Sundials can be constructed and appreciated by children at many ages and levels of mathematical sophistication.
For example, the lines can be determined experimentally without any mathematics at all, as in the sixth grade sundial project: <<http://www.mbnet.mb.ca/~frontena/sundial2.html>http://www.mbnet.mb.ca/~fr ontena/sundial2.html>. With children familiar with computers from an early age these days, they could start by entering latitude and longitude (perhaps obtained by pointing to their location on a map) into a computer program, which then prints a planar (or other) dial. The complexity in the formula comes from transforming into a horizontal plane; I would think that a cylindrical or hemispherical dial would not have that problem. I agree that good explanations are essential at all levels, and that clear explanations of the mathematics should be made available to those children (and adults) able to comprehend them. If these explanations are not already available on the Web, then it would be a useful project to provide them. Gordon At 03:01 AM 10/15/1999 , Warren Thom wrote: >Hi all, > >After rereading my last post, I did not wish to insult anyone by >implying that C=2(pi)r was complex for them. But that formula and >Tan HA = Sin L x Tan t, are complex if we wish to draw school age >children into dialing. So - how do we explain that math to school >children? Must we do so? What can be done in dialling that is >understandable with grade school math? I liked Mac Oglesby's solar >plane dials because he put a lot of effort into reducing the math - not >an easy task. Are constructions one way to go? I think so. Gordon Uber [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reynen & Uber Web Design http://www.ubr.com/rey&ubr/ Webmaster: Clocks and Time http://www.ubr.com/clocks/
