Numberopedia
Mrs. Hill sent me a link to this amazing website a while back called Archimedes’ Labarotory. Since you are in the middle of studying ancient Greece in social studies, I thought it would be a good time to share this with you. Archimedes was one of the greatest mathematicians in history. You may have read about him in your social studies text. He died during the Roman siege of Syracuse in 212 BCE. There are two stories about how he was killed by a Roman soldier, and they are both equally interesting. It’s impossible to tell which, if any, is the true account, but they both demonstrate Archimedes’ devotion to mathematics.
The first story realtes that Archimedes was totally engrossed in a mathematical problem when the soldier arrived at his house. When the soldier ordered him to stop what he was doing and report to the Roman general, Archimedes refused. The Roman soldier was insulted and killed Archimedes. His last words were reported to be “Do not disturb my circles,” a reference to the problem he was working on.
The second story agrees with the first that Archimedes was engrossed in a math problem when the soldier arrived at his house and ordered him to report to the Roman general. Archimedes refused to leave his house without taking his math tools with him. The soldier was suspicious of the tools and demanded that Archimedes “disarm” himself. When Archimedes still refused, he killed him.
You never thought math could be so dangerous, did you? Actually, the website isn’t about Archimedes himself; it’s just got some really cool math stuff. The part I like the best is the Numberopedia. This is similar to an encyclopedia except all the entries are numbers. It gives cool facts, trivia and relationships about numbers from zero to a brazillion– something math geeks like us can get lost in for hours! For example, I looked up two of my favorite numbers– 58 and 85. I learned that they are the only pair of two-digit reversible hoax numbers. I hadn’t ever heard of hoax numbers before. Check out your favorite numbers and find out something cool about them.
Here’s the link: http://www.archimedes-lab.org/numbers/Num1_69.html
Mr. Haas' Math Blog 
Hey Mr. Hass
The numberopedia was pretty cool. I looked at the golden ratio and saw that the symbol for phi was Φ.
Your D period student,
Richard
Hey Mr.Hass,
I think that it was really cool that Archimedes was so devoted to math that he gave his life. It’s a good thing Rome fell, now mathmatitions don’t have to worry about a soldier knocking down the door while your doing an equation!
Your B period student,
Caoilin
Awesome website! There is so many cool things on it! 🙂