Browsing category pirate maths

Using Units to Deal With Density

Glancing over sample papers for the new GCSE, I stumbled on this: Zahra mixes 150g of metal A and 150g of metal B to make 300g of an alloy. Metal A has a density of $19.3 \unit{g/cm^3}$. Metal B has a density of $8.9 \unit{g/cm^3}$. Work out the density of

The Mathematical Pirate and The Quotient Rule

"Arr, that be a scurvy-lookin' expression!" said the Mathematical Pirate. "A quartic on the top and a quadratic on the bottom. That Ninja would probably try to factorise and do it all elegant-like." "Is that not the point?" "When you got something as 'orrible as that, it's like puttin' lipstick

How The Mathematical Pirate Integrates By Parts

The student sighed. "$\int x^3 e^{-2x} \dx$", he said. "That's going to be integration by parts. And it's going to take three steps. What a pain." "Aharr!" swashbuckled the Mathematical Pirate. "That's what you think!" "It is what I think," said the student, slightly bemused. "Would you like to know..."

How the Mathematical Pirate works out the high times tables

"Arr!" said the Mathematical Pirate. "Pieces of eight!" said the Mathematical Pirate's parrot. "How many pieces of eight?" "Seven!" "That'll be... seventy and ten minus twenty and four, making fifty and six!" "Who's a clever boy?" asked the parrot. "Awk!" --- The Mathematical Pirate is, indeed, a clever boy. He's

How the Mathematical Ninja explains the Mathematical Pirate’s circle trick

"Let me see that!" commanded the Mathematical Ninja, looking at one of the Mathematical Pirate's blog posts. "That's... but that's..." "It's not wrong!" said the Mathematical Pirate, smugly. "It just works!" "But you're presenting it as magic, not as maths." The Mathematical Pirate nodded eagerly. "Lovely magic! How does it

How the Mathematical Pirate finds the centre and radius of a circle

"Arr?" said the student, really not sure. "No, no, $r$," said the Mathematical Pirate. "The centre is at C -- or $(a,\, b)$, if you prefer -- and the radius is $r$." "Gotcha. So, if you've got something like $x^2 + y^2 + 8x - 12y + 3=0$, how do

The Mathematical Pirate and the Formula Triangle

The Mathematical Pirate took one look at the piece of paper attached to the dock. “They’re BANNING formula triangles?! By order of @srcav?!” He swished his sword around. “Let me figure out where he lives, I’ll show him.” “He lives… inshore, cap’n” said the $n$th mate. “It’s too dangerous.” “Can

The Mathematical Pirate’s Guide to Factorising Cubics

“Yarr,” said the Mathematical Pirate. “Ye’ll have plundered a decent calculator, of course?” “Er… well, I bought it from Argos, but… aye, cap’n! A Casio fx-83 GT PLUS!” “A fine calculator,” said the Mathematical Pirate. “One that offers you at least three ways to factorise cubics.” “Really!? I thought you

Secrets of the Mathematical Pirate: Switcheroos

"Don't tell the Mathematical Ninja," said the Mathematical Pirate. The student shook his head enthusiastically. "Narr!" "You've got $\frac {7}{x} = 14$. Ask yourself: what would the Mathematical Ninja do?" "The Mathematical Ninja would do something that looked extremely dangerous and terrifying, but was completely under control." "Correct!" said

The Mathematical Pirate’s guide to the Chain Rule

"Yarr!" said the Mathematical Pirate, chopping his way through the piles of papers strewn around the classroom. The student looked unimpressed. "How do you differentiate $y = \sec^2(3x)$?" she asked. The Mathematical Ninja would have discerned that she'd just read the question without trying to solve it, but the Mathematical