What Is Mathematics?

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Here’s a bit of fun to brighten up your Monday:

Mathematics: Measuring x Laziness² by Zogg from Betelgeuse (Martin Kuppe).

For Further Exploration

James Grime explains the “Aldebaranian” curve calculator in this video:

And here is the “Map of Mathematistan”. Click to zoom in.

MathematistanHiresWithoutRoads

Credit: I contacted @ZoggTheAlien for permission to use the sketch. He said, “Feel free to use it. It’s a Galactic Commons license; you can use it if you don’t claim it’s made by one of your species.”

Please Add Your Comments Below

What-Is-Math

  • Do you have a favorite place in the Land of Mathematics? Why do you like it?
  • Most children find themselves stuck in the inner city of Arithmetics. How can we help them get out and explore the landscape?

howtosolveproblemsWant to help your kids learn math? Claim your free 24-page problem-solving booklet, and sign up to hear about new books, revisions, and sales or other promotions.

Logic: The Centauri Challenge

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Another fun discovery from the #MTBoS Challenge: Brian Miller (@TheMillerMath) posted this interstellar puzzle on his blog today.

centaurichallenge
[Right-click image to download a pdf you can print for your students.]

More Logic Puzzles

If you liked the Centauri Challenge, you may also enjoy the following blog posts:

howtosolveproblemsWant to help your kids learn math? Claim your free 24-page problem-solving booklet, and sign up to hear about new books, revisions, and sales or other promotions.

Sample The Moscow Puzzles

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Dover Publications is offering a free sample chapter from The Moscow Puzzles.

Cat and Mice
Purrer has decided to take a nap. He dreams he is encircle by 13 mice: 12 gray and 1 white. He hears his owner saying: “Purrer, you are to eat each thirteenth mouse, keeping the same direction. The last mouse you eat must be the white one.”

Download the sample chapter from The Moscow Puzzles.

More Free Math from Dover Publications

howtosolveproblemsWant to help your kids learn math? Claim your free 24-page problem-solving booklet, and sign up to hear about new books, revisions, and sales or other promotions.

Olympic Logic

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

I love logic puzzles! Nrich Maths offers four fun Olympics Logic puzzles. And be sure to check out the rest of their Nrich Olympics Math as well.

Medals Count

Given the following clues, can you work out the number of gold, silver and bronze medals that France, Italy and Japan got in this international sports competition?

  • Japan has 1 more gold medal, but 3 fewer silver medals, than Italy.
  • France has the most bronze medals (18), but fewest gold medals (7).
  • Each country has at least 6 medals of each type.
  • Italy has 27 medals in total.
  • Italy has 2 more bronze medals than gold medals.
  • The three countries have 38 bronze medals in total.
  • France has twice as many silver medals as Italy has gold medals.

Go to Nrich Maths and try all four puzzles!

howtosolveproblemsWant to help your kids learn math? Claim your free 24-page problem-solving booklet, and sign up to hear about new books, revisions, and sales or other promotions.

Skit: Knights and Knaves Logic Puzzles

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

photo by puuikibeach via flickr

Our homeschool co-op held an end-of-semester assembly. Each class was supposed to demonstrate something they had learned. I planned to set up a static display showing some of our projects, like the fractal pop-up card and the game of Nim, but the students voted to do a skit based on the logic puzzles of Raymond Smullyan.

We had a small class (only four students), but you can easily divide up the lines make room for more players. We created signs from half-sheets of poster board with each native’s line on front and whether she was a knight or knave on the flip side. In the course of a skit, there isn’t enough time to really think through the puzzles, so the audience had to vote based on first impressions — which gave us a fair showing of all opinions on each puzzle.

Continue reading Skit: Knights and Knaves Logic Puzzles

Raymond Smullyan Excerpts at Dover Publications

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

To celebrate their re-release of his classic puzzle books, the Dover Math and Science Newsletter featured an interview with Raymond Smullyan, as well as several extended excerpts from his books. (For my math club students: Professor Smullyan invented the Knights and Knaves puzzles.) Enjoy!

howtosolveproblemsWant to help your kids learn math? Claim your free 24-page problem-solving booklet, and sign up to hear about new books, revisions, and sales or other promotions.