it's a girl called Maritan, don't know much about her but I did find a post on the JapanSugoi web site about her, check out the entry below. There are two Maritan papercrafts here, first is Maritan with a gun (7.41MB) and the other is with a sword (16.2MB). Have Fun!

"What can you say about Hirai Yukio’s Maritan?

Mari-tan (tan being the alternative cute way of saying “chan” - like in the OS-tan post) is a pint-sized pink-haired girl who is part moé 萌え, lolicon ロリコン and tsundere ツンデ who hurls English expletives like a US marine!

The web comic follows the life of Maritan who is a Princess from the Magical Kingdom of Paris Island, which has signed a treaty of co-operation and friendship with the USA.

Maritan’s day job is as a Drill Instructor (modelled like the U.S. Marines) who trains new recruit Army-tan, under the supervision of Lieutanent Commander Navy-tan. There’s also GA-tan a meganekko メガネ attached from the Japanese Self Defence Forces.

A book Maritan Concentration Drills 魔法の海兵隊員 ぴくせる☆まりたん.まりたん集中ドリル, (Magical Marine Pixel Maritan Focus Drills) was released last summer showing Maritan using her excellent knowledge of US Marine vocabulary to teach Japanese readers about really crude English slang.
" - JapanSugoi

Maritan Papercraft [via mediafire]

Monday, August 20, 2007

Master's degree in mathematics teaching and learning

First of all, I've updated my post about the percent problem — just scroll down to it.

Then, I thought maybe I have some math teachers in my readership that might be interested in a new Master's degree program offered by the university of Drexel, in collaboration with the Math Forum!

Knowing how much expertise the folks at Math Forum have this might be a unique opportunity for those math teachers who want to extend their education.

Online Master's in Mathematics Learning and Teaching - "Preparing teachers to incorporate creative, problem-based, student-centered instruction in their classroom."

The rest of you... can just continue reading my blog : )
I will post some more about the concept of percent soon.

Master's degree in mathematics teaching and learning

First of all, I've updated my post about the percent problem — just scroll down to it.

Then, I thought maybe I have some math teachers in my readership that might be interested in a new Master's degree program offered by the university of Drexel, in collaboration with the Math Forum!

Knowing how much expertise the folks at Math Forum have this might be a unique opportunity for those math teachers who want to extend their education.

Online Master's in Mathematics Learning and Teaching - "Preparing teachers to incorporate creative, problem-based, student-centered instruction in their classroom."

The rest of you... can just continue reading my blog : )
I will post some more about the concept of percent soon.

Friday, August 17, 2007

Fruits Basket: Souma Momiji

fruits basket cosplay - souma momijiThis image just made me go “Awww~”…

I found this on Deviant Art. This is a cosplay of Souma Momiji from Fruits Basket by clefchan. You should go check her gallery out! She has really impressive cosplays and arts as well! Clicking on the image will bring you to her page where she posted this image in a higher resolution.

A bit of Fruits Basket Trivia for you: Did you know that Momiji is the 2nd of the 12 Cursed Souma family members to break his curse?

Anyway, really cute cosplay! clefchan’s really got the character down, especially the really cute expression..! I love the rabbit detail she put on her knee high socks… And the white rabbit on her shoulder is a nice touch! Great photography by Ryuu!

Bleach: Kuchiki Rukia 03

bleach cosplay - kuchiki rukia 03 Rukia seems to be a favorite among cosplayers… This is the third Kuchiki Rukia I’ve seen so far, and all of them are quite impressive to me…

This Rukia cosplayer even has a Soul Candy dispenser. I don’t remember too well, but Rukia wasn’t able to get the “Chappy the Rabbit” version until later in the series…

When I think about it, yeah, it may have been a duck…

Nice cosplay… and have you guys noticed that among the Rukia Cosplayers, each of them have a different interpretation of her hairstyle..? Not that it’s such a bad thing….

Latex to images - online tool

Here's a handy math tool for those who know Latex (university folks and such). You type in a n mathematica expression using Latex language, and it makes an image. It even gives you a readily copyable code you can paste to a webpage.

Texify.com.

Here's an example of one such image; it's hotlinked from their server.

x=\frac{-b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a}

Latex to images - online tool

Here's a handy math tool for those who know Latex (university folks and such). You type in a n mathematica expression using Latex language, and it makes an image. It even gives you a readily copyable code you can paste to a webpage.

