Thursday, November 1, 2007

Natalie (Portman)'s Numbers

Our Canadian friends over at Shameless have discovered this gem:














Yup! Natalie Portman is guest editor of the October edition of Scholastic Math! In this edition of Math:
We uncover the math in Natalie's favorite topics, with commentary from her.
  • It's almost time to turn the clocks back! Natalie introduces an activity based on standard time and daylight savings time.

  • Natalie spends a lot of time promoting the work of FINCA, a group that provides loans to those in extreme poverty so they can start businesses. Students learn how they can help, and make a bar graph of the world's poorest countries.

  • In Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, Natalie plays the manager of a magical toy store. In our "Math at Work" career profile, we meet the owner of a real toy store, and get an introduction to profit.

  • With Halloween around the corner, we learn about a professor who used the simple math of geometric progression to prove that vampires never existed!

  • Surfer Laird Hamilton is one of Natalie's favorite athletes! Students read a tide table, which is an important skill for all surfers.

  • Plus: Fast Math, Math Mystery Comix, and a backpage variable activity on Natalie's favorite bands!
Heck, I'd read it. As Zoe from Shameless points out, "It’s always wonderful to see women promoting math and busting up the 'girls are no good at math' stereotype."

Why Portman is wearing an apron, though, no one can say.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Had I known that geometry could prove or disprove vampires, I might have studied more as a young girl.

Now it's too late.

Casmall said...

I've never believed the girls are no good at math thing. When I was in school I swear they were saying the opposite. Or maybe I'm just a Math drag for the male gender.

habladora said...

The 'girls are bad at math' myth actually seems really common to me. I remember the whole 1994 "Math is hard!" Barbie debacle, for example. I'm delighted that not everyone has been exposed to this stereotype, and I hope that it is not so common among the kids of today.

Casmall said...

This picture of Natalie Portman is a dead ringer for Laura.

Anonymous said...

Why is she wearing an apron? Is this trying to equate math with recipes or something? That doesn't seem very feminist.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if it's just the fact she's wearing an apron--makes her look all down-homey. And everyone knows I always put on an apron to do math (I get really messy with pencils).

I am just in awe that the worst ever pic of Natalie Portman looks like the best ever pic of me...

habladora said...

Awww, no - come on! You are much better looking than NP! And a better actress too!

She might be better at math, though. She is on a math magazine, after all.

Another Anonymous Poster said...

I found out why she's wearing an apron!

Hint: It involves Michael Bluth!

habladora said...

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium! (IMDb)

habladora said...

That's funny - the name of the apron movie is in the bulleted summary of the math magazine's contents, but I just thought it was the name of their little story. In the magazine. Without any Bluths.

oops!