Photo by frumbert.
Alexandria Jones‘s parents decided that the family needed to relax after the excitement of tracking Simon Skulk, so they spent the next day at a beach on the Mediterranean coast. Leon collected pebbles and tried to build up figurate numbers — numbers that make a figure, or shape — the way Dr. Theano had shown them.
Photo by RBerteig. Take a break from “serious” math and have a little fun today with some classics of recreational mathematics. Do you have a favorite math or logic fallacy? Please share it in the Comments below. Continue reading April Fool’s Day: Fun with Math Fallacies
While checking out the book table after a homeschool group meeting, Maria Jones glanced up to see her children laughing with some kids she did not recognize. Driving home, she asked about the new family, but Alex and Leon had been too busy exchanging silly stories to even ask the strangers’ names.
“Well,” Leon said, “the boy told me he has twice as many sisters as brothers.”
No way!” said Alex. “The girl told me that she has the same number of brothers and sisters.”
How can that be?
Leonhard Jones is Alexandria Jones’s younger brother. He enjoys woodworking, and he cut a wooden cube into 8 smaller blocks to make himself a puzzle.
Leon painted the 8 blocks with his two favorite colors: red and forest green. When he was finished, Leon could put the blocks together into a red cube, or he could switch them around to make a green cube.
How did Leon paint his blocks?
[Feature photo above by pauladamsmith.]
Now there is an ancient Greek letter,
And I think no other is better.
It isn’t too tall,
It might look very small,
But its digits, they go on forever.— Scott
Mrs. Mitchell’s Virtual School
Are your students doing anything special for 
If you need ideas, here are some great
Photo by Brittany G.
I found this cute lesson on Meeyauw’s blog:
And that sent me searching for more St. Patrick’s Day math:
Photo by James Cridland.
Aargh! My computer died again. So I borrowed my daughter’s laptop and ran off to the coffee shop to write blog articles — and discovered that all the outlets on the wall here are fake. Why would they do that? Anyway, before the laptop battery dies, I want to share a couple of math links with you…
Math concepts: subtraction within 100, number patterns, mental math
Number of players: 2 or 3
Equipment: printed hundred chart (also called a hundred board), and highlighter or translucent disks to mark numbers — or use this online hundred chart
Place the hundred chart and highlighter where all players can reach them.
Are you ready for a challenge? Join us for the 2008 Mathematics Game. Here are the rules:
Use the digits in the year 2008 and the operations +, -, x, ÷, sqrt (square root), ^ (raise to a power), and ! (factorial) — along with parentheses, brackets, or other grouping symbols — to write expressions for the counting numbers 1 through 100.
- All four digits must be used in each expression.
- Only the digits 2, 0, 0, 8 may be used.
- Multi-digit numbers such as 20, 208, or .02 MAY be used this year.
- The square function may NOT be used.
- The integer function may NOT be used.
By definition:
[See Dr. Math’s Why does 0 factorial equal 1?]
For this game we will accept the value:
[See the Dr. Math FAQ 0 to the 0 power.]
As we all head back to school, here are some interesting calendar puzzles:
Denise Gaskins' Let's Play Math 