SamizdatMath

On September 18th, 2015, New York City standup comedian Matt Little recorded a video of a rat dragging a slice of pizza down the stairs at the First Avenue L train station in Manhattan. On September 21st, Little uploaded the video to his Instagram and YouTube accounts with a bemusing description comparing the rodent to Master Splinter from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (shown below). Within the first 24 hours, the video garnered over two million views. This is an investigation into the perime

If you can find another mathematical investigation into NYC pizza that is more complete than this, then I advise you to buy it immediately. This has taken me several years to research, write, proofread. You will learn the meaning of the word cornicione and why it is very important when talking about pizza. You will learn about the optimal size of a pizza to buy. This resource will save you lots of money in the future.

Do you want to know what the problem is with all that math you think you're "teaching?" It's missing something, and no, it's not "standards," or "aims" or "concision" or cryptocurrency. No, it's missing something far more important. AND, would you like to use a measurement system used by 98% of all the countries in the world? Your math is missing "ambiguity." And the metric system! Let's look at how your textbook is probably teaching area and perimeter. It probably states the definition, and th

This is an approach to teaching the geometric concepts of complementary, supplementary and exemplary (also known as conjugal) angles through groupwork and problem solving using non-standard examples. This makes this activity different from anything else you’re likely to see anywhere. Why is this? Because most curricula treat this important topic as one where students see some examples, solve some lame-o problems related to them, and then more on. No thought is given about how to make this intere

This is a collection of 30 different three-clue puzzles that lead to a solution that can be made on the geoboard using a single rubber band. Actually, there are some that can be solved, but not on a geoboard, and there are some that can't be solved at all (for example, making an equilateral triangle with a right angle.) The goal of these puzzles is for your students to take the descriptions of a shape and tun it into a visual representation (using a geoboard) and then record that solution and th

This is an activity that teaches students to classify acute, obtuse, straight and right angles using semaphore flag signals. Why semaphore flag signals? Because they're fun, interesting and "real." And also, they're a good example of how to teach a concept beyond the "prototypes." What do I mean by this? Well, do an image search on "right angle" and you'll see that the examples that show up are "textbook prototypes." That is, they all have a side resting on the horizontal, the other on the verti

First of all, it should not be called the "Pythagorean Theorem," because Pythagoras had nothing to do with inventing or discovering it. The Chinese knew about it hundreds of years before, and the Mesopotamians? Like 1300 years before! Zip Zap.... Okay, this is a really REALLY cool activity that uses the "Pythagorean" Theorem to solve a very important question: how can you ship an 11 foot fishing pole, when the shipping box can't be any more than 10 feet in length? Take some time to scratch you

Here’s a nice little “take home” activity that develops both visual spatial skills, mathematical vocabulary AND it's really fun! Here’s how it works: print out the puzzles and challenge booklet on card stock (or laminate before cutting out...) and have your kids cut them out. The kids cut out the “clue cards” and have kids write clues about the different puzzles. Then they can share their cards and look at one another’s clue cards, find the shape it is describing and use the puzzle pieces to “s

Think about it: the average American eats over 40 slices of pizza a year; if you live to be 80, and assuming you start at around 5 years old, this is 75 years of pizza x 40 slices per year, or 3,000 slices in your lifetime! Since this delicious food is such an important part of our life, doesn't it make sense that we understand everything there is about the economics of buying pizza? This is a series of activities that examines the economics of pizza in several different ways. First, it shows

This is a fifth and final set of 13 3-D spatial problem solving puzzles that provide a maximum and ultimate challenge for solvers. There are three different kinds of puzzles: Basic Puzzles: These are puzzles which show the solution to the puzzle in three different colors. Students have to locate the proper pieces and assemble them as shown in the diagram. Intermediate Puzzles: These are puzzles where the solver is told which 2 - 3 pieces to use, but not how they fit together. Students locate t

This is a fourth set of 10 3-D spatial problem solving puzzles that use 3 - 4 of the seven Soma pieces. There are three different kinds of puzzles: Basic Puzzles: These are puzzles which show the solution to the puzzle in three different colors. Students have to locate the proper pieces and assemble them as shown in the diagram. Intermediate Puzzles: These are puzzles where the solver is told which 2 - 3 pieces to use, but not how they fit together. Students locate the individual pieces and th

This is a third set of 10 3-D spatial problem solving puzzles that use 3 - 4 of the seven Soma pieces. There are three different kinds of puzzles: Basic Puzzles: These are puzzles which show the solution to the puzzle in three different colors. Students have to locate the proper pieces and assemble them as shown in the diagram. Intermediate Puzzles: These are puzzles where the solver is told which 2 - 3 pieces to use, but not how they fit together. Students locate the individual pieces and the

This is a second set of 10 3-D spatial problem solving puzzles that use 2 - 3 of the seven Soma pieces. There are three different kinds of puzzles: Basic Puzzles: These are puzzles which show the solution to the puzzle in three different colors. Students have to locate the proper pieces and assemble them as shown in the diagram. Intermediate Puzzles: These are puzzles where the solver is told which 2 - 3 pieces to use, but not how they fit together. Students locate the individual pieces and th

Note: You can get this material for free if you purchase Set of 10 Wooden Soma Cubes This is the first of a set of increasingly difficult challenges which are based on the 7 piece Soma cube. The Soma cube, if you aren't familiar with it, is a 3 x 3 cube dissected into 7 different pieces. It makes an excellent platform for inspiring your students to do 3-Dimensional spatial problem solving. This is the first collection that is based on "2 piece" puzzles. There are three different levels of cha

This is an investigation where your students design, cut out and fold different networks in order to determine which ones will become a cube. Students are introduced to the concept of a network, learn how it can be used to form different types of polyhedra, and then investigate different ways (there are 11) to create a 2-D net that can be folded into a cube. Students then take the "working" and "non-working" nets and sort them onto a sheet, then compare their properties. There is also an activi

You've heard of geometry, right? You know all about tessellations, correct? You know about fractals, uh-huh. And you know about puzzles? Sho' 'nuff! This is a set of hands-on puzzle activities that combine all three. Rep-Tiles, aka "repeating tiles," are a special kind of tessellation known as a "fractal" where the pieces can be assembled to make dilated duplicates (that's larger versions) of the original tile. Now you can already do this with squares and equilateral triangles, which are known

This is a short (40 minute or less) computer based geometry activity which gets students thinking about polygons "outside the box." In this case, it is looking at how to create a closed polygon by adjusting the angle with the number of sides. The activity uses "Papert," an online version of the LOGO computer language that can be accessed at the website http://logo.twentygototen.org. This activity describes in detail to small amounts of code needed to unlock the mystery of the "Total Turtle Trip

“Parity” is the mathematical concept of “evenness” and “oddness.” For example, we know that all whole numbers are either odd or even, and that if you add or subtract evens and odds, certain forms of parity will emerge. For example, if you add two odd or even numbers, you will end up with an even number; if you add an even and an odd, you’ll end up with an odd number. To make things more interesting, if you add an odd number of even numbers (say, 2 + 4 + 6), you’ll end up with an even number. How

It's a simple diagram with a lot of different triangles of lots of different sizes and lots of different directions. There's equilateral, isosceles and scalene, and there are obtuse, acute and right triangles. This activity shows how you can use this diagram to motivate your students to "see" triangles regardless of shape and orientation. Includes detailed suggestions on how to use in your class, as well as an answer key with not 1, not 2, but 3, count 'em, 3 different ways to count and keep tr

What are your students going to make their dads for Fathers Day? Yet another pen holder or a photo mouse pad? I'm a father, and I can guarantee you that those won't fly. Why not make dad a puzzle that he can patchka around with for a few months or years? This is a "threefer" activity: it gets your kids to work on solving geometry puzzles, which they then make into a Fathers Day gift for that special father in their life, AND it is a "clue game" where kids classify shapes according to their att