Guest Post: 10 Simple Ways to Teach Kids Math in the Kitchen

Little learning opportunities for some extra education can be found everywhere for parents and children alike. If you’re trying to teach your preschooler some basic math functions, or helping your young mathematician sharpen her skills, you may need look no further than your own kitchen for a potential classroom.

Here are ten simple ways you can teach your kids math in the kitchen: » Read more

Potato chips and mathematics

If your math teacher told you that mathematics is everywhere, believe him.   Almost all the things that we see around (even things that we do not see)  are  related to mathematics  — even potato chips. Yes, even potato chips.

Some potato chips, particularly Pringles (I hope they give me 500 bucks for this), are in a shape of a saddle.  In mathematics a saddle-shaped graph is called a hyperbolic paraboloid (see left figure).

A hyperbolic paraboloid quadratic and doubly ruled surface given by the Cartesian equation $z = \displaystyle\frac{y^2}{b^2} - \frac{x^2}{a^2}$.  Now, whatever that means will be discussed when you take your analytic geometry course.

For now, let’s be happy that we  know that even potato chips can be modeled by graphs. 🙂

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Sources: Omg Facts, Pringle’s Site, Wolfram Math World

Photo Credit: Hyperbolic Paraboloid (Wikimedia), Pringles chips (Wikimedia)