A Ton of Crap
Page 12
PI
The Symbol Pi is a mathematical constant. Pi is always equal to the ratio between the area of a circle to its radius that is squared. Pi is represented by the Greek letter π. This symbol’s name is pi, and it is the symbol still used today. The letter stems from the Greek word περίμετρος, meaning “perimeter.” The first to use the symbol as the mathematical constant was William Jones in 1708. The mathematical constant is always represented by the lowercase π, because the capital version, ∏, has an entirely different meaning.
NATURAL DISASTERS
Earthquakes The Earth’s crust and the mantle slowly move in separate pieces called tectonic plates. The edges of these tectonic plates are called boundaries, and the boundaries are made of faults. As the plates move, the edges get stuck as the rest of the plate continues to move. When the plate finally moves far enough away, the edges of the plate get unstuck on one of the faults, and this release of energy creates an earthquake.
PORTUGUESE
The Origins Portuguese is the sixth most-spoken language in the world. It is a Romance language that evolved from Latin, which was spoken on the western coast of the Iberian Peninsula. From a.d. 409 to 711, Germanic people inhabited the land, which led to regional variation. From the ninth to eleventh centuries, Portuguese-Galician was first being used in official administrative documents. In the eleventh century, the Christians of the region took over the land, and Portuguese and Galician split.
LESSON 11B
THE RENAISSANCE
The Medici Family The Renaissance began in Florence, Italy. Much of the great artwork in the Early Renaissance can be traced back to a family of the noble class, the Medici family. In the thirteenth century, the Medici acquired great wealth as bankers and became the wealthiest family in all of Italy. With their wealth, they sponsored many artistic endeavors, such as the great paintings and architecture of this time.
VISUAL LITERACY
Why Visual Literacy Is Important Today’s world is increasingly visual, and in order for people to get a true grasp of a situation, they must be able to grasp an understanding of visual imagery such as photographs. Through expressing thoughts and ideas in visual form and translating the meaning of visual forms, students become visually literate, which allows them to have a greater understanding of the world around them.
PI
The Definition To put it simply, π is the ratio of a circumference of a circle to the diameter of the circle. In other words, the equation looks like this:
Regardless of the size of the circle, this ratio will always equal π. There is another way to define π by using a circle’s area, and that is by this equation:
In this equation, r represents the radius of the circle, which is half of the diameter.
NATURAL DISASTERS
Hurricanes Hurricanes, also known as typhoons or cyclones, develop in the summer and early fall months. Hurricanes develop over warm waters. The humid air travels upward, forming clouds and leaving a low pressure area below it. Any warm air left in this area pushes into the low pressure area and begins to rise. This process continues as the air and clouds spin. When the wind speeds of this low-pressure system reaches 75 miles per hour, it is no longer a tropical storm and is officially a hurricane.
PORTUGUESE
Dialects There are many types of dialects found in Portuguese, but the two main ones can be broken down into Brazilian and European. The differences between the two involve different grammatical forms and phonology. The European dialect is more like that spoken by Portugal’s former Asian and African colonies. The Brazilian dialect is primarily spoken in Brazil, and is the most common form.
LESSON 11C
THE RENAISSANCE
Early Renaissance The Early Renaissance was from 1330 to 1450, and took place in Florence, Italy. Artwork sponsored by the Medici family placed great focus on the art of Ancient Greece and Rome. The artwork once again focused on humanism, naturalism, and realism, with new ideas introduced into art such as depth of field, linear perspective, and new types of shading. The most well-known artists to come out of the Early Renaissance are Sandro Botticelli (La Primavera), Domenico Ghirlandaio (An Old Man and His Grandson), and Piero della Francesca (The Baptism).
VISUAL LITERACY
Data Visualization Data visualization is a method of presenting data graphically with shapes, proportions, dimensions, textures, and direction. A graphic that is proportionately large to the paper it is on can convey a sense of importance and will draw the eye in before anything else. Direction of a shape can lead to many different emotional states. A vertical shape might present stability, while a diagonal shape might show movement or change.
PI
Early History of Pi The Rhind Mathmatical Papyrus, a famous piece of Egyptian papyrus dated around 1650 b.c., from Egypt shows the use of pi written by the scribe Ahmes. He states: “Cut ofof a diameter and construct a square upon the remainder; this has the same area as the circle.” According to his calculations, pi equaled 3.16049. In the nineteenth century b.c., the Babylonians believed the value to be 25/8, which is only 0.5 percent below the actual value of π.
