Author | Lightnews

Mark Trushkowsky @marktrushkowsky.bsky.social · 8d

Minneapolis is doing me right on the jazz front these days.

Brandee Younger Trio at the Dakota with Rashaan Carter on bass

Makaya McCraven and Junius Paul at the Ice House

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Reposted by Mark Trushkowsky

Citizen Math @citizenmath.bsky.social · Sep 30

Counted Out, a new documentary about math, democracy, and civic life, opens Oct 3–9 at Cinema Village in NYC 🍿 for a limited run.

Don’t miss the opening weekend Q&As on Oct 3 (5pm) and Oct 4 (6pm). Reserve tickets here: www.cinemavillage.com/Now-Playing/...

#mathsky #realworldmath

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Mark Trushkowsky @marktrushkowsky.bsky.social · Sep 30

Next I tried it with Fig. 13. I created a grid in the center of each square unit to see if it would that have the same area as the figure we can build with the corners from Figure 11, removing the center, and pushing the corners together.

A grid drawn over figure 13 resulting in an area of 60 sq units, which is the same area as the rearranged figure created with the corners of Figure 11.

Mark Trushkowsky @marktrushkowsky.bsky.social · Sep 30

Another pattern emerged when I started playing around with creating a grid in the center of each sq unit

The area of the blue figure is 61 sq units.

I noticed the grid by itself had an area of 40 sq units. It also looked a lot like the figure we got we we added corners to our original figure

Figure 11 (area of 60 squares units). A grid made from connecting the center points of Figure 11.

The grid by itself, and area of 40 square units

The grid and the figure created from the corners of Figure 9, both with an area of 40 square units

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Mark Trushkowsky @marktrushkowsky.bsky.social · Sep 30

I decided to create similar figures to have more to explore to look for patterns.

I used the second figure from the launch (11 squares high and 11 squares wide as opposed to 9) and “filled in the corners.”

#ANNMath #MTBoS

The area of the blue is 11 + 9 + 9 + 7 + 7 + 5 + 5 + 3 + 3 + 1 + 1 = 61 squares

The area of the corners (orange) is 10 + 10 + 8 + 8 + 6 + 6 + 4 + 4 + 2 + 2 = 60 squares

Again, the area of the blue is a little more than half the area of the entire square, and the area of the orange is a little less.

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Mark Trushkowsky @marktrushkowsky.bsky.social · Sep 30

I wondered what would happen if we “finished” the square by filling in the corners.

Looking at just the green area, I rearranged the pieces to look similar to the original figure. The figure felt similar, but like an “even” version.

#ANNMath #CAMImath
#MTBoS

On the left, a blue figure with an area of 41 square units, arranged in centered columns 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 7, 5, 3, 1.

On the right, the same figure, imbedded in a 9x9 square, with the same 41 squares in blue, plus 40 green squares (10 in each corner, arranged as stairs 4, 3, 2, 1)

The blue figure removed and the green squares rearranged into columns with heights of 2, 4, 6, 8, 8, 6, 4, 2

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Mark Trushkowsky @marktrushkowsky.bsky.social · Sep 30

Last May’s Community of Math Instructors (CAMI) monthly teachers’ circle meeting started with some attention for some fairly simply-structured figures.

#ANNMath #CAMImath
#MTBoS #ITeachMath

nyccami.org/attention-an...

Two shapes.

On the left, an area of 41 squares. One way to describe them is in 9 vertical columns, with 1 square, 3 squares, 5 squares, 7 squares, 9 squares, then 7, 5, 3, and 1.

The figure on the right can be described as a similar figure, rotated 45 degrees, except the columns would be arranged 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 9, 7, 5, 3, 1.

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Reposted by Mark Trushkowsky

benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · Sep 21

Finally! A citable writeup for @jennalaib.bsky.social!

And, as linked in the article, there is the trove of examples freely available at:
slowrevealgraphs.com

#iTeachMath ♾️

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Reposted by Mark Trushkowsky

Christopher Danielson @triangleman.bsky.social · Sep 1

Minnesota's Largest Pattern Block Mosaic!

talkingmathwithkids.com/blog/minneso...

