Students will explore existing equity themed murals to identify themes, and the mathematics necessary to plan/create a city mural. Students will utilize Google maps tools to begin connecting Mathematical representations to precisely interpret circle properties and apply them to the mural design.
What shapes can result from the following fold-and-cut process?
Take a piece of paper.
Fold it flat.
Make one complete straight cut.
Unfold the pieces.
Are all shapes possible?
Developed as part of the Math Circles of Inquiry project, the goal of this module is to help students in Algebra II become fluent in the various forms of a parabola equation based on the information that they are given. Students sometimes fail to understand that there are multiple ways to find an equation of a parabola. This module incorporates multiple activities both in the learning packet and using Desmos activities online to encourage students to discover and practice writing equations of parabolas in their various forms. At the end of this activity students will work more efficiently with equations...
Developed as part of the Math Circles of Inquiry project, this five to six day activity is designed to help students understand trigonometric ratios, by building on their understanding of similar triangles and ratios of corresponding sides. The purpose of this module is for students to spend time and energy developing the reasons the sine, cosine and tangent ratios are effective tools for solving right triangles, by analyzing patterns that emerge when the trig table is compiled from class generated data, and to understand the numbers stored in their calculator before they start using it to problem solve. An optional...
Developed as part of the Math Circles of Inquiry project, this short module explores a graphical solution to a system of equations. Students answer questions about lemonade sales and physically stand on the coordinates of a giant grid in order to see that plotting two equations on the same set of axes can give useful information. They will also gain experience in linear equation formats other than slope-intercept form and explore what the intersection points of the lines in a system of equations means.
You want this year’s dance to be LIT! The dance committee has a goal of fundraising $3,500 through ticket sales. How many tickets do they need to sell?
Developed as part of the Math Circles of Inquiry project, this module presents an engaging problem which will allow students to investigate how to graph and solve a system of inequalities.
This session asks participants to expand their notion of “distance,” using a nontraditional taxicab metric instead of the usual Pythagorean notion. Participants are guided to construct the equivalent of “circles” with this new metric and to look at the intersections of multiple such circles. In particular, two firehouses in Gridtown are a certain distance apart and at specific addresses. What firehouse should serve a given house with a specified address? What areas of town should each firehouse serve? What if there were three firehouses? The focus of the session is on a deeper understanding of the coordinate system and notions...
The pigeonhole principle states that if n pigeons are put into m cubbies, with n > m, then at least one cubby must contain more than one pigeon. Parity problems deal with odd and even integers. Here is a collection of problems that can be used in a single problem solving session, or as individual teaser questions.
Problems are suitable for a math circle or classroom.
Austrian mathematician Georg Pick first stated this theorem in 1899. However it wasn’t brought to broad attention until 1969. In this exploration, participants will use rates of change to aid them in discovering Pick’s famous formula by finding a relationship between the area of the figure, the number of perimeter pegs, and the number of interior pegs.
This session is also suitable for student circles or the classroom.
Some probability problems can be solved by drawing a picture; this approach is sometimes called geometric probability. Other approaches can include experimentation, looking at smaller cases, looking at extreme cases, recursion, or carefully listing possibilities.
This session includes ten problems that can be explored alone or in sets, providing material for several circle sessions or the classroom.