Texify.com.

Here's an example of one such image; it's hotlinked from their server.

x=\frac{-b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a}

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Final Fantasy X: Lulu

final fantasy x cosplay - luluThe black mage of the Final Fantasy X game, Lulu (or “Ruru” in the direct Japanese translation) carries a dark past within her, being once the Guardian of the fallen Ginnem. And now her duty falls with Yuna the Summoner and her team.

Lulu’s character design breaks the common connotation of a typical black mage character in the Final Fantasy series, making her a favorite amongst cosplayers…

This picture blows me away. Although I believe this girl is actually a professional model with a professional photographer. None the less, it’s quite impressive, though I had the impression that Lulu’s make-up would be darker than this… This cosplayer doesn’t give that “dark aura” that Lulu gives.

But maybe that’s just me…

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GR-8 (Giant Robo) Papercraft



Just released today, check out the GR-8 papercraft from the official Giant Robo web site.

For those in the dark, Giant Robo (ジャイアントロボ) is a manga and tokusatsu series created by famed Japanese manga artist Mitsuteru Yokoyama, who also happens to create that other popular robot series, Gigantor (Iron Man #28). The Giant Robo web site has been steadily releasing papercraft after papercraft of their beloved robots to coincide with their celebration of Giant Robo's 40th anniversary. All papercraft robots on their site are created by Chokipeta.

GR-8 [Download]
Giant Robo [Site]

So many percent more

Updated with an answer... see below

I'm continuing to catch up after vacation, and spotted a good discussion about problems with percent, at MathNotations. (via Let's Play Math blog).

Here's a problem to solve, first of all:

There are 20% more girls than boys in the senior class.
What percent of the seniors are girls?


The answer is NOT that 40% are boys and 60% are girls...

You see, let's say there were 40 boys and 60 girls, 100 students total. If there are 40 boys, then 20% more than that would be 40 + 4 + 4 = 48 girls and not 60!

Try solve it. I'll let you think a little before answering it myself. Don't just rush over to the Mathnotations blog either! Use your thinking caps! I've already given you a big hint!

Update:
You can easily solve this problem by taking any example number for the number of boys. Like I did above, if you have 40 boys, you'd need 48 girls and there'd be 88 students total. What percent of the seniors are girls then? It'd be 48/88 = 0.545454... ≈ 54.55%. And 45.45% are boys.

But the same works even if you choose that there'd be 10 boys, which then means that there are 12 girls, and then the percent of girls in the class is 12/22 * 100% = 54.55%.

NOTE that this problem includes two DIFFERENT "wholes". First of all, it says "There are 20% more girls than boys in the senior class." This is a comparison, and the total number of boys is the "one whole" or the "100%". The number of girls is 20% more, or 120% of the boys.

In algebra terms, if there are p boys, then there will be 1.2p girls.

Then the final question involves a totally different "one whole" or 100%: it asks how many percent of the seniors are girls.

So the group of seniors becomes the 100% or the "whole", and all percent calculations are based on that. Therefore one will then compare the number of girls to the total number of seniors.

In algebra terms, the final answer as a decimal is 1.2p/(p + 1.2p) = 1.2/2.2

See also Denise's post about searching for the 100% in percent problems.

So many percent more

Updated with an answer... see below

I'm continuing to catch up after vacation, and spotted a good discussion about problems with percent, at MathNotations. (via Let's Play Math blog).

Here's a problem to solve, first of all:

There are 20% more girls than boys in the senior class.
What percent of the seniors are girls?


The answer is NOT that 40% are boys and 60% are girls...

You see, let's say there were 40 boys and 60 girls, 100 students total. If there are 40 boys, then 20% more than that would be 40 + 4 + 4 = 48 girls and not 60!

Try solve it. I'll let you think a little before answering it myself. Don't just rush over to the Mathnotations blog either! Use your thinking caps! I've already given you a big hint!

Update:
You can easily solve this problem by taking any example number for the number of boys. Like I did above, if you have 40 boys, you'd need 48 girls and there'd be 88 students total. What percent of the seniors are girls then? It'd be 48/88 = 0.545454... ≈ 54.55%. And 45.45% are boys.

