Talk:Spherical Easel Exploration

From EscherMath

Instructor Notes

Note that the problem concerning the area of a triangle works best when taken as a "dynamic problem". I.e. Construct the altitudes of the triangle (use the perpendicular option in the construction menu) and use the calculator to compute the three versions of the .5*(base)*(height) formula. If you then use "move" to manipulate the triangle the .5*(base)*(height) formula will show more divergence when the triangles get larger. This is of course due to the fact that the sphere is locally approximately flat. So small triangles do not show the problem with the .5*(base)*(height) formula as clearly. --Barta 09:43, 15 October 2007 (CDT)