Presentation on Learning Math with Python

Hello!
The Bay Area Python Interest Group invited me to speak at LinkedIn last Thursday about using Python in math education. They asked that I work in something about the Raspberry Pi, which (as the organizer of the SF Peninsula Raspberry Pi Meetup group) I took as an invitation to overdo it. So I loaded all my programs on my Pi 3 and did the whole presentation on it: the slides, my Python programs, a web search and my Minecraft maze and big honkin' pyramid.
People liked the visual, interactive, 3D stuff I showed them but they seemed particularly blown away that I did the whole presentation on a Pi. They made me hold it up afterwards to prove it.
[image: Inline image 1]
Yes, that's the 2D cellular automaton from page 172 of Wolfram's New Kind of Science, in Minecraft.
LinkedIn was recording it but they said it'll be a while before they post it. My colleague Ken Hawthorne was filming, too, and has posted his video here <https://vimeo.com/175855273>.
Long story short, showing off is fun but I'd love to work with math teachers and help them incorporate Python programming into all their math lessons. And when they get some experience under their belt they'll be able to do more challenging explorations like fractals, cellular automata and 3D graphics. I never said it's going to be easy, but it can be more rewarding and meaningful than the way I learned math back in the day.
Let me know what you think!
Peter
participants (1)
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Peter Farrell