Title: Re: Maths and photography - help?
Wow, some really interesting suggestions there...plenty of food for thought.
In answer to your question Andrew, the students are year 9, which in the UK is about 13/14 years old I think. Sorry, should have mentioned that in the original post.
I like the idea of measuring things by using scale ratio’s of known lengths in the pictures etc, as suggested by Andy. I also like the idea of photographing a falling object, (also suggested by Andy) though have to confess the calculations are right over my head...not too much of a problem as I’ll be working in partnership with a maths teacher so guess he can do all that part, I would just need to deal with the business of actually photographing a falling object etc. Great stuff though, in fact genius!
Lastly, thanks to Michael, there’s loads of useful suggestions in your comments, so that should keep me busy for a while!
It’s going to be an interesting project. I’m working with a maths teacher, and the architect is coming into the school to talk about the building designs etc. As I understand it the building is about half way to completion, and we are going to have a site visit in the next week or so.
Thank you so much for all your useful thoughts on the matter. As someone who is rather number blind this has been causing me a bit of worry so it’s a relief to see just how much Mathematics can be used in photography. Or should that be photography used in Mathematics?
I may well come back with more questions once I have digested all this.
Cheers,
Jonathan.
On 11/03/2010 04:44, "Andrew Sharpe" <asharpe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> After reading others' suggestions here, it occurs to me that I may have
> missed where the age of the target students was mentioned. I gave
> suggestions that would be appropriate for older students; it appears
> that most here gave suggestions suitable for elementary or middle school.
>
> So, perhaps it would have been more helpful if we were told the age of
> the students in question.
>
> Andrew
>
>
> On 03/10/2010 12:26 PM, Andrew Sharpe wrote:
>> There is (or can be) quite a bit of math in photography. Inverse square
>> law, field of view, depth of field including the circle of confusion,
>> the Scheimpflug principle, focal length changes with diopters, f-stop
>> calculations for bellows use, etc. Just look on the web for photography
>> formulas (or formulae), and I think you'd find everything you want.
>>
>> Andrew
>>
>>
>> On 3/10/2010, "David Dyer-Bennet" <dd-b@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>>> On Wed, March 10, 2010 07:57, jonathan turner wrote:
>>>
>>>> I've been asked to do some work in a school that involves using
>>>> photography
>>>> to help with learning maths. I'm fairly hopeless at maths so am very
>>>> unsure
>>>> of how to proceed.
>>>>
>>>> The project is centred around the construction of a new library building,
>>>> which we are going to take pictures of, but have to find some sort of
>>>> mathematical aspect to the photography to help with their learning.
>>>>
>>>> I was thinking of something to do with symmetry/geometry etc but other
>>>> than
>>>> that have really no clue as to how to bring mathematical concepts into it.
>>>> Obviously mathematics and photography are two quite different disciplines,
>>>> I'm sure there must be plenty of crossover points but I'm really
>>>> struggling
>>>> to see them.
>>> For example, trying to determine real-world dimensions based on
>>> photographs. For simple square-on shots, that gets you basic ratios. For
>>> anything else, that gets you perspective calculations (more complex
>>> ratios) as well.
>>>
>>> However, it's easy enough to go in with a tape measure to your own
>>> library; makes this an obviously-artificial exercise, which aren't the
>>> best for motivating students.
>>>
>>> --
>>> David Dyer-Bennet, dd-b@xxxxxxxx; http://dd-b.net/
>>> Snapshots: http://dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/data/
>>> Photos: http://dd-b.net/photography/gallery/
>>> Dragaera: http://dragaera.info
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
--
Jonathan Turner
Photographer
e: pictures@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
t: 0113 217 1275
m:07796 470573
7 Scott Hall Walk, Leeds, LS7 3JQ
http://www.jonathan-turner.com
