Archive for the ‘10 Maths Mystery BOX challenges’ Category
Maths Mystery Box 1: Not Stupid
April 10, 2015
Not stupid. Just, like, lazy.
I use the quote above to explain to people that Averages don’t mean much. This is a typical response. Really! Wow! Australians have one breast and one testicle!
We live in a culture of Selective Stupidity. Most people can do the basic maths of: + – x % $$$$, but many don’t bother. We leave maths thinking to machines and their algorithms.
So you buy 4 choc bars at 50 cents each and, for fun, ask the shop assistant ‘how much?’ They work the answer out on the cash register. They have to record the purchase. Still, how hard would it be to say $2? We don’t even try.
Yet we need maths every day to buy stuff, read timetables, pay bills, cook, understand food labels, take medication and more. Maths is used in sport, driving, gaming, gambling, drinking (ie. alcohol levels) and banking; maths is used in the workplace, the law, politics, advertising, fitness, the travel industry, gardening, the music industry (Royalty payments are a big issue now), watching TV (Download speeds are crucial), Facebook (How many likes?) and more.
The UK maths-promoting charity National Numeracy quotes from research suggesting ‘weak maths skills are linked with an array of poor life outcomes such as prison, unemployment, exclusion from school, poverty and long-term illness’. (Judith Burns, Poor numeracy ‘blights the economy and ruins lives‘, BBC News, 5 March 2012)
Yeah! And ….
Josie Gurney-Read in an article Damaging maths mindset holding pupils back,( The Telegraph, UK, 30 Oct 2014) claimed 17 million adults in the UK have poor maths skills and this is costing the economy £20 billion a year.
£20 billion,eh?
The previous article by Judith Burns, above, quoted research by KPMG auditors that put the annual costs of poor numeracy skills in the UK at £2.4bn.
So £2.4 billion, is it?
Who’s doing the Maths HERE?
Who cares? We let these numbers just fly past without thinking about them. We choose to suffer from Selective Stupidity.
To challenge middle school students to think about the numbers they read here are a few tricky questions:
Look at the following questions and see if you can work out why the maths is totally dodgy.
1. Dumb and Dumber
Solar Plus claimed, after a survey of 60 customers, that 99.98% of customers would recommend their product.
What’s wrong with their Maths?
Answer here.
2. Wanna get rich? Look at the Graph, Dude!
Financial advisers around the world wheeled out graphs like the one below to show that investing in the stock market is very secure and that down turns in the market in 2007 were minor. Oh Yeah!
What is wrong with this graph!
Answer here.
3. Run a Red Light. 0.9 sec! $234 fine! Is that fair?
Look at the maths. How far would a Mazda 3 travelling at 60 kph (37.3 mph) travel in 0.9 seconds?
Ans here.
4. Can you out run a fireball?
This is a Movie Cliché we see over and over. But is it possible?
A Fireball travels at 400 m/sec. That’s metres/sec. Now can you do the maths?
Answer here.
5. You could win the lottery! The least drawn numbers are ….
If the least drawn numbers are 41, 32, 10, 43, 35 and 20 will picking these numbers improve your chances of winning the lottery?
Answer here.
6. The Equation for the Funniest Joke is:
According to The Telegraph UK the formula for the funniest joke is:
x = (fl + no ) / p
Where
x = funniness of joke
f = funniness of punchline
l = the length of the build-up
n = the amount some falls over
o = the “Ouch” factor of physical pain or social embarrassment
p = power of the punchline
So, what’s wrong with this equation? Ask Weird Al Yankovic.
Ans here.
(Quick Ans: It’s all rubbish. Guess work x cow manure = bulldust. You cannot measure any of these variables. What’s the unit for measuring funniness?)
7. Coconuts kill 150 people a year. Does that sound right?
OK. You are not a crazy death-by-coconut research scientists. But have a guess. Are coconuts that dangerous?
Answer here.
8. 9 out of 10 serial killers prefer murdering kids with Emo hair.
Does this sound reasonable?
Answer here.
Quick Answer: There’s a lot of joke maths out there but some folk take it seriously.
Maths Mystery Box 2: CURIOUS
March 25, 2015
Maths needs PR.
We need to talk it up. Spark their curiosity. Cafes, churches and libraries use chalkboards, billboards and prominent signs to get passersby thinking.
Why not maths?
Use a sandwich –style chalkboard ( if you are in a school where such a board wouldn’t be pinched or vandalised) or use a chalkboard or whiteboard in the maths room.
PROMO SAMPLE:
I’m the Maths Guru. Most people pick … Shhhh! … seven.
Explanation:
According to Alex Bellos, Favourite Number Survey, (The Observer, 12 Apr 2014) when asked to pick a number between 1 and 10 most people pick seven. This has a lot to do with our idea of randomness. One and ten do not seem random enough, nor do even numbers. This leaves three, five and seven as our choices. Forget nine. (Ooops! I did. You will too unless you have nine dogs or nine ex-wives/husbands or the like.) Five is in the middle and therefore does not seem random. We are left with two numbers and seven feels more random than three. According to Bellos
‘Seven “feels” more random. It feels different from the others, more special, because – arithmetically speaking – it is.’
Try it out!!!
Other PROMO signs you might put up in a maths room include:
Maths Guru Answers here
Maths Guru Answers here
Maths Guru Answers here
Maths Guru Answers here
Maths Guru Answers here
Maths Guru Answers here
Maths Guru Answers here
Maths Guru Answers here
Maths Guru Answers here
Maths Mystery Box 3: NERD
March 11, 2015
Maths Mystery Box 4: FUNNY THAT
March 3, 2015
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
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
February 23, 2015
Middle school maths challenge
%, probability and a fight to the death
This problem is trickier than you think. You will need this information.
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
February 19, 2015
Middle school maths challenge
Arithmetic and numbers that … like totally … weird you out!
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Maths Mystery Box 7: PHONES
February 18, 2015
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. 
This is the maximum cost per txt for pre-paid phone cards. Anyone who sends this many txt messages a month would be crazy if they didn’t use a monthly phone plan.
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)
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Ha Ha!
Some txts are NOT serious.
Would you pay for this?
Maths Mystery Box 8: JUNK FOOD
February 16, 2015
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.
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2. Wooden skewers
You will find full instructions at the Mathscraft blog.
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3. Cardboard only
Here is another way to make a hyperbolic paraboloid using cardboard. You will find full instructions including a video at Mathscraft.
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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.
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The Hyperbolic Paraboloid in Construction
The structure is often used today for rooves.
Not everyone is happy with Pringles:
Maths Mystery Box 9: MUSIC
February 13, 2015
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.
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Beat 2: Queen … Another one bites the dust
bpm for above clips here
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Beat 3: Uptown Funk … Mark Ronson
Lyrics may offend some.
Find the Uptown Funk bpm here.
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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.
Mathspig Blog 