Minnesota's Largest Pattern Block Mosaic | Talking Math With Your Kids

To celebrate ten years of Math On-A-Stick, we built Minnesota's Largest Pattern Block Mosaic yesterday at the Minnesota State Fair. Careful study of this next image reveals 24 jaggedy "rows" of 7 larg...

talkingmathwithkids.com

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Mark Trushkowsky @marktrushkowsky.bsky.social · Aug 31

Crop art nurtures through inspiration, and humor.

The quote: “All flourishing is mutual” from Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, above two hands filled with seeds, all created using seeds.

A black and white image of a person made of beans, planting a single red bean, above the word PERSIST, written with red beans.

“We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated.” Maya Angelou

Three kittens peering directly at you, between the words, “ARE YOU POOPING?”

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Mark Trushkowsky @marktrushkowsky.bsky.social · Aug 31

More crop art.

A portrait of a goat, created from seeds (natural colors)

A furry portrait of a prairie rodent, created from seeds

Olive Trees with Yellow Sky by Vincent Van Gogh, created from seeds

A portrait of a rooster, created from seeds (dyed/painted)

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Mark Trushkowsky @marktrushkowsky.bsky.social · Aug 31

Crop art at the State Fair is always amazing, but this year feels a little next level.

A portrait of Clara Bow, made with seeds

Bjork’s 1995 album cover of Post, made out of seeds (and also I can’t believe this album is 30 years old)

A portrait of Sly Stone singing into a microphone, created out of seeds

The dining hall at the Naniboujou Lodge, made out of brightly colored seeds

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Mark Trushkowsky @marktrushkowsky.bsky.social · Aug 31

Joyful colors and shapes seen in the Creative Activities Building at the Minnesota State Fair.

#MTBoS #ITeachMath #MathArt #MNStateFairMath

A black quilt with rectangular panels of bright colors.

Rectangular-ish shapes in bright colors on a black background

An array of a spectrum of colored squares on a black background.

Quilt: a 3x4 array of circles with star points around their edge and a two-colored star within each. Inset in that array is a 2x3 array of circles separated into pinwheels. Bright colors.

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Mark Trushkowsky @marktrushkowsky.bsky.social · Aug 31

The power of squares in quilt designs at the Minnesota State Fair

#unitchat #MNStateFairMath #MTBoS #ITeachMath

Quilt made of of squares of different blues and greens and brown and whites.

A multicolored quilt design of smaller squares, on diagonals, forming triangular points.

Quilt made of many small squares, with one larger square on the right side with smaller squares set inside of it.

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Mark Trushkowsky @marktrushkowsky.bsky.social · Aug 30

I love community data collection like this one at the MN State Fair.

Cast your bean and vote your commitment to local food.

What do you notice? How do you feel? What do you wonder? What will you do?

#MTBoS #ITeachMath #creativerepresentationsofdata

Four glass-enclosed frames with space at the top for dropping in a bean to vote for one of the categories. The categories: Grow Relationships, Give Time, Spend Local, & Share Knowledge. Each category has different heights of beans that have been added.

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Mark Trushkowsky @marktrushkowsky.bsky.social · Aug 30

Minnesota State Fair Math

What they have in common is that they are all 2025 champion grains & legumes. But #WODB?

#MTBoS
#ITeachMath

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Mark Trushkowsky @marktrushkowsky.bsky.social · Jul 29

I see you @letterboxd.social

Three circles—one orange, one blue, one green—in a sign for mother earth gardens in Longfellow neighborhood at dusk.

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Mark Trushkowsky @marktrushkowsky.bsky.social · Apr 12

Great week for music in the Twins. Ebo Taylor in town with Pat Thomas, and the Ebo Taylor family band for Jazz is Dead at the Fine Line and then Nubya Garcia at the Dakota with Lyle Barton on keys, Max Luthert on bass, and Sam Jones on drums.

