7/8
Today the students served and prepared curry rice. The
students were divided into groups (6 total) and each group began to make their
own curry, with the use of basic ingredients such as carrots and potatoes, as
well as “secret” ingredients unique to each group, ranging from garlic to
chocolate. Each group prepared their curry from scratch, making the rice and
curry stew separately, before mixing both together to create (a hopeful
delicious) tonight’s dinner.
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| Japanese Curry Rice |
This evening, Clark Sensei, a math teacher at Randolph-Macon
College, taught us about Japanese math, and how it relates to religion, art,
and history. Beginning in 1600, Japan entered the Edo Period, and for political
reasons, the country was closed to all Western influence. This created an
explosion of Japanese art and culture, and the environment was perfect for the
development of mathematics. However, Japan was closed right before the European
invention of symbolic geometry and calculus; therefore, it did not experience
the explosion of new math techniques that Europe did. However, the samurai,
being unable to fight, turned to mathematics as a pastime. They especially
appreciated the aesthetics of geometry. In order to share the theorems that
they proved, they hung the math problems on tablets, called ema, as offerings
to the gods, and challenges to other worshippers. Clark Sensei showed the
students pictures of Japanese temples as examples of geometry and religion
intertwining. One of these math problems was offered to the students as a
challenge.
- Christina B.
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