CTK Exchange
CTK Wiki Math
Front Page
Movie shortcuts
Personal info
Awards
Terms of use
Privacy Policy

Interactive Activities

Cut The Knot!
MSET99 Talk
Games & Puzzles
Arithmetic/Algebra
Geometry
Probability
Eye Opener
Analog Gadgets
Inventor's Paradox
Did you know?...
Proofs
Math as Language
Things Impossible
My Logo
Math Poll
Other Math sit's
Guest book
News sit's

Recommend this site

Manifesto: what CTK is about Search CTK Buying a book is a commitment to learning Table of content Products to download and subscription Things you can find on CTK Chronology of updates Email to Cut The Knot Recommend this page

CTK Exchange

Subject: "Proof #28 - Pythagorean Theorem"     Previous Topic | Next Topic
Printer-friendly copy     Email this topic to a friend    
Conferences The CTK Exchange Thoughts and Suggestions Topic #75
Reading Topic #75
Sandy Wagner
guest
Dec-19-09, 02:08 PM (EST)
 
"Proof #28 - Pythagorean Theorem"
 
   Thank you very much for the Pythagorean proofs, which are very useful to me.

I just noticed that my brother, Don Wagner, is cited in #28. However the link to his work is incorrectly located under the name Elisha Loomis.

I also would like to report that my remarkable 9-year old friend Toby in San Leandro California recently produced proof #10, on his own:

I was teaching him the necessary algebra manipulations so that he could develop proof #3 on his own. However he went off on his own and invented a proof that I had never seen before. I had trouble believing it, not to mention understanding his diagram ( ), which was so clear to him but hard for me to follow. He did finally explain himself well enough so that I knew what he was trying to say, so I went home and proved to myself that he was absolutely right. It's a rare person of any age who develops his/her own proof of this theorem, and I'm lucky to be working with him.

I am interested in talking with others who are working with young gifted students.

Sandy Wagner, retired math teacher


  Alert | IP Printer-friendly page | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
alexbadmin
Charter Member
2465 posts
Dec-19-09, 02:25 PM (EST)
Click to EMail alexb Click to send private message to alexb Click to view user profileClick to add this user to your buddy list  
1. "RE: Proof #28 - Pythagorean Theorem"
In response to message #0
 
   >Thank you very much for the Pythagorean proofs, which are
>very useful to me.

Thank you for letting me know.

>I just noticed that my brother, Don Wagner, is cited in #28.
> However the link to his work is incorrectly located under
>the name Elisha Loomis.

No, if you read just the next paragraph, Douglas Rogers, questioned the association of Liu Hui's name with this particular proof. I believe that in the ensuing correspondence Don Wagner admitted that his interpretation of Liu Hui's writing (that came to us without a diagram) is rather tenuous. As the proof has appeared in Loomis with some comments, this is where I made a link to. A link to Don Wagner's follows at the bottom of the page.

>I also would like to report that my remarkable 9-year old
>friend Toby in San Leandro California recently produced
>proof #10, on his own:

It's quite recognizable on the drawing, yes.
>
>I was teaching him the necessary algebra manipulations so
>that he could develop proof #3 on his own. However he went
>off on his own and invented a proof that I had never seen
>before. I had trouble believing it, not to mention
>understanding his diagram
>(https:// home.comcast.net/~papasandy/toby-pythag-diagram.jpg

The big thing distracts from the smaller diagram which you probably had in mind.

>), which was so clear to him but hard for me to follow. He
>did finally explain himself well enough so that I knew what
>he was trying to say, so I went home and proved to myself
>that he was absolutely right. It's a rare person of any age
>who develops his/her own proof of this theorem, and I'm
>lucky to be working with him.

And what did he say?

>I am interested in talking with others who are working with
>young gifted students.

Regretfully, this may not be the right forum for the purpose, but I shall be grateful if anybody points you in the right direction.