89 year old Ghanaian afrofunk legend Ebo Taylor with a band that included at least 3 of his sons (on bass, keys, and guitar). Also pictured is a tight horn section of trombone and trumpet.

Longtime Ebo Taylor collaborator and highlife singer, Pat Taylor on stage. Also visable are bass player, keyboardist, and horn section playing handheld percussion.

Two drummers (one on kit and one with conga drums), bass player, trombonist, trumpeter, guitarist, and keyboardist/singer. The Ebo Taylor family band, incredible in their own right.

Nubya Garcia on saxophone, Lyle Barton on piano, Max Luthert on bass, playing Water’s Path under blue lights.

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Mark Trushkowsky @marktrushkowsky.bsky.social · Apr 8

Some of Donald Judd’s 15 untitled works in concrete. Marfa, Texas. #mathart #MTBOS #iteachmath

Concrete cubes in shadow and light in the desert

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Mark Trushkowsky @marktrushkowsky.bsky.social · Mar 14

A4

#1. I saw a center column of odd#s of flowers, increasing by 2, starting with 1 - so 1, 3, 5, 7,… On either side of that, columns increasing by 1 (1, 2, 3)

#2 An extra row of 3 is added each time, as well as 1 more flower on top

#ElemMathChat

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Mark Trushkowsky @marktrushkowsky.bsky.social · Mar 3

The U.S. Dept. of Education is now soliciting reports on discrimination in schools, but their web address reveals their bias. Don’t let bad-faith actors control the narrative. If you’ve seen attacks on DEI, curriculum censorship, or barriers to access, speak up & submit a response.

A screenshot of a page from the official website of the US Department of Education, with the url: enddei.ed.gov

The text reads:

"Schools should be focused on learning.

The U.S. Department of Education is committed to ensuring all students have access to meaningful learning free of divisive ideologies and indoctrination. This submission form is an outlet for students, parents, teachers, and the broader community to report illegal discriminatory practices at institutions of learning. The Department of Education will utilize community submissions to identify potential areas for investigation."

The survey questions:

Your email
School or school district
School or school district ZIP Code
"Please describe in as much detail as possible the discriminatory practice taking place (450 Word Limit)"
Upload File (optional)

Reposted by Mark Trushkowsky

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social · Mar 1

"I just don't understand how our country is like this now, this has never been who we are."

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McCarthyism and the Red Scare | Miller Center

The paranoia about the internal Communist threat—what we call the Red Scare—reached a fever pitch between 1950 and 1954, when Senator Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin, a right-wing Republican, launched a ser...

millercenter.org

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Mark Trushkowsky @marktrushkowsky.bsky.social · Feb 26

Left
Center square rgb(88,123,166)
Inner frame rgb(0,13,123)
Outer frame rgb(96,0,60)

Right
Center square rgb(88,123,166)
Inner frame rgb(67,255,137)
Outer frame rgb(0,13,123)

What do you notice? What do you wonder?
#MTBoS #mathart

Color Frames by Aren Lew (www.desmos.com/calculator/p...)

A colored center square rgb(88,123,166)
A colored inner frame rgb(0,13,123)
A colored outer frame rgb(96,0,60)

A colored center square rgb(88,123,166)
A colored inner frame rgb(67,255,137)
A colored outer frame rgb(0,13,123)

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Mark Trushkowsky @marktrushkowsky.bsky.social · Feb 26

The center squares are the same color!
(www.desmos.com/calculator/p...)

#mathart #MTBoS #mathforidentityandbelonging

A center square with a square frame around it and a another square frame around that.

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Mark Trushkowsky @marktrushkowsky.bsky.social · Feb 26

It's not even my birdy, but my friend Aren built me a tool on Desmos (www.desmos.com/calculator/p...) to explore Josef Albers' theory that our perception of a color is influenced by the colors that surround it.
That all of the center squares are the same color boggles my mind! #mathart #MTBoS

A center square with a square frame around it and a third square frame around that frame.

A center square with a square frame around it and a third square frame around that frame. The middle frame has changed color from the last picture. The center square appears to be a different color, but it has not changed - it just looks different because the color of the frame around it has changed.

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