NATURAL DISASTERS
Tornadoes The most common and dangerous tornadoes form from a supercell thunderstorm, meaning it lasts longer than an hour and feeds off of a rising current of air that is rotating and tilted. Non-supercell tornadoes form without the updraft of air. A gustnado is a form of a non-supercell tornado that forms near the ground from dust or debris, and a landspout is a non-supercell tornado that forms near the ground, doesn’t have a rotating updraft, and forms a funnel when the thunderstorm cloud is growing. Waterspouts are like landspouts, but they form over water.
PORTUGUESE
Related Languages Portuguese is a West Iberian Romance language, and is closely related to Spanish, Galician, Fala, Leonese, and Mirandese. Galician and Fala are the closest languages to Portuguese. Galician and Portuguese used to be one language called Galician-Portuguese, and the vocabulary of Galician is still very similar to Portuguese. Fala is a descendant of Galician-Portuguese, and is spoken in several small towns in Spain.
LESSON 11D
THE RENAISSANCE
High Renaissance The artwork of the High Renaissance, which was from 1490 to 1530, made advances on the techniques of artists of the Early Renaissance. The center of the High Renaissance was Rome, and artwork was now being commissioned by the popes. It is during the High Renaissance that the best-known works of Renaissance painters appeared. The most well-known artists to come out of the High Renaissance are Leonardo da Vinci (Last Supper), Michelangelo Buonarroti (The Creation of Adam), and Raphael (Sistine Madonna).
VISUAL LITERACY
Typography The size, arrangement, and style of letters can give different meanings, and also determine an image’s legibility. This is especially important in understanding advertising, websites, or media pieces. Typography does not just rely on what font looks the best, but rather what font will convey the message you want to get across to the viewer. Typography also gives value. Not all words are given the same meaning or value, and use of typography allows for distinctions and emphasis to be made.
PI
Pi Gets More Accurate At first, pi was believed to have less than ten digits. Aryabhata, an Indian mathematician and astronomer from the fifth century, came to the realization that pi is in fact an irrational number; that is, the decimals go on forever without repeating. Around 1600, Ludolph van Ceulen, a German mathematician, correctly identified the first 35 decimals in pi. In 1789, a Slovene mathematician calculated to the first 140, though only the first 126 numbers were correct. In 1873, the first 527 numbers were calculated correctly. And in 2005, with the use of a supercomputer, the first 1.24 trillion places were claimed to have been calculated correctly.
NATURAL DISASTERS
Avalanches Avalanches occur because of gravity’s pull on the snow on a mountainside. In mild weather, water vapor can slide down the snow, flake, and refreeze at the center, cr
eating a cohesive and solid mass. When it is cold, the water vapor goes to the bottom of the snow on the ground, and forms angular crystals, which weaken snow. Sunlight and light rain produce a thin surface crust, and that makes bonding of new snow more difficult. Instability of the snowpack can be triggered by a storm, wind, temperature, and even a person’s weight. Sluffs are avalanches of loose snow, and slab avalanches occur when a strong layer is on top of a weak layer. Sluffs are the more deadlier type of avalanche.
PORTUGUESE
The Portuguese Language Orthographic Agreement of 1990 In 1990, an international treaty was made to unify the writing system of Portuguese that would be used by all Portuguese-speaking countries. The treaty made changes in the spelling of both European and Brazilian Portuguese. Some letters were removed, the letters k, w, and y were added to the Portuguese alphabet, and guidelines were made for the use of the hyphen and capitalization.
LESSON 11E
THE RENAISSANCE
Northern Renaissance The Northern Renaissance was from 1500 to 1600, and it took place outside of Italy. The ideas of the Renaissance quickly spread throughout Europe, and some of the most notable artwork of the time came from the Netherlands and Germany. This artwork is distinctively different than the work produced in Italy, due to the increasing disenchantment with the Church. The figures appeared less classical, and more realistic. The most well-known artists to come out of the Northern Renaissance are the Flemish painter Jan Van Eyck (The Arnolfini Portrait), the German painter Albrecht Durer (The Knight, Death, and the Devil), and the Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch (The Garden of Earthly Delights).
VISUAL LITERACY
Color Color shapes emotions and perceptions of a visual image. In terms of visual literacy, an important distinction needs to be understood when it comes to colors, and that is the difference between warm and cool colors. Hues can express mood. Red, a warm color, will evoke anger or passion, while blue, a cool color, is more passive and is often used to represent truth. Color saturation and contrast of light and dark also play a key role in understanding the role of color.
PI
An Irrational Constant Pi is an irrational constant, which means that it cannot be expressed as a fraction or ratio of two integers. Pi is also a transcendental number, meaning that it is not the root of any algebraic numbers. When pi is calculated out into numbers, the decimal representation does not repeat or end. For example, the number truncated to 50 decimals is 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510. So for basic mathematic equations, many people shorten pi to 3.14.
