Whistler Alley Mathematics

These are some mathematics investigations I have pursued over the years. They may be of some interest to teachers, students, or hobbyists. I try to convey a conceptual understanding, usually without rigorous proof. Some of the lessons are accompanied by questions and suggestions for extensions.

In my pursuit of a teaching career, I was told to justify the study of each concept by establishing its relevance to the students’ lives. Sorry, but I still have trouble buying into that one. Fortunately, poetry and music are rarely put to that same test. As I glance at the list below, I must concede that it would be difficult to convert any of the lessons into food, shelter, or money. These are things that interested me, and now I understand them better. If there is a reward, it is the fact that every time I do this I get better at figuring things out.

I occasionally get email from people seeking permission to use my work. Feel free to cite, quote, edit, reproduce, or distribute anything on this site. Do not worry about putting my name on it, but please do not put your own name on it.

Many of these presentations use the Geometer’s Sketchpad, but only one of them actually requires it. If you do not have the software, let me suggest that you follow this link to Key Curriculum Press and look into it.

Paul Kunkel

Recent Changes

April 8, 2026

The whole site has been neglected for about ten years now. I will be cleaning and updating, working down the list below.

Contents:

The Brachistochrone

We are given two fixed points in a vertical plane. A particle starts from rest at one of the points and travels to the other under its own weight. Find the path that the particle must follow in order to reach its destination in the briefest time.

This is a famous problem in the calculus of variations. Nothing new is presented here, but the explanation is more thorough than most.

Buffon’s Needle

An old probability exercise is aided by an interactive Sketchpad file. By manipulating the sketch, an intuitive understanding may be gained, even if the student has had no introduction to calculus.

Chinese Handcuffs

Conic Sections and Construction

My emphasis is on geometric properties of the conic sections, particulary understanding that has been handed down to us in ancient texts. There also are some challenging constructions.

The Geometry of Surveying

This used to be my job, and I enjoyed studying all of the geometrical concepts that were part of the science of land surveying. In this article I discuss the instruments of the profession, their operating principles, their error, and their calibration.

Hanging with Galileo

An investigation into the catenary, the curve formed by a chain suspended at both ends. It also extends into the curve of the main cables on a suspension bridge, which, interestingly, is not a catenary.

Inversion Geometry If you have never studied inversion geometry, you can start here. The elementary concepts are explained. This page is a quick reference for the other lessons that employ inversion geometry.

Linkages Draw a line segment. Did you use a straightedge? How do you know it was straight? WebSketch simulations are used to investigate a nineteenth century mechanics problem.

On the Square The challenge: Given four arbitrary, unique points, A, B, C, and D, construct one line through each point such that the four lines form a square.

Orthocenter What is so significant about the orthocenter of a triangle? Why does it even have a name? This investigation was prepared for a geometry teachers’ workshop. It includes a lesson handout in Word format. This lesson was written for use in a computer lab with the Geometer’s Sketchpad, but with a little editing it should work just as well with Cabri or Cinderella.

The Planimeter A planimeter is a drafting instrument used to measure area. Its mechanism is quite simple, but understanding why it works is more elusive.

Platonic Solids

Find the inradius, circumradius, dihedral angle, surface area, and volume of all of the Platonic solids. There is also some information about some of their other interesting properties.

Reuleaux Triangle It is not a circle, but it has constant width. Study the properties of this figure with interactive animated sketches.

Rungs and Vineyards

How is that for a descriptive title? Here are investigations of two interesting visual effects seen from a moving automobile. It includes two interactive perspective drawings, and a discussion of the cylindrical and planar projections used to create them.

The Sliding Triangle An interesting accidental discovery – Investigate ellipses by tracing triangle transformations.

Table Patterns Explore geometric patterns formed in a table of modular multiplication. This one requires some elementary knowledge of congruence classes and modular arithmetic.

Tangent Circles Three circles are given. How many circles can be constructed tangent to all three? How are they constructed? This lesson includes ten animations covering all of the special cases. Some of them are very complex. A little knowledge of circle inversions would help.

Volume of a Torus Do you already know the volume of a torus? Then humor me. I just figured it out, and I got a chance to try out this new graphics software.

Resources

The Geometer’s Sketchpad Workshop It is plain to see that I am very fond of Sketchpad. This page was created after the release of version 4. The idea is to have a place to exchange ideas with other users, especially those who are using the advanced features. Here are some custom tools and some information on Java Sketchpad.

Sketchpad Gallery These are some of my best sketches. You may find them useful or interesting by themselves.

Geometry Construction Reference Thirteen elementary straightedge and compass constructions are described and illustrated. The original version, in Word format, can be downloaded and distributed.