As early as 3500 years ago, shadows of sticks were used as a primitive instrument for indicating the passage of time through the day. The stick came to be called a "gnomon" or "one who knows." Early Babylonian obelisks were designed to determine noon. The development of trigonometry by Greek mathematicians meant that hour lines…

Trigonometric parallax is a powerful method to work out the distance of celestial bodies, and it was used in the past to measure the distance of the Moon, Venus, Mars and nearby stars. We set up an observation campaign for high school and undergraduate students with the purpose to measure both the Moon's and Mars' parallax. To have a large enough…

Over the years the technology behind displaying the image of the unit circle has changed, but the defining features remain constant. The key question for the author as a teacher is this: are the relationships embodied in the image simple, memorable and rich enough to be grasped by any KS3 student at his school? It needs to be simple enough to…

This is the final test for students in the twelfth-grade course Mathematics 30, offered in schools in Alberta, Canada. Intended for administration in January 1987, it is available in both English and French. It contains 52 multiple-choice questions and 3 written-response problems, with 2.5 hours allowed for completion. Approved calculators may be…

This is the final test for students in the twelfth grade course Mathematics 30, offered in schools in Alberta, Canada. Intended for administration in 1988, it is available in both English and French. It contains 52 multiple-choice questions and 3 written-response problems, with 2.5 hours allowed for completion. Approved calculators may be used.…

This document is designed to assist teachers by providing practical examples of real world applications of high school mathematics. Fifteen problems are presented that individuals in industry and business solve using mathematics. Each problem provides the contributor's name, suggested skills required to solve the problem, background information…