Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter A tetrahedron (plural: tetrahedra or tetrahedrons), also known as a triangular pyramid, is a polyhedron composed of 4 triangular faces, 6 straight edges, and 4 vertex corners (vertices). Our newsletter logo is made of 5 interlocking tetrahedra. Each is shown in a different color and is made from 6 strips of paper …
Facebook Twitter Here’s a game that’s sure to get you into a gobbly good mood for Thanksgiving while reinforcing your knowledge of the order of mathematical operations at the very same time! All you need are the following items to get started: One 6-sided die A one-minute timer (a watch or kitchen timer works well) …
Original Print This article was original published by the Mathematical Association of America in The College Mathematics Journal, Vol. 44, No. 4 (September 2013), pp. 258-264 The Authors Mark Baker teaches at Cabrillo Middle School in Santa Clara, CA. Jane Beltran teaches at Pajaro Valley High School in Watsonville, CA. Jason Buell teaches at Crittenden …
Let p be an odd prime. (Generalizations to p simply being an odd number way at end of this article.) Suppose a tie is folded with proportion a / p to the left of the fold and proportion b / p to the right of the fold, with a + b = p. Precisely one …
Reflections from Anne: In 2016, Tara T. Craig (University of Texas) and I adapted Vi Hart and Nicky Case’s “Parable of the Polygons” (2014) for a Math Teachers’ Circle activity to consider the dynamics of a polygon neighborhood. In the neighborhood, polygons preferred having neighbors who were like them. Triangles enjoyed having other Triangles as neighbors, …
This article was originally published in the Summer Math Mind Stretchers, Issue #1 by the AIMC (Alliance of Indigenous Math Circles). Achi is a game played by the Ashanti people of Ghana in West Africa. This two-player game is played on a three-by-three diagram of horizontal and vertical lines and two diagonals. Achi is like tic-tac-toe, …
Wolves and Sheep Here’s your chance to be the hero of the story! Help keep the big bad wolf from eating the three little… sheep. Well, I guess it’s not the same story – and unfortunately, the sheep live in a field, not a house – but you get the idea. To start this activity, you’re …
I, James, recently led a Zoom lesson to introduce the topic of Exploding Dots to students, educators, and math enthusiasts across the nation, the first of six lessons to come on the topic. I began with the classic mind-reading trick of sharing on the screen the following five groups of numbers. I asked each participant …
Adventures in Exploding Dots: A six-lesson series Read More »
For my July 15th presentation to the online Math Teacher Circle Workshop, I chose to introduce teachers to Conway’s Game of Life, a deeply fascinating game with deceptively simple rules. I chose Life because I think it is one of the most thought-provoking yet accessible mathematical creations of the last century. Share on facebook Facebook Share on …
Bubbling Cauldrons: Bring Out your Inner Alchemist! For this activity, you will need the following materials: counters with numbers 1-30 on them, and 3 cauldron cutouts (you can print out this worksheet if you’d like). Starting with just 2 cauldrons, place the counters into the cauldrons in ascending order – you can choose which cauldron each …