Maths Mystery Box 4: FUNNY THAT

 Graffiti pic found @ imfunny blog.

Maths is full-on full of humour.

Can you die laughing, sir?

Try these weird death stats.

Or, how about some maths jokes?

Or, how about a Maths Scavenger hunt.

Funny that!

Many maths teachers come up with great ideas so middle school students have fun with maths. Here are a few:

Human Graphs, Charts and Diagrams

Ellies Active Maths

 

How about a human bar graph?

Or a student linear graph?

Find more @ the colab

 

Or explore geometry through, well, dance?

These students are showing supplementary angles

These students are acting out the concept of complementary angles.

Tricia Appel; Middle School Math

Or, how about the geometry of yoga?

Can you get your leg or knee to make a perfect right angle?

Or how about a Venn Diagram using Hola Hoops?

More info at Howard’s Happy Campers

Or you can measure length using bodies.

How many Smoots long is your football field?

Oliver Smoot is used as a unit of measure in 1962. 

Or try measuring the area of your school hallway in bodies!!!!

More info @ Rainbow school, Bradford, UK.

Maths Mystery Box 5: FANTASY

 

Middle school maths challenge

%, probability and a fight to the death

This problem is trickier than you think. You will need this information.

Major Major HINT

Hunger Games Maths Survivor ANSWER 1

Hunger Games Maths Survivor ANSWER 2

You will find more HUNGER GAMES maths including How long would it take you to bleed to death? here.

Maths Mystery Box 6: WEIRD

 

Middle school maths challenge

Arithmetic and numbers that … like totally …  weird you out!

………………………………………………………………………………………

Maths whiz quiz ANSWER

Maths Mystery Box 7: PHONES

Middle school maths challenge

Algebra & texting

or  LGbra & txtN

According to a Nielsen Survey the Average US teen sends 3,000 txt messages a month.

Averages don’t tell us very much. As this fab post at Maths PLUS explains. The average number of ears on 5 people is 1.8 if one dude has one ear.

The Nielsen study did show the averages by gender.

HELP ME!

Some txts are serious. Very serious.

The 24/7 CRISIS TEXT LINE in the USA has helped many teenagers in crisis.

The phone no. in the USA is

741741

the numbers down the Left of the phone.

OR from outside USA add code here.

You can find details of the Crisis TEXT LINE in R U There? By Alice Gregory, The New Yorker (9 FEB 2015)

 ………………………………………………………..

Ha Ha!

Some txts are NOT serious.

Would you pay for this?

 

 

Maths Mystery Box 8: JUNK FOOD

Middle School Maths Challenge

Make a 3D graph or Make Like a Pringle

Pringles are mathematically yummy because each Pringle is a little 3D graph called a Hyperbolic Paraboloid or – YeeHa! – it’s a saddle.. You will find information about Hyperbolic Paraboloid at the fab Math Jokes 4 Mathy Folks blog  here and here.

You may have drawn 2D graphs. Bar graphs, Pie Charts and Linear Graphs.

A linear graph will have the equation

y = mx + c

You might have looked at quadratic equations such as the parabola:

Y = ax² + bx + c

So what could a 3D graph of a saddle look like? Well, you have to add a z so that you have an x-axis, y-axis and a z-axis.

More info here.

The BIG challenge

Can you make a hyperbolic paraboloid? The most mathematically amazing feature of the hyperbolic paraboloid is that it can be constructed from straight lines.

Here’s How:

1. Cardboard and wool:

You need:

* cereal box

*wool 

*ruler & scissors.

Instructions:

Cut a 15cm x 15 cm  square out of the cereal box.

Fold it diagonally.

Cut slots at 1cm interval. 

Thread wool into opposite slots as shown (below). 

                  NB: The thread should be a straight line.

                  Detailed instructions here.    

 …………………………………………………………………

2. Wooden skewers

You will find full instructions at the Mathscraft blog.

 …………………………………………………………………

3. Cardboard only

Here is another way to make a hyperbolic paraboloid using cardboard. You will find full instructions including a video at Mathscraft.

 …………………………………………………………………

4. Bubble

You will find more about the geometry of soap films here.

 

More intriguing information about all sorts of geometric bubbles here at The Wonderful World of Soap Bubbles.

 ………………………………………………………………… 

The Hyperbolic Paraboloid in Construction

The structure is often used today for rooves.

 

Not everyone is happy with Pringles:

Maths Mystery Box 9: MUSIC

Middle School Maths Challenge

Rates, averages and crazy drummers (That’s all of them, man!)

Here are 3 classic rock songs. Listen to the tracks and find the beat per minute or bpm of each song. 

HINT: Count the beats and ask a friend to time you.

Beat 1: AC/DC …  T.N.T.

………………………………………………………………..

Beat 2: Queen …  Another one bites the dust

bpm for above clips here

 

………………………………………………………………..

Beat 3: Uptown Funk …  Mark Ronson

Lyrics may offend some.

Find the Uptown Funk bpm here.

………………………………………………………………..

BIG challenge 1:

Drummer: Ramon Sampson

Pick one beat and see if you match the exact bpm. If you don’t have drumsticks use pencils.

HINT: Count the beats and ask a friend to time you.

BIG challenge 2:

Record yourself drumming to your own natural beat for 10 seconds.

Listen to your recording and count the beats. Multiply by 6 and you have your bpm.

Do this 4 times.

Calculate your average bpm.

Then for each of the 4 trials calculate the % error.

Pro drummers do not like to be out by 1 beat or 1 bpm. They want to hit ZERO % error. I beat out per minute for a bpm = 84 would mean an error of approx 1%. 

Learn about the strangeness of drummers brains here.

Maths Mystery Box 10: LETHAL

Middle School Maths Challenge

Symmetry, geometry plus guts and determination.

Make a paper plane that can fly as high as a 5-story building and test it.

You need:

- Half A4 sheet

- Scissors

- A rubber band

The physics of paper is complex. Folder paper is very strong. Here students create a world record folding a piece of paper 13 times.

Crumpled paper is also very strong. Crumple a piece and try and flatten it. More here.

From Instructables blog

Test it but be careful you could take out an eye.

Thanks INSTRUCTABLES.

Now for the BIG challenge:

The above paper plane has 5 wing folds. Can you make a bigger paper plane with more folds. For instance, you could try an A4 sheet.

More from Instructables here: