Write the word carrot inside your math text book. Do not show students.
When Mathspig was a mathspiglet we used to play this trick. It doesn’t work on everyone, but it works often enough.
Ask a student to say 15 times 15 fifteen times.
Then ask them to name a vegetable. Students say carrot 90% (I’m guessing) of the time.
To make this trick more dramatic send 10 students out of the class before you begin and tell the other half what you are about to do. Students return one at a time. How often do they say ‘carrot’? What % of students say carrot?
In every volcano disaster movie from Volcano (1997) with Tommy Lee Jones to Dante’s Peak (1997) with Pierce Brosnan someone somewhere tries to out run a lava flow.
Is this possible? (See movie cliché busted by maths here.)
Now a lava flow from Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano is threatening tiny town of Pahoa, Hawaii again. (below).
You will find excellent information about the Kilauea and other volcanoes at the
As the temperature of lava exceeds 10000 C there are very few ways to stop lava. According to the Taylor Kate Brown SMH (10 SEPT 2014) options include:
Bombing
Blasting (it with cold water)
Barricading it
Or adding concrete.
What if you are on your own.
Can you out run lava?
Lets do the maths.
Lava from Kilauea travels 17 yards per hour so the lava velocity is:
Students doing repetitive text book exercises without using maths to solve REAL WORLD problems.
The Solution:
You are going to use this maths NOW…………………..
……………………………………………………………………………….
How much blood can YOU lose and survive?
………….METRIC UNITS
Remember the best calculator to use is the WEB 2.0 Calculator as it shows the worked equation as you go.
CAREERS: It’s not only health workers who need to understand these calculations, but also creatives running health campaigns online, on TV, radio and in magazines.
TOPICS: Decimals, %, algebra, vol, weight units (METRIC)
Students doing repetitive text book exercises without using maths to solve REAL WORLD problems.
The Solution:
You are going to use this maths NOW…………………..
……………………………………………………………………………….
How much blood can YOU lose and survive?
………….USA Units
Remember the best calculator to use is the WEB 2.0 Calculator as it shows the worked equation as you go.
CAREERS: It’s not only health workers who need to understand these calculations, but also creatives running health campaigns online, on TV, radio and in magazines.
TOPICS: Decimals, %, algebra, vol, weight units (USA UNITS)
The above algorithms are called pseudocode because you do not type a letter to a computer to tell it what to do. You have to write code to instruct it. But computer code, as my little sailor friend would say, uses a shipload of maths. I am going to give you instructions by writing a letter to you because that is your CODE that you understand. You are going to calculate the The Flesch–Kincaid reading score for The Hunger Games and a Harry Potter TEXT. Don’t run screaming out the door. This is not too complicated. The Flesch–Kincaid reading score or, quaintly, the F–K formula (Oops! Only one – )tells you the grade reading level of a text. F-K formula We will use a basic version and a calculator: You will need: Word Count = Sentence Count = Syllable count = The Flesch Reading Ease score is interpreted as follows:
READABILITY is important for Newspapers, books and websites
Text to be read by the general public should aim for a grade level of around 60 – 69 or Grade 8. YA authors use the F-K formula to see if the text of their novel has the appropriate reading age. YOU CAN TEST YOUR OWN WRITING! What reading age is your writing?
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Are your FINANCIAL and LEGAL CONTRACTS READABLE?
You may be able to SUE your BANK!!!!!!!!!
Contracts, by law in the US, should be written to a reading score of Grade 8. According to a recent article in the Telegraph, UK: Insurance and banking customers who have been mis-sold financial products are more likely to be awarded compensation if they use a scientific test to prove policy documents were too difficult to read. The “Flesch Kincaid” reading score is well established in the US, where most states require insurers’ policy documents to be written at no higher than a ninth-grade level (14–15 years of age) of reading difficulty.
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Hunger Games And Harry Potter TEXT Readability Readability Calculations: Method 1 YOU ARE THE COMPUTER. You will do All calculations. Readability Calculations: Method 2 You are the algorithm. You will cut and paste text into programs that auto-count words and syllables, collect this and other data from your computer and do the calculations using a calculator or online Web 2 calculator. Readability Calculations: Method 3: Cut and paste text directly into a Readability Calculator to get score.
If Peeta and I were both to die, or they thought we were….My fingers fumble with the pouch on my belt, freeing it. Peeta sees it and his hand clamps on my wrist. “No, I won’t let you.” “Trust me,” I whisper. He holds my gaze for a long moment then lets go. I loosen the top of the pouch and pour a few spoonfuls of berries into his palm. Then I fill my own. “On the count of three?” Peeta leans down and kisses me once, very gently. “The count of three,” he says. We stand, our backs pressed together, our empty hands locked tight. “Hold them out. I want everyone to see,” he says. I spread out my fingers, and the dark berries glisten in the sun. I give Peeta’s hand one last squeeze as a signal, as a good-bye, and we begin counting. “One.” Maybe I’m wrong. “Two.” Maybe they don’t care if we both die. “Three!” It’s too late to change my mind. I lift my hand to my mouth taking one last look at the world. The berries have just passed my lips when the trumpets begin to blare. The frantic voice of Claudius Templesmith shouts above them. “Stop! Stop! Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to present the victors of the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark! I give you – the tributes of District 12!”
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Readability Hunger Games: Method 1
The best way to count words and sentences is to cut and paste the text into a document and break the text up into sentences. This is a good exercise for students of all middle school students. You will find the text breakdown and syllable count here Hunger Games Readability
Word Count =
Sentence Count =
Syllable count =
Note: This last count will send you crazy. I kept getting different counts. Go with the middle count. ie. How many syllables in GIVE? G-ive. 2 syllables?
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Readability Hunger Games: Method 2
Word Count =
Sentence Count =
Syllable count =
You will still have to do a sentence count, but you can cut and past the text into the following:
