Ninja Math Puzzles

How is your suit of diamonds coming?  I'm excited to see if you can make them all happen! 

For those not in the know, we worked on a puzzle problem... Can you take a piece of paper the size of a playing card, and by folding it just so, make a single cut and then open the paper up to have a diamond cut in the middle like the Ace of Diamonds?  How about a 2, that's a little harder?  Now how about a 5, or 7?  We figured out some of them.  A couple, Trey and Adam did and then showed the rest of us.  But we ran out of time to finish the entire suit. 

This is math!  This is origami (geometry), logic, and more.  Math, even what might seem boring and frustrating at times (like a page of quadratic equations or long division), is really just a series of puzzles to solve.  If you change your mindset, you can make it more enjoyable!!

The Secrets of Mental Math, can make math more enjoyable and feel like fun puzzles.  Make practicing your type of mental math problem a game.  Start with wowing a younger sibling, maybe.  Or just time yourself a few times and see if you can get better, alone in the backyard ;)  The book is due next class, on April 14th.  That's the last day of this FUN math unit.  You need to have the book read/completed by that next class period, in 2 weeks.  But you can continue working on your speed and prowess with the type of mental math problem you choose.

Katie and Trey, you have 2 more weeks to polish your presentations.  If you're struggling with the broad topic you have chosen, pick a subset of it to focus on, research and prepare to teach us.  Please work on it, practice and be ready to impress us with your new knowledge!

Finally, keep strong on your Ninja Training missions!  There's just 6 weeks left til the end of the semester.  So finish this training mission and we'll have one more.

Oh, one more thing that goes with my first item...

Check out these websites for more fun!  One of them is where I found the diamond playing cards puzzle.

www.storyofmathematics.com

nrich.maths.org (Click on the student "Secondary" buttons at the top)

www.coolmaths.com

Math in your head!

So today we discussed the fact that really knowing the times tables is super important for our abilities to function with even basic math.  Knowing many of the tricks that are taught in The Secrets of Mental Math, will make shopping, banking, and other day to day aspects of math so much easier.

How do you do any of those things?  Practice!  Practice, practice and yeah... more practice.  There are tricks of course... like the cool things about 9s.  Or remembering that any even number times 5 will always end in a 0.  Anything multiplied by 4 is just multiplied by 2 and then 2 again.  Or even the silly trick I told you that I use: 6x9 is the same as 6x10 - 6, or 54.  And since the other weird multiplication number to remember is 7x8, that one is 56 (and not 54, like I'm sometimes inclined to think).  I've been practicing.  Adam already chose squaring 2-digit numbers, but it's such a cool trick that I've been doing it a little every day, too.  I'm pretty good with anything that ends in 5-0, but for some reason have a harder time with things that end in 1-4.  So still working on it.  But I'll get there.

So this week, keep reading through chapter 5.  Work on your Ninja Training (stepping it up).  And pick your mathemagic skill to start working on.  And do your math worksheet, timing it.  Do that TODAY, if you haven't already.  While you're practicing all your math skills during this unit, you're going to improve your abilities!  But of course, you actually have to practice for that to work.

Becoming a math wiz!

Ok, so math isn't the favorite subject of any of you in class.  But I hope this unit will make it a little more enjoyable!

I thought it was fun to learn about Fibonacci's numbers, his 3 wishes and the Golden Spiral.  Have you seen Fibonacci numbers in your life anywhere this week?  They're all around, especially in nature.

The book we're reading, Secrets of Mental Math: The Mathemagician's Guide to Lightning Calculation and Amazing Math Tricks, is a fun way to learn how to do more math in your head, solve problems quickly, and maybe even wow your friends.  One reviewer on Amazon even said that she used it as a professional tutor to help people prepare for the SAT.  Want to see Arthur Benjamin (the author) in action?  Here's a fun video to watch, where he does some Mathemagics, but also teaches some of the basic skills from the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YNQIVoPRjg

Remember that for this unit, you need to continue Hero Training, with a 21 day mission.  Why don't you change it up a little?  If you want to keep exercise as your plan, be a little more specific, make a goal, do a particular exercise each day, or for a specific amount of time.

Practice your times tables... the increased speed will help you in many ways.

Also, related to the specific unit, this week you need to have read through Chapter 4, and picked a particular kind of mathemagic problem that you're going to perfect.

And remember to work on your presentations:
Mar 10:  Jared - ?
Mar 17:  Adam - Math in Origami
Mar 24:  Katie - Roman Numerals
Mar 31:  Trey - Abacus
Put some effort into them and make them great! (But not too long... just about 10 min)