Thursday, June 7, 2018

Problem 51: Missing Numbers

In this easy puzzle, you should discover the pattern and find the missing numbers.

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Rich Tasks 12: Brand Logo Activity (Transformations)

You are a project designer. Your job is to analyze different logos and determine what type of transformations they used. Your assistant provided you the following table. Fill in the following table and explain the transformations.
Logo

Transformation

Description





































Download the pdf

Problem 50: Number Challenge



In this number challenge you are going to start with a three digit number. Next step, you should write one less of the first number to the end and double the second and third digit and write the result to the front in the new number.

Here is an example:
1.      812
2.    247
3.     941
4.   827
5.     547
6.   946
7.    928
8.   568
9.    1364

In this example, the numbers reach to four digits in nine steps. It is not possible to reach to the ninth step every time as you can see below:

1. 124
2.480
3.1603 

Can you produce sequences of numbers continuing with more than nine numbers?

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Thursday, May 31, 2018

Problem 49: Mr. Oswald's phone




Mr. Oswald forgot the pass lock pattern on his mobile phone. He remembers that the pattern starts from the dot labeled A, and ends on the dot that is labeled B. The pattern is made by 4 strikes.

He decides to unlock his phone by trying some patterns. However after 5 wrong patterns the phone will be disabled for 5 minutes.

i.          How many different pattern can be drawn from A to B with 4 strikes?
ii.          What is the probability that he can unlock his phone without disabling it?

A pattern example is drawn on the phone image above.

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Math Poster: Linear Equations

This week, I created 3 posters to use in my classroom.

1. Parallel lines have the same gradient. Collinear points are on the same line.




2. Equation of a Line

3. Gradient Types of Lines



PDF Versions for downloading:
Parallel Lines-Collinear Points
Equation of a Line [y-intercept form]
Gradient Types of Lines







Sunday, May 13, 2018

Problem 47: Greatest Number


Problem 46: Feet and Tails


Mrs. Eleanor Abernathy has 7 female cats. This May all her cats gave birth to new kittens. Some of the cats had 3 babies, some had 4 and the remaining ones had 5 baby cats. 

The number of cats that gave birth to 5 babies is 1 less than the number of cats that have quadruplets or triplets.

Mrs. Abernathy is interested in counting and she counts 150 legs in her house. 

Can you find the number of cats who has quints(5 babies)?

Sunday, May 6, 2018

Rich Tasks 11: Making Sequence Competition


Rules and Explanations
-Students can change the order of the numbers to make sequences,
-When there is a team challenge, I give the points to the first two teams who produce a sequence with a reasonable description.
-Using two dice may be better in order to emphasize term to term rule or the nth rule.

Here is another version as a worksheet.

Problem 45: Escalator Ride


 








Rich Tasks 10: Finding the Number between the Fractions





Saturday, May 5, 2018

Problem 44: Hexagonal Coins


This puzzle is from one of my favorite authors, Alex Bellos. The aim is to get all 6 coins to the hexagonal order given above starting with the given order below in three moves:


You can slide any coin as long as it touches to other coins in the new position.
See the Numberphile video for details and solutions.

Problem 43: Alien Encounter

I saw this problem on another blog page. It is from Steven Strogatz's famous book Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities. I like such Knights and Knaves type of logical reasoning questions. I use them a lot while teaching "Logic" in IB DP Math Studies course.

Here is the question:



---------------------
Solutions to such questions need seeing the big picture of the case, and often students struggle doing this. That's why I prefer them drawing diagrams or truth table-like charts. 

Sometimes a tree diagram from probability unit is helpful.
So let's try a solution using tree diagrams.

Assume that Alfy tells the truth. Therefore he must be a Veracitor. What he tells about Betty is also true. So Betty is Gibberish. Betty says Alfy and Gemma are same species but she is lying. Therefore Gemma must be Gibberish. This coincides with Gemma saying Betty is Veracitor, which she is not. So Gemma is a liar and it matches with what we found from Alfy and Betty's answers. So our answer is Alfy: Veracitor; Betty and Gemma: Gibberish.


It is better to see the other option where Alfy is dishonest. This time we see that, if he is a liar, then Betty must be a Veracitor. If Betty is Veracitor, then Gemma must be Gibberish since Betty is honest in this option. However being a Gibberish, Gemma must be a liar. However, Gemma says Betty to be a Veracitor which is true. This truth creates a contradiction. Therefore this option is not reasonable at all and Alfy must be telling the truth. So the answer is the previous one.

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Problem 42: Pink Triangle

Although an easy one, @solvemymaths's following similarity question on Twitter went viral on the Internet, so I have decided to keep it here:

What fraction is shaded?