Aligns to Common Core Math Standards 

Although geometry involves abstract ideas, its applications are readily visible in everyday life—sometimes on a massive scale. This ten-part series uses Stonehenge, Chichen Itza, the Pentagon, and other architectural landmarks to explain essential concepts of geometry. The Texas Instruments TI-Nspire graphing calculator is employed throughout, with all keystrokes clearly shown, to expand on core ideas or to explore new ones.

Titles include:

Angles and Planes
This program treks to locations as diverse as Japan, Puerto Rico, and British Columbia to demonstrate the principles of angles, tangents to circles, parallel and perpendicular planes, and the area of 2-D figures on a plane.

Area and Volume
This program examines applications of area and volume, using the Titanic, the Louvre’s Glass Pyramid, and New York’s CitiGroup Building to illustrate the concepts of volume and density, surface area, and surface area-to-volume ratio. Knowing the proportion of the Citigroup’s surface to its interior space is the first step in determining how the building can be kept cool in summer and warm in winter.

Circles
This program uses ancient structures to help define properties of circles, arcs, chords, secants, and central and inscribed angles. The video explains why the Colosseum is shaped like an ellipse instead of a circle, which would have been easier for the Romans to build. The Pantheon, with its round oculus and circular dome inside an arched ceiling, is also examined.

Coordinate Geometry
This program uses classical navigation, global positioning systems, and modern architecture to explore key concepts of coordinate geometry.

Points and Lines
In this program the collision of subatomic particles is used to clarify the definition of a point, and the city of Houston, arranged on a grid of parallels and perpendiculars, illustrates why lines are preferred over curves as a way to organize a community. Points in space, collinear and coplanar points, parallel and perpendicular lines, line segments, angles, and planes are all covered.

Polygons
This program explains compass and straightedge construction—the technique employed by the Islamic craftsmen of Marrakesh—as well as properties of regular polygons, composite figures, tessellations, and areas of polygons.

Quadrilaterals
In this program viewers learn why most homes are also made up of quadrilaterals as the concepts of rectangles, squares, parallelograms, trapezoids, and triangles within quadrilaterals are explored.

Three-Dimensional Geometry
In this program Mayan architecture is used to study the properties of 3-D figures, including square and rectangular pyramids, rectangular prisms, and cylinders. The video also explores the math behind super-tall skyscrapers.

Transformations
This program explores transformations, the principles that underlie the movement of a shape from one place to another. Three-dimensional transformations are made clear using containers on cargo ships as an example. In addition, rotations, reflections, and symmetry are illustrated by Hawaii’s Gemini Observatory as its telescope revolves to study the night sky.

Triangles
This program delineates the properties of triangles using the Bank of China Tower and the Eiffel Tower as examples. The video also reveals why ancient merchant ships were able to go farther and faster with triangular sails. The video covers equilateral, isosceles, right, congruent, and similar triangles.