Transforming f into g

Note: If you're not seeing both graphics windows on GeoGebraTube, you can download the applet and run it on your desktop.

In this applet (inspired by Steve Phelps' What's My Rule series) you select a parent function, f(x),  from among 10 possibilities and click a button to indicate the maximum number of transformations (up to 4) that you'd like to have performed on f to produce a new function g. You see only one point on g, but you can move the corresponding point on f, to determine the relationship between the two. When you believe you have found the parameters that describe the transformation, you can show the graph of the transformed function that your parameters create and see if the lone point moves along it.

Here's a Java version of the applet.

Ferris Wheel

This is a full-featured and beautifully designed GeoGebra applet from John Golden that allows students to practice fitting parameters to a cosine function which models the height of a ferris wheel car above the ground as a function of time. You can watch the ferris wheel spin as the height curve is generated and it provides an endless source of practice since you can always generate a new ferris wheel.

Napier's Gift

I was inspired by the first chapter of Eli Maor's e:The Story of a Number to create this GeoGebra applet designed to help the user discover how to simplify the process of finding a quotient by subtracting exponents. The idea is both to introduce students to logarithms (though they are never mentioned explicitly) and to help students understand why they were so heralded when they were introduced. The applet is also posted on GeoGebraTube.

Daylight Hours Explorer

This Daylight Hours Explorer is from a fabulous collection of astronomy simulations and animations at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Exploring hours of daylight over the course of a year at various locations on the earth is a great way for students to think carefully about parameters of trig functions.

Visualizing Radian Measure

Ted Coe's Unwrapping a Circle applet on GeoGebra Tube is a visually powerful way of demonstrating what a radian is. I've also posted a slight modification of the applet optimized for use as a demonstration.

Indiana Puzzle Quilt

This applet was inspired by a quilt square my mother-in-law made. It provides a nice way of visualizing the  the sum of an infinite geometric series.
Check out the pattern in some real quilts, too!

Update 1/5/2017: See the Snail's Trail Quilt Square