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Alexandria Jones and the Eighty-Yard Drive


[Photo by West Point Public Affairs.]

Alexandria Jones pulled the last sheet of chocolate chip cookies from the oven and inhaled deeply. Mmm! Perfect. And just in time — Mom was calling her to the car. She slid the cookies into a plastic bowl but left the lid off so the steam could escape. The Jones family was going to meet Uncle Will and Alex’s cousin Sam for a tail-gate picnic before the big football game.

Continue reading Alexandria Jones and the Eighty-Yard Drive

Catching Up on the Carnivals

Love math 1
Image via Wikipedia

My Blog Parties for Teachers sidebar widget is now updated with the latest carnivals. If you host an education blog carnival that you think my readers might enjoy, please email me a link.

A Couple of Chess Puzzles

Checkmate2
Image via Wikipedia

Chess is a favorite game for recreational mathematicians — not to play it, but to play around with it. Many puzzles and challenges are based on the moves of chess pieces.

Stretch your brain with these puzzles:

  • Can you go on a Knight’s Tour? Start your knight on any square, and try to hop around to all the rest.
  • Or, how many queens can you place on the board so that no queen can capture another?

Continue reading A Couple of Chess Puzzles

Hey, Look — I’m Famous!

Do you Google yourself? It’s a good way to check up on your online reputation. I recently ran a search for my name, and who would have guessed I was so well known?

Actually, I’ve been editing my old “how to teach homeschool math” books, hoping to republish them someday, but I needed a break. So when I noticed the “create your own spoof” email from Swagbucks, I couldn’t resist. Hope you enjoyed it!