Description
This geometry challenge poses three levels of problems. I typically assign the first level to all students with the other two as a challenge. The problem involves a board that becomes jammed in a box.
The students enter their answers into the spreadsheet and the cell will turn green if correct.
Level 1 (box width) is solved using similar triangles and the Pythagorean Theorem. It should be accessible to most students.
Level 2 (jam height) starts out the same but leads into some fairly intense applications of algebra 1 concepts including quadratics and square roots. It is intended as a challenge for students who are into that sort of thing.
Level 3 (board length) again starts the same but leads to a quartic equation which I "solved" using an online quartic solver.
This is the "Silver" version meaning that every student would be working with the same values. The "Gold" version assigns each student one of over 200 different data sets. I find this encourages helping but makes it impossible to share answers.
ActivePaperMath - The Jammed Board Triangle Similarity Challenge Silver
Highlights
Description
This geometry challenge poses three levels of problems. I typically assign the first level to all students with the other two as a challenge. The problem involves a board that becomes jammed in a box.
The students enter their answers into the spreadsheet and the cell will turn green if correct.
Level 1 (box width) is solved using similar triangles and the Pythagorean Theorem. It should be accessible to most students.
Level 2 (jam height) starts out the same but leads into some fairly intense applications of algebra 1 concepts including quadratics and square roots. It is intended as a challenge for students who are into that sort of thing.
Level 3 (board length) again starts the same but leads to a quartic equation which I "solved" using an online quartic solver.
This is the "Silver" version meaning that every student would be working with the same values. The "Gold" version assigns each student one of over 200 different data sets. I find this encourages helping but makes it impossible to share answers.