But the same works even if you choose that there'd be 10 boys, which then means that there are 12 girls, and then the percent of girls in the class is 12/22 * 100% = 54.55%.

NOTE that this problem includes two DIFFERENT "wholes". First of all, it says "There are 20% more girls than boys in the senior class." This is a comparison, and the total number of boys is the "one whole" or the "100%". The number of girls is 20% more, or 120% of the boys.

In algebra terms, if there are p boys, then there will be 1.2p girls.

Then the final question involves a totally different "one whole" or 100%: it asks how many percent of the seniors are girls.

So the group of seniors becomes the 100% or the "whole", and all percent calculations are based on that. Therefore one will then compare the number of girls to the total number of seniors.

In algebra terms, the final answer as a decimal is 1.2p/(p + 1.2p) = 1.2/2.2

See also Denise's post about searching for the 100% in percent problems.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Gundam Seed: Lacus Clyne

gundam seed cosplay - lacus clyneIt’s hard to determine whether a cosplayer is from Gundam Seed or Gundam Seed Destiny now a days… Since both Destiny is a sequel for Seed, they have the same set of characters without much difference in costumes…

I think this version of Lacus Clyne is from Gundam Seed. I can’t be certain though, because I’m basing it on the time I found this photo…

Lacus Clyne is an Idol Singer and a huge influence in PLANT, where the coordinators live. In the beginning of the series, she is engaged to Athrun Zala mainly for political reasons… The two of them actually get along pretty well, but Lacus meets Kira Yamato during the Bloody Valentine War and falls in love with him, breaking of her engagement… Lacus is also the person that Meer Campbell is imitating under the orders of Chairman Gilbert Durandal, so that he can sway the people to follow his orders.

Pretty cosplayer for a pretty girl. I want her pink Haro… Did I mention Haros are Athrun’s gifts to Lacus? Since she always has her Haros with her, I wonder if she really has no more feelings for Athrun?

Geometry fun with GeoMag


While on vacation, a friend of mine gave my older daughter a set of Geomag. You might already know about it, but it was new for us.

This has proved to be a fantastic learning toy! She's thoroughly enjoying building various shapes.

For example, she made a cube with sides 2 bars long and was proudly explaining to me how to do it: "First do a square, then put legs up from each corner, and then another square."

I made a tetrahedron that also had 2 bars on each side, according to the model. She thought it was neat and built that one several times herself last night.

I can see how the toy can help build geometric insight and beautifully demonstrate the common three-dimensional figures.

We've already ordered another set to accompany the small 42-piece set she got. You can find Geomag kits of various sizes and colors at Amazon.

Geometry fun with GeoMag


While on vacation, a friend of mine gave my older daughter a set of Geomag. You might already know about it, but it was new for us.

This has proved to be a fantastic learning toy! She's thoroughly enjoying building various shapes.

For example, she made a cube with sides 2 bars long and was proudly explaining to me how to do it: "First do a square, then put legs up from each corner, and then another square."

I made a tetrahedron that also had 2 bars on each side, according to the model. She thought it was neat and built that one several times herself last night.

I can see how the toy can help build geometric insight and beautifully demonstrate the common three-dimensional figures.

We've already ordered another set to accompany the small 42-piece set she got. You can find Geomag kits of various sizes and colors at Amazon.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Honey and Clover Papercraft



Today we've got a new Chokipeta papercraft model for you guys, this is from the Honey and Clover (ハチミツとクローバー Hachimitsu to Kurōbā) manga series created by Chika Umino. I honestly don't have a clue as to what it's story is all about, but after some googling, I found out that this is a dramedy/romance series of some sort, of which I'm not a big fan. But in any case, I know there's a lot of you who would like this and would love to add it to your papercraft collection.

I'm not going to give a background story for this one because I don't like drama stories, but if you would like to know more about it, the Honey and Clover wiki entry is here. I will just point out that the blonde girl papercraft model is named Hagumi Hanamoto (花本 はぐみ), 18 years old??? I can't find any info. on the rabbit.

As usual, like the other Chokipeta models, this Honey and Clover papercraft has very good form and assembly is a cinch. I would like to thank our subscriber Snake from the Futaba channel for sending the papercraft pattern, that's two in a row friend, thank you. Well, here you go, have fun!

Honey and Clover Papercraft [via mediafire]