Rebekah Keely (student and Innovation Center staff) and Marc Olsen (Math) collaborated on a laser cut version of Napier’s Bones, a manual mathematical multiplication manipulative for Marc to use with his Math students.
It takes a minute to get the hang of it, but it’s a quick and hands-on way to do multiplication.
Rebekah has mad Illustrator skills, and designed and perfected the file. It’s up on Thingiverse, if you’d like to grab one and make it.
Creating an environment where faculty and students collaborate to make things, from Calculus models to history game tiles is one of our goals. The other day, Marc Olsen (Math) and Rebekah Keely (student) worked together to create a unit circle for use in the Trigonometry classroom.
Basing their design on a paper model, they created the vector file using Illustrator – Rebekah has mad skill with this particular program – and then cut the file from 1/8 plywood using the laser cutter.
Marc has ideas about version two, which will have a center post onto which can be snapped some triangles, as in the paper model. Download the file on Thingiverse, or grab the PDF here..