Two recent problems.

Ok...this was a mathcounts problem that we could not get for several days.   We finally were albe to find a few ways to solve it.  Do not scroll down to the hint, unless of course you would like to see the hint.  I will not post the solution.

Hint: draw a line from H to I, and then another line from D to F.  Go after it with some right triangle trig!

Problem #2

Then here is another photo of a problem I do not have a solution for.  Why should vehicles that get better gas mileage get to park closer to Best Buy?

So I like to hang around 101questions.com.  Dan Meyer has inspired me to look for sharper hooks, often in images or video.  Most importantly they make students care.  I use quite a bit of his three act problems.  

Which problem would you rather discuss?

Dan Meyer and INDY NCTM regional conference 2014

Great conference.   Go to experience Dan Meyer and one of his three acts live.  Here he is...super tall by the way, over 6'4".  Fun problem.  Interesting discussion on how to find the most exact area of a circle.   Is it easier to measure the diameter of a circle or the radius?

Fractal Forest

Fractals can be quite a lot of fun.  They often encourage students to explore patterns and create their own patterns.  They are fit for STEAM.  

Each week I have the sixth grade for a period called Problem Solving.  We have been working on fractals....both two dimensional and three dimentional.   Here is my board after we tried to make fractal trees.

Here is a picture of a Brocoflower...one of my students brought it in to share.  It was found at the local farmers market.  We fiddled with this  guy so much in class I decided not to eat it.  Seems a great combination...broccoli and coliflower?