A Ton of Crap (34 page)

The Medici Family
The Renaissance began in Florence, Italy. Much of the great artwork in the Early Renaissance can be traced back to a family of the noble class, the Medici family. In the thirteenth century, the Medici acquired great wealth as bankers and became the wealthiest family in all of Italy. With their wealth, they sponsored many artistic endeavors, such as the great paintings and architecture of this time.

VISUAL LITERACY

Why Visual Literacy Is Important
Today’s world is increasingly visual, and in order for people to get a true grasp of a situation, they must be able to grasp an understanding of visual imagery such as photographs. Through expressing thoughts and ideas in visual form and translating the meaning of visual forms, students become visually literate, which allows them to have a greater understanding of the world around them.

PI

The Definition
To put it simply, π is the ratio of a circumference of a circle to the diameter of the circle. In other words, the equation looks like this:

Regardless of the size of the circle, this ratio will always equal π. There is another way to define π by using a circle’s area, and that is by this equation:

In this equation,
r
represents the radius of the circle, which is half of the diameter.

NATURAL DISASTERS

Hurricanes
Hurricanes, also known as typhoons or cyclones, develop in the summer and early fall months. Hurricanes develop over warm waters. The humid air travels upward, forming clouds and leaving a low pressure area below it. Any warm air left in this area pushes into the low pressure area and begins to rise. This process continues as the air and clouds spin. When the wind speeds of this low-pressure system reaches 75 miles per hour, it is no longer a tropical storm and is officially a hurricane.

PORTUGUESE

Dialects
There are many types of dialects found in Portuguese, but the two main ones can be broken down into Brazilian and European. The differences between the two involve different grammatical forms and phonology. The European dialect is more like that spoken by Portugal’s former Asian and African colonies. The Brazilian dialect is primarily spoken in Brazil, and is the most common form.

THE RENAISSANCE

Early Renaissance
The Early Renaissance was from 1330 to 1450, and took place in Florence, Italy. Artwork sponsored by the Medici family placed great focus on the art of Ancient Greece and Rome. The artwork once again focused on humanism, naturalism, and realism, with new ideas introduced into art such as depth of field, linear perspective, and new types of shading. The most well-known artists to come out of the Early Renaissance are Sandro Botticelli (
La Primavera
), Domenico Ghirlandaio (
An Old Man and His Grandson
), and Piero della Francesca (
The Baptism
).

VISUAL LITERACY

Data Visualization
Data visualization is a method of presenting data graphically with shapes, proportions, dimensions, textures, and direction. A graphic that is proportionately large to the paper it is on can convey a sense of importance and will draw the eye in before anything else. Direction of a shape can lead to many different emotional states. A vertical shape might present stability, while a diagonal shape might show movement or change.

PI

Early History of Pi
The Rhind Mathmatical Papyrus, a famous piece of Egyptian papyrus dated around 1650 b.c., from Egypt shows the use of pi written by the scribe Ahmes. He states: “Cut of
of a diameter and construct a square upon the remainder; this has the same area as the circle.” According to his calculations, pi equaled 3.16049. In the nineteenth century b.c., the Babylonians believed the value to be 25/8, which is only 0.5 percent below the actual value of π.

NATURAL DISASTERS