NATURAL DISASTERS
Tsunamis Tsunamis are caused by shifts in the seafloor, and are generally the results of earthquakes, landslides, or volcanic eruptions. For a tsunami to occur, the earthquake must occur near or under the ocean, with vertical movements in the seafloor. Large amounts of energy are dispersed in an upward bottom movement, and a wave forms. The largest tsunami ever recorded had waves up to 1,640 feet high and occurred in Alaska in 1958.
PORTUGUESE
Portuguese Today Around 240 million people speak Portuguese today, and it is the official language of nine countries. Portuguese is the most widely spoken language of the Southern Hemisphere. Attempts have been made to turn Portuguese into an official language of the United Nations; however, it has faced several challenges, such as the fact that many Portuguese speakers all live on the same continent.
LESSON 11F
THE RENAISSANCE
Advancements in Technology and Science Not only was the Renaissance a time of great achievements in art, but there were also great advancements made in technology. It is during this time period that the first portable clocks, eyeglasses, printing press, microscope, telescope, and even the first flush toilet were created. With the rise of technology and science, ideas such as gravity and the ability to study the universe led to the notion that the universe was not simply centered around mankind.
VISUAL LITERACY
The Power of Photography Photography is one of the greatest sources for understanding past events, and helps tell the story of what occurred in ways other methods cannot. A photograph is not just a still of everyday life, but rather a scene that was specifically chosen and highly edited. With every photograph comes the opinion of the photographer. It is a natural part of photography, because the photographer chooses what should and should not be seen in the photograph. Understanding how to interpret photographs leads to visual literacy.
PI
The Not-So-Accurate Pi Less accurate depictions of pi can be found in sources as early as the Bible, which states that pi equals 3. More recently, the Indiana Pi Bill of 1897 was an attempt to turn into law the notion that pi equaled 3.2 in the state of Indiana. The bill never passed the Indiana General Assembly, and never became a law.
NATURAL DISASTERS
Volcanic Eruptions Volcanoes are mountains that were formed from folded continental plates. The magma that is erupted from the volcano comes from 150 kilometers below the Earth’s crust, where there is enormous pressure. This pressure forces the magma to rise, creating the eruption. When magma is released, it is then referred to as lava. Volcanoes do not always have to erupt from the top. Mount St. Helens was a volcano that erupted from the side.
PORTUGUESE
Useful Portuguese Phrases Here are some helpful phrases to use when traveling to a Portuguese-speaking country:
Hello. Olá.
Goodbye. Adeus.
Good day. Bom dia.
Good evening. Boa tarde.
Yes. Sim.
No. Não.
Thank you. Obrigado.
How much? Quanto?
I don’t speak Portuguese. Eu não falo
Português.
Hey, ref! Where’s the penalty? Oí, árbitro! Cadê o penalty?
Brazil is magnificent! O Brasil é lindo maravilhoso!
LESSON 11 Quiz
Which of the following is true?
The Northern Renaissance took place in Rome and the High Renaissance took place in Florence.
The Early Renaissance took place in Florence and the High Renaissance took place in Germany.
The Early Renaissance took place in Florence and the High Renaissance took place in Rome.
The Early Renaissance took place in Rome and the High Renaissance took place in Florence.
What was one quality of Northern Renaissance paintings?
They were more realistic.
They were more idealized.
They were religion oriented only.
They were sponsored by the Medici family.
What is visual literacy?
A method of teaching how to take
photographs
A method of teaching how to read on television screens
A method of teaching how to create typography
A method of teaching based on the principle that visual images are a language that must be learned
Which of the following aids in understanding visual literacy?
Color
Typography
Photographs
All of the above
Which of the following is a formula for pi?
Area/diameter
Circumference/diameter
Diameter/area
Area/circumference
What is a transcendental
number?
A number truncated to 50 decimals
A number that is not the root of any
algebraic numbers
A number that cannot be expressed as a fraction or ratio of two integers
Number that has less than ten digits
What is the difference between sluffs and slabs?
Sluffs are avalanches of loose snow and slabs have a strong layer on top of a weak layer.
Slabs are avalanches of loose snow and sluffs have a strong layer on top of a weak layer.
Sluffs are tropical storms; slabs are hurricanes.
Sluffs are hurricanes; slabs are tropical storms.
T
yphoons and cyclones are other words used to describe:
Avalanches
Tsunamis
Tornadoes
Hurricanes
What letters were added in the Portuguese Language Orthographic Agreement of 1990?
q, x, and b
k, w, and y
k, w, and c
q, x, and y
The closest language to Portuguese is:
Spanish
Galician
Leonese
Mirandese
ANSWER KEY: c, a, d, d, b, b, a, d, b, b
Lesson 12
HISTORY: The Ming Dynasty