[Photo by Sister72.]
Welcome to the second Math Teachers At Play blog carnival! Some articles were submitted by their authors, other were drawn from the back-log in my blog reader, and I’ve spiced it all up with a few of my favorite quotations.
Let the mathematical fun begin…
[Photo by reubenaingber.]
If you collected stacks of $100 bills, could you fit a trillion dollars into your bedroom?
In your house?
In a warehouse?
If you spent a dollar a second, how long would it take to spend a trillion dollars?
[HT: Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds.]
[Photo by arsheffield.]
Check it out:
And coming soon: Pi Day.
Edited to add: Jonathan‘s class enjoyed extending the concept to include other products. Using the m/d/yy format (not the 4-digit year), how many times in your life has it been true that 
[Photo by pshutterbug.]
It’s been ages since I posted any blackboard quotes, so here are a few gems from last semester. [Hat tip: I found most of the quotes in this list at The Quote Garden’s Quotations about Math page.]
Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.
Continue reading Quotations XXIII: The Poetry of Logical Ideas
[Feature photo above by Tom@HK.]
One of my favorite warm-up exercises for Math Club is “Today is ______.” Each student invents one or more mathematical expressions for today’s date and writes his or her favorite on the board for all to admire. Answers range from lazy (24×1 — at least it’s an excuse to talk about identity elements) to unnecessarily repetitive (1+1+1+…), but we usually get a few gems as well.
[Photo by StuSeeger.]
Welcome to the inaugural edition of the Math Teachers At Play blog carnival! I hope you enjoy this collection of tips, tidbits, games, and activities for students and teachers of preschool-12th grade mathematics.
For this first carnival, I’ve drawn several recent posts from my blog reader as examples of the types of posts I’d love to include in future editions of Math Teachers at Play. I tried to find something for everyone, from multiplication drill for elementary students to advice for understanding high school math equations.
Let the mathematical fun begin…
[Photo by angela7dreams.]
A forum friend posted about her daughter’s adventure in learning the math facts:
“She loves stories and drawing, so I came up with the Math Friends book. She made a little book, and we talked about different numbers that are buddies.”
For all those who missed it last time, now is your chance: Number Stories of Long Ago will be available Tuesday, January 20, from Homeschool Freebie of the Day.
David Eugene Smith tells stories set in different historical eras, showing how different mathematical concepts were developed and became a part of civilization. Wonderful!
If you missed the Homeschool Freebies edition, Number Stories of Long Ago is also available as a real book or (at least in the U.S.) as a scanned library book from Google Books.
Or try downloading a copy for your Kindle (or Nook, Kobo, Sony Reader, etc.):
[Photo by ccarlstead.]
Can you can put together a team of 2-6 middle or high school students for an afternoon of mathematical play? If so, then Dave at MathNotations is running a math competition you just have to check out.
Teachers register by email on or before Thursday, January 29, and will receive the six thought-provoking contest problems and official answer form by return email. Hold the contest at your convenience on Tuesday, February 3, allowing your team up to 90 minutes to complete and electronically submit their answers.
Continue reading MathNotations Contest for Middle-High School
The Art of Problem Solving people recently announced their new Alcumus program, which provides online lessons on assorted math topics, including probability and combinatorics, which most math textbooks do not cover well, if at all.
Update October 2011:
Alcumus currently complements our Introduction to Algebra, Introduction to Counting & Probability, Introduction to Number Theory, and Prealgebra textbooks, as well as our Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Introduction to Counting & Probability, Introduction to Number Theory, and Prealgebra 1 online courses. We expect to continue to expand topics in Alcumus.
I am signing up all my MathCounts students. If you’re a homeschooler, we would love to have you join us!
Denise Gaskins' Let's Play Math 