fall-2017-final

Grant Opportunities Flanagan Innovation in Mathematics Education Grant : The Virginia Council of Teachers of Mathematics is offering Virginia mathematics educators a one-year grant worth up to $500. This grant is designed to support educators who wish to create a meaningful, innovative project that enhances some aspect of the K-12 math- ematics curriculum. Karen Dee Michalowicz First Timers Grant : This grant is name for Karen Dee Michalowicz who actively promoted and supported conference development and attendance. The purpose of this grant is to provide funding support for: VCTM mem- bers who have NOT previously attended but wish to attend a regional or annual NCTM meeting; or any Virginia teacher (including non-members) who wish to at- tend a VCTM Annual Conference or VCTM Academy for the first time. Three grants are available. One award is given for the regional or annual NCTM confer- ence of $800 and two awards of $400 each for the state conference or academy.

November 4, 2017

December 2, 2017

NCTM deadlines start November 3, 2017

For more information about VCTM grants, please visit: vctm.org/Grants For information about grants through NCTM, please visit: nctm.org/Grants/

Busting Blockbusters!

Many Hollywood movies have scenes that seem mathematically inaccurate, if not, impossible. Are these scenes truly impossi- ble, or are they more plausible than they seem? The goal of the contest is to provide the best mathematical explanations for the following scene. The solutions that best explain a scene’s possibility or impossibility and the different elements that help form this will receive an award and the winner will be featured in the Spring issue . Answer s may be submitted by November 31, 2017 to VMT@radford.edu with the subject line: Busting Blockbusters entry .

In the Star Trek episode “Court Martial,” the crew is searching for a supposedly dead crew member. Captain Kirk beams the crew down to the surface and uses a “boost” of 1 4 power to increase the auditory sensors to hear the heartbeats of everyone on board. How much did the auditory sensors actually increase? Would it be enough to hear a heartbeat?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyNxjtVKUT4

This issue of Busting Block Busters is contributed by Dr. Neil Sigmon, RU.

Virginia Mathematics Teacher vol. 44, no. 1

28