Activity Overview
In this coding activity students discover how apparent chaos can turn to order. A FOR loop and three IF THEN statements, combined with the midpoint rule (two points) and we see randomly generated points forming what appears to be a Sierpinski triangle. Check it out!
Objectives
Students use the midpoint rule in a program. The program is relatively straight forward, but the outcome is amazing.
Vocabulary
Mathematics |
Coding |
- Square-root
- Midpoint
- Weighted Av.
- Sequence
|
- For / Endfor
- If / Then
- List Creation
- List Referencing
|
About the Lesson
Students start with a triangle drawn on the Cartesian plane. A point is placed at random inside the triangle. Students calculate the midpoint of this new point and one of the triangle's vertices. Another vertex is selected at random and a new midpoint created. What appears random and chaotic gradually turns to form, a Sierpinski triangle. Some very simple coding that interacts nicely with the Graphs application and a beautiful result, absolutely stunning!