by MathPickle | Sep 15, 2015 |
Sum or Difference – Mutant Fibonacci Bunny (MathPickle, 2012) These sequences are fun to set up mini-competitions in your classroom. After an initial exploration in front of the class, groups can challenge one another to reach a certain number as fast as...
by MathPickle | Sep 15, 2015 |
Wreckerball & Recamán’s Sequence (Bernardo Recamán, 1995) What a delicious way to play on the number line! In these sequences you jump about by increasing intervals. The patterns that result are chaotic and beautiful. Nothing must be advanced in a positive...
by MathPickle | Sep 15, 2015 |
Subtraction Magic with 3 Digits (Martin Gardner or earlier) Students need to reliably add and subtract numbers of several digits in order for this to work in the classroom. It is not a good trick to teach these, but rather to review something that 80% of students...
by MathPickle | Sep 15, 2015 |
Animal Subtraction The Graceful Tree Conjecture (Ringel et al., 1967) These puzzles are the best way to introduce students to subtraction. The puzzle is based on a classic unsolved problem that deserves to be in every student’s experience of mathematics. The...
by MathPickle | Sep 15, 2015 |
Squaring the Square (R. L. Brooks, C. A. B. Smith, A. H. Stone and W. T. Tutte, 1930s) Give students addition and subtraction practice and link these numerical activities to geometry. A fraction of students, predominantly girls, thrive when the beauty of mathematics...
