Catenoid soap bubbles

[Wes Loewer]

Two things immediately came to mind when I watched the video.

1) Coding the best fit for y=a*cosh((x-b)/a) through two points is kind of cool, but GeoGebra has a built-in Fit function that does this very thing. Using the numbers from the video, GeoGebra returns the same values that he got, including where the function "breaks". (GeoGebra can even animate the changing function as shown in the video.)

In the HP Prime Statistics 2Var app, it has an option for a User Defined equation. When I first saw this, I excitedly assumed that it would work like GeoGebra with the ability to find the best-fit for any equation. Unfortunately, that is not the case. It simply graphs the User Defined function without any attempt at a best fit. That's too bad---I thought that would be a very nice numerical feature.

2) I guess I've never heard the British pronunciation of "catenary" before. I was suspecting it might be a catenary, but even so, my American ears did a double-take when he said it the first time.