Volume 45

2009

I am delighted to be able to inform you that Parabola is now available on-line. The Parabola Online project was initiated by a grant from the U-Committee of the University of New South Wales.

I was rather idly browsing the shelves of one of the University of Melbourne's libraries, when a volume caught my eye. It was entitled Les manuscrits mathematiques de Marx (Marx's mathematical manuscripts).

Mathematics is largely concerned with finding and describing patterns in a logically consistent way, and where better to look for patterns than in Melbourne Cup races2 . Can we use a little mathematics to help us win?

Visualization is a powerful tool in any teacher's bag of tricks, perhaps even more so for the mathematics teacher who must often visually present abstract concepts. At times, though, we may be at a loss as to how to visually represent a particular notion.

Q1311 Prove that $\tan75^{\circ}-\tan60^{\circ}=2$ using purely geometrical arguments.

Q1301 (Suggested by J. Guest, Victoria)