What happens when three math teachers go to the Exploratorium? We briefly pass through all the fancy science exhibits and then spend like 20 minutes staring at this seemingly simple display of a square wheel rolling on arched ground.
The key is keeping the center of the wheel always at the same height above the ground. So how do you design the piece of the circle that makes up the "ground"? I still haven't figure it out, but we came up with some interesting stuff that was too difficult to continue without pen and paper.
In summation: my kids are going to build square wheels. But I should probably try it first.
Questions:
- Is it better to start with the ground or the wheel?
- If bottom of each circular ground piece is a chord, does the central angle intersecting the ends of that chord always have to be the same?
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