2020 passed in a blur. Now we need to grab the student’s attention. This April Fool Maths Test should do it.
Tell your year 8 or 9 students this test is designed to test their ability to concentrate and use logic while doing a challenging test under pressure.
Tell students to circle the ‘correct’ answer. Then wait to see how long it takes them to think you have totally lost the plot! You can make copies of the test using the PDF links below. You can put the answers up later on the smartboard or just read out the answers.
2020 passed in a blur. Now we need to grab the student’s attention. This April Fool Maths Test should do it.
Tell your year 8 or 9 students this test is designed to test their ability to concentrate and use logic while doing a challenging test under pressure.
Tell students to circle the ‘correct’ answer. Then wait to see how long it takes them to think you have totally lost the plot! You can make copies of the test using the PDF links below. You can put the answers up later on the smartboard.
In Australia, we don’t get too carried away with 14 March aka Pi Day aka 3.14.21 because, unlike Americans, we do not write the date as 3/14/21. We prefer 14/3/21.
No problem.
Meanwhile, the Germans, the Dutch, and other European countries do not call π ‘Pi’, they call it ‘P’ or ‘Pee’ because ‘i’ is pronounced ‘ee’, for instance, in German.
So Happy π Day English speakers and now, for a laugh, look at some of our Pi or Pee jokes through the eyes of, say, a German.
That’s because of the beer.
One whole day dedicated to pee.
It’s epic!
Mathematicians in love .., awwww!
So cute or they’re pissed.
……………………………………..
OK. ‘I 8 sum pi’ but adding the ‘delicious makes this weird for a German. D’Oh!
Very expensive bottle of pee.
Mmmm! Pecan pee.
Rabbit Pee must be a problem.
Dessert wine, maybe?
That’s, like, every day after a night out on the ‘piss’ as we so delicately call it in Australia.
You too can have tasty pee. I don’t know how and frankly, I don’t want to know.
2020 passed in a blur. Now we need to grab the student’s attention. This April Fool Maths Test should do it.
Tell your year 8 or 9 students this test is designed to test their ability to concentrate and use logic while doing a challenging test under pressure.
Tell students to circle the ‘correct’ answer. Then wait to see how long it takes them to think you have totally lost the plot! You can make copies of the test using the PDF links below. You can put the answers up later on the smartboard or just read out the answers.
Tell your year 8 or 9 students this test is designed to test their ability to concentrate and use logic while doing a challenging test under pressure.
Tell students to circle the ‘correct’ answer. Then wait to see how long it takes them to think you have totally lost the plot! You can make copies of the test using the PDF links below. You can put the answers up later on the smart board.
There is a fab article on the History of calculating pi in the New York Times today.
Now to THE FUNNY SIDE OF PI DAY
In Australia we don’t get too carried away with 14 March aka Pi Day aka 3.14.19 because, unlike Americans, we do not write the date as 3/14/19. We prefer 14/3/19.
No problem.
Meanwhile Mathspig called her talk for the International Congress of Mathematical Education 2016 in Hamburg:
Then odd emails arrived relabelling my talk ‘…….. p-in-your-face funny!’
I thought it was a typo. Not so! The Germans, the Dutch and other European countries do not call π ‘Pi’, they call it ‘P’ or ‘Pee’ because ‘i’ is pronounced ‘ee’, for instance, in German. So I had called my great international maths talk Pee-in-your-face funny! And the German organising committee seemed happy enough with the title.
To be diplomatic and to avoid the attracting the wrong type of audience I’ve retitled my talk:
How many m&ms would kill a 14-year-old? Making middle-school maths real, relevant, deadly serious and ha^2 funny!
So Happy π Day English speakers and now, for a laugh, look at some of our Pi or Pee jokes through the eyes of, say, a German.
That’s because of the beer.
One whole day dedicated to pi.
It’s epic!
Mathematicians in love .., awwww!
So cute or they’re pissed.
………………………………………..
OK. ‘I 8 sum pi’ but adding the ‘delicous’ makes this weird for a German. D’Oh!
Very expensive bottle of pi.
Mmmm! Pecan pi.
Rabbit Pi must be a problem.
Dessert wine, maybe?
That’s, like, every day after a night out on the ‘piss’ as we so delicately call it in Australia.
You too can have tasty pi. I don’t know how and frankly, I don’t want to know.
The absolute delight of Spurious Correlationsis its craziness. Tyler Vigen is studying law at Harvard Law School, but he puts together the most ridiculous data you can imagine to show the correlation between eg. Per capita cheese consumption AND the number of people who died by getting tangled in their bed sheets, people who drowned after falling out of a fishing boat AND the marriage ration Kentucky. Of course, what Tyler is demonstrating is the basic maths principle, mathspiggies, that correlation is not causation. Here is one of his fabulous graphs:
Here is one graph from Spurious Correlati0ns (above) and the cover of Tyler’s New Book (below).
Math with Bad Drawings is run by Ben Orlin. He describes himself as ‘a math maths teacher in Birmingham, England. Before that, I taught in Oakland, California. I’ve taught (or am currently teaching!) every level of mathematics from ages 12 to 18.’
Not only is Ben’s humorous and fascinating take on maths interesting, his philosophy of life is worth a read too. e.g. We are all simultaneously experts and beginners, flaunting our talents while trying to cover our shortcomings the way an animal hides a wound.’