  Alert | IP Printer-friendly page | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
papasandy
Member since Dec-20-09
Dec-20-09, 10:14 PM (EST)
Click to EMail papasandy Click to send private message to papasandy Click to view user profileClick to add this user to your buddy list Click to send message via AOL IM  
2. "RE: Proof #28 - Pythagorean Theorem"
In response to message #1
 
   >), which was so clear to him but hard for me to follow. He
>did finally explain himself well enough so that I knew what
>he was trying to say, so I went home and proved to myself
>that he was absolutely right. It's a rare person of any age
>who develops his/her own proof of this theorem, and I'm
>lucky to be working with him.

And what did he say?

He said that the four ab triangles plus the middle square make a^2 plus b^2. I understood what he was saying but couldn't see see that it was true without making a drawing, and our time together that day was over. I am sure that he didn't make any cutouts, just looked at the second diagram from proof #4 and visualized the pieces being moved around.


  Alert | IP Printer-friendly page | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
alexbadmin
Charter Member
2465 posts
Dec-20-09, 10:15 PM (EST)
Click to EMail alexb Click to send private message to alexb Click to view user profileClick to add this user to your buddy list  
3. "RE: Proof #28 - Pythagorean Theorem"
In response to message #2
 
   Thank you.

It's a great pleasure to work with talented children. They keep surprising you all the time.


  Alert | IP Printer-friendly page | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
papasandy
Member since Dec-20-09
Dec-21-09, 11:47 PM (EST)
Click to EMail papasandy Click to send private message to papasandy Click to view user profileClick to add this user to your buddy list Click to send message via AOL IM  
4. "RE: Proof #28 - Pythagorean Theorem"
In response to message #3
 
   >Thank you.
>
>It's a great pleasure to work with talented children. They
>keep surprising you all the time.

Toby's mother "confessed" today that he happened upon the following NLVM app while looking at his teacher's website:
https://www.nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/frames_asid_164_g_3_t_3.html?open=instructions&from=topic_t_3.html

None of that dilutes my amazement at Toby, who correctly figured out the bounds of the sum of the angles in a spherical triangle while in the 2nd grade, and last year used the factorization of x^2-1 as the reason why a square is the rectangle of greatest area for a given perimeter. All I do is try to give him interesting things to think about.

BTW, his teacher's site is https://teachermoy.com/AboutMr.Moy.html. A glance at his autobiography reveals that Toby and the rest of the 4th graders are quite lucky to have Ken Moy as their teacher.

-Sandy


  Alert | IP Printer-friendly page | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
alexbadmin
Charter Member
2465 posts
Dec-28-09, 09:39 AM (EST)
Click to EMail alexb Click to send private message to alexb Click to view user profileClick to add this user to your buddy list  
5. "RE: Proof #28 - Pythagorean Theorem"
In response to message #4
 
   >None of that dilutes my amazement at Toby, who correctly
>figured out the bounds of the sum of the angles in a
>spherical triangle while in the 2nd grade, and last year
>used the factorization of x^2-1 as the reason why a square
>is the rectangle of greatest area for a given perimeter.
>All I do is try to give him interesting things to think
>about.

This is what I think should be happening in elementary school. Showing children things they may find interesting so that they may develop motivation for further study. Along the way they will necessarily acquire some skills required by the present curriculum. These may be easily and with little time expenditure enhanced later on, in the presence of motivation.

>BTW, his teacher's site is
>https://teachermoy.com/AboutMr.Moy.html. A glance at his
>autobiography reveals that Toby and the rest of the 4th
>graders are quite lucky to have Ken Moy as their teacher.

Not all teachers are the same of course. Your Toby is certainly lucky to have Mr. Moy as a teacher and you as a tutor.


  Alert | IP Printer-friendly page | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Conferences | Forums | Topics | Previous Topic | Next Topic

You may be curious to have a look at the old CTK Exchange archive.
Please do not post there.

Copyright © 1996-2018 Alexander Bogomolny

Search:
Keywords:

Google
Web CTK