I've Got that Geometry Bug!
A Day in the Life of Cone Tail
One day there was a bug named Cone Tail. He was a really smart bug. He
had grown up in Seattle near the Microsoft factory. His owner was named Kevin. Kevin went everywhere with Cone Tail. They played games together, went to the park, and Cone Tail even helped Kevin with his homework. When Kevin had a paper he had to type on the computer, Cone Tail would help him. One day Kevin got assigned a special project for school. He was supposed to make his own web page. While he was working on it someone sent him a file and told him to download it. Kevin, thinking that the file was harmless, decided to download the file to see what was in it. Once he did his computer froze up. When he tried typing the computer would make a beeping sound. Kevin restarted his computer but it didn’t help, the computer just kept beeping.
Kevin called his dad in to see if he could help him fix the computer, because he was an expert with computers. His father was helping design a new computer for Microsoft. After trying for an hour, neither Kevin nor his Dad had been able to fix anything. Kevin’s dad told him that when he had downloaded the file it had probably contained a virus or bug that had affected the computer. Kevin was really disappointed because he couldn’t work on his project so he decided to watch some television with Cone Tail. After watching their favorite show, Cone Tail mentioned that he had an idea how to get rid of the bug on the computer. Before this Kevin had never known but Cone Tail’s favorite food was a delectable computer bug or virus. Kevin was so excited he could hardly believe his ears. He picked up Cone Tail and raced into his room.
Cone Tail said that the only way he could get inside of the computer was to go through the floppy disk opening. He thought it would be a little dark in there so Kevin got Cone Tail a miniature flashlight and hooked it around his neck. Cone Tail started becoming a little anxious, but Kevin assured him that everything would be fine and that he had nothing to be worried about. Kevin pushed back the flap to the floppy disk drive and helped Cone Tail through. As cone tail started going through the computer he started hearing strange noises coming from one corner. He headed in that direction. When he got there he came face to face with a giant computer bug. It was one of the biggest ones he had ever seen. It was chewing on one of the wires that connected the keyboard to the monitor. "That explains why the keyboard was beeping," thought Cone Tail. As he approached the bug, the bug got really scared and he started to run as fast as he could. Luckily Cone Tail was in good shape because he had been doing his daily exercises and he was able to overtake the computer bug. He wrestled it to the floor, stung it with its stinger, and then ate it up. Cone Tail started heading back to where he thought the opening was but finally he reached a wall, but he realized that during his chased he had gotten turned around. He turned a 180 and set out the other way. Finally after a long walk he reached the opening. When he got there he called out to Kevin and Kevin opened the flap and helped him out. Cone Tail was so tired he fell asleep in Kevin’s hand. Cone Tail woke up to the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, his second favorite food. He and Kevin both stuffed themselves with cookies and then they started to work on Kevin’s project. On the day when Kevin had to present his web page to the class he was able to bring in Cone Tail, to whom he had dedicated the page. The whole class loved his project and his teacher loved his project. He got an A+. To celebrate, Kevin and Cone Tail went out for Pizza with their friends.
I used many geometrical shapes in the creation of Cone Tail. I used a cylinder, a sphere, a cone and many different angles. I made the legs that were horizontally across from each other congruent. I also used rectangular pieces of tape and paper.
I used angles to make the antennas. I used a cone so it would have a pointy back end so it could sting computer bugs. It uses it’s angular legs to jog and run. It’s only challenge it faces is it can’t get into the computer unless someone holds open the floppy disk flap.
Bibliography:
Encarta, computer program, 1996.
Fanning, Eleanor, Insects from Close up, 1965.
Geometry for Enjoyment and Challenge, McDougal Littell Co., 1991.
Http://www.mathleague.com.
James/James, Mathematics Dictionary, Van Norstrond Reinhold Co., 1976.
Webster, Merriam, Webster’s 9th Collegiate Dictionary, Merriam Webster Inc., 1983.
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