Here are two delightful examples of his maths with bad drawings:
Randall offers this warning to his KXCD blog: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors). Of course, this makes his blog even more interesting. Maths, profanity and silly humour. Bring it on.
How What if? blog asks and answers interesting questions:
What would happen if I dug straight down, at a speed of 1 foot per second? What would kill me first?
Could a bird deliver a standard 20″ New York-style cheese pizza in a box? And if so, what kind of bird would it take?
The joy of Yan’s One Minute Math blog is his eclectic collection of topics from . Kow-Cheong Yan is a Singapore-based teacher, math consultant, math blogger and maths book author (Grade 1- 6).
The Lighter Side of Innumeracy gives an insight into maths incompetence and superstition in Singapore. It shows that charlatans can still prey on the innumerate. And Yan’s critique of Drill-and-Kill texts promoted in Singapore is refreshing in an age where politicians are forever calling for Back-to-basics teaching methods for maths.
But my favourite post on Yan’s blog is;
Mathematical Fiction is not optional. The number of novels using maths as a theme is inspiring especially with Yan adding a comment like this:
If you’re looking for math, women, sex, and back-stabbing, The Wild Numbers (Philibert Schogt) is a math melodrama unlikely to disappoint.
Mathjokes4mathyfolks is run by my good math(s) friend Patrick Vennebush, who lives in Virginia with his wife, twin boys and his Golden Retriever Remy. He loves math(s), laughing and telling jokes. He also runs online projects for National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Patrick believes math(s) should be fun and his blog includes jokes, problems and real-life challenges. His collection of jokes is published in a book and cover the gamete from cool to Dad-style jokes. Here’s an example:
Angle of Opportunity looks at the angle a boy should pee in the toilet bowl without splatter fallout!!!!
Here is Math Fail on Facebook. And here is the Math Fail blog run by Self proclaimed Math Geek Mike, who explains that in addition to math fails, you will find a huge collection of geeky math jokes, interesting math facts, dumb math news, puzzles, speed math advice, math related comics, funny math pictures and more!! (It is not a Cheeseburger Fail blog.)
It is just a fun blog to explore. Here are some examples.
Who can be offended? They’re just numbers!!!!
Debbie O’Sullivan’s pinterest stream Math Puns/Jokes is worth a visit or two.
The Math Cartoons & Humor is pinterest run by Jiji the penguin. Actually, the penguin didn’t do it. Jiji the penguin is the mascot of STMath, a commercial education system that teaches math visually, and with minimum language, in the USA. Here are some examples of the humor:
Mashup Math is mind blowing from its math philosophy to its eclectic approach. Anthony Persico runs MashUp Math. He has taught in NY, VA, and CO and runs a YouTube channel. He believes in inclusive math education,that all students learn math differently and that the one-size-fits-all approach is ineffective. The worksheets, teacher resources supplied via mathmashup are FREE!
This is a screen shot of his roller coaster youtube clip on gradient or slope!!!
Here is his Mathsmashup You Tube channel (above), which is designed to help visual learners.
Here are some amazing sports stats (above) from the LA Times. Basketball Legend Kobe Bryant’s 30,699th and final field goal came from 19 feet with 31 seconds left against the Utah Jazz. This picture below shows every one of the 30,699 goals he scored. AMAAAAAAZING!
Math Antics Youtube Channel is run by, Rob and Jeremy, who are both funny and clear in their maths clips, which are directed mainly at Middle school. The youtube lessons are free, but Rob and Jeremy do charge teachers US$20 for a year of worksheets.
In Australia we don’t get too carried away with 14 March aka Pi Day aka 3.14.16 because, unlike Americans, we do not write the date as 3/14/16. We prefer 14/3/16.
No problem.
Meanwhile Mathspig called her upcoming talk for the International Congress of Mathematical Education 2016 in Hamburg:
Then odd emails arrived relabelling my talk ‘…….. p-in-your-face funny!’
I thought it was a typo. Not so! The Germans, the Dutch and other European countries do not call π ‘Pi’, they call it ‘P’ or ‘Pee’ because ‘i’ is pronounced ‘ee’, for instance, in German. So I had called my great international maths talk Pee-in-your-face funny! And the German organising committee seemed happy enough with the title.
To be diplomatic and to avoid the attracting the wrong type of audience I’ve retitled my talk:
How many m&ms would kill a 14-year-old? Making middle-school maths real, relevant, deadly serious and ha^2 funny!
So Happy π Day English speakers and now, for a laugh, look at some of our Pi or Pee jokes through the eyes of, say, a German.
That’s because of the beer.
One whole day dedicated to pi.
It’s epic!
Mathematicians in love .., awwww!
So cute or they’re pissed.
………………………………………..
OK. ‘I 8 sum pi’ but adding the ‘delicous’ makes this weird for a German. D’Oh!
Very expensive bottle of pi.
Mmmm! Pecan pi.
Rabbit Pi must be a problem.
Dessert wine, maybe?
That’s, like, every day after a night out on the ‘piss’ as we so delicately call it in Australia.
You too can have tasty pi. I don’t know how and frankly, I don’t want to know.
Mathspig Blog 