Dear all,
The February edition of the NRICH website is now live at
www.nrich.maths.org. This month's site is bursting with a variety of rich
and challenging problems all based on the mathematical theme of Ratio and
Proportion.
Story books have been the inspiration for two of our problems, one of which
your pupils are likely to be familiar with - Goldilocks and the Three
Bears. Try Once Upon a Time
(<http://nrich.maths.org/public/viewer.php?obj_id=4783>) where all the
Bears' possessions are in the same proportions as their heights. Just how
deep is Baby Bear's bowl?
How strong do your class like their fruit drink? Can they work out whose
blackcurrant squash has the most blackcurrant flavour in Blackcurrantiest
(<http://nrich.maths.org/public/viewer.php?obj_id=4784>)? Food and drink
seem to crop up quite a few times this month - perhaps Nutty Mixture
(<http://nrich.maths.org/public/viewer.php?obj_id=4788>) or Cereal Mix
(<http://nrich.maths.org/public/viewer.php?obj_id=4792>) will tickle your
students' taste buds?
Somewhat in contrast to food, three problems this month have paint in
common. Mixing More Paints
(<http://nrich.maths.org/public/viewer.php?obj_id=4794>) follows on from
Mixing Paints (<http://nrich.maths.org/public/viewer.php?obj_id=4793>)
which asks pupils to produce pink paint containing red and white in certain
ratios. If they are keen on decorating, they might like to try Tin Tight
(<http://nrich.maths.org/public/viewer.php?obj_id=4797>) - this time they
need to investigate the most efficient dimensions for a tin of paint. Or,
for something completely different, can your students explore the angle
that a billiard ball must be struck at for it to return to its starting
position in Orbiting Billiard Balls
(<http://nrich.maths.org/public/viewer.php?obj_id=4798>)?
At the highest level, the problems all focus on fractals. Your class can
find out more about the Sierpinski triangle, which is the limit of a series
of triangular shapes, in the Sierpinski Triangle problem
(<http://nrich.maths.org/public/viewer.php?obj_id=4757>). It invites them
to work towards finding the total area of the triangles which have been
removed.
There are several extras on the site this month, Ratio Pairs 2
(<http://nrich.maths.org/public/viewer.php?obj_id=4824>) and Ratio Pairs 3
(<http://nrich.maths.org/public/viewer.php?obj_id=4821>), where you must
match cards representing equivalent ratios, and a different slant on Su
Doku, Intersection Su Doku
(<http://nrich.maths.org/public/viewer.php?obj_id=4812>). Are your
students up for the challenge?
Please don't forget to persuade pupils to keep their solutions coming in.
They might see their names on the site next month!
With best wishes from The NRICH Team.
Liz Pumfrey
NRICH Primary Teacher Research Associate
University of Cambridge Centre for Mathematical Sciences
Wilberforce Road
Cambridge
CB3 0WA
01223 764246
www.nrich.maths.org
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