| Investigations
1 |
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Investigate
the number of concrete flags that are required to surround a pond.
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Investigate
the number of rebounds on a frictionless pool table.
Change
the length and width of the pool table. Click the 'play' button
and watch the ball travel across the table.
Does
the ball always drop in a pocket? How many times does it rebound
off the cushions? Which pocket does it drop in? How far does the
ball travel?
A knowledge of ratio will help.
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Investigate
how far a spring will stretch.
Change
the size of the weight and the strength of the spring. Can you predict
how far the spring will stretch?
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| Investigations
2 |
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Investigate
the number of diagonals of a polygon.
Change
the number of sides of the polygon and then draw the diagonals.
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Investigate the number of lines joining dots round
a circle.
Change
the number of dots and then draw the diagonals.
Polygon,
Mystic Rose and the famous Handshakes problem and work on triangular
numbers all go hand in hand!
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The mean
crunching machine likes working out the mean of two numbers. Input
two numbers and the machine will generate a sequence of numbers in
which the next term is the mean of the previous two terms.
For example: 2, 5, 3.5, 4.25, 3.875, 4.0625 .......
The
sequence will converge to a particular value which the machine will
spit out.
Can you predict what the final number will be for any pair of starting
numbers? The graph will help you. |
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The number crunching machine divides and adds over and over again.
For example, start with 37 and divide by 5 and add 1. The sequence
of numbers will converge to a final number which the machine will
spit out.
Try
other starting numbers, does it matter what number you start with?
Divide by 4 instead of dividing by 5, what difference does that
make?
Input
any number and predict what will come out.
A little knowledge of the equivalence of decimals and fractions
is needed.
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| Investigations
3 |
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A
blue square can be moved about the grid. A line is drawn from the
origin that cuts the square into two sections, one larger than the
other. The ratio of the areas of the upper section to the lower
is shown. The equation of the "cutting" line can be changed by altering
the numerator and denominator. The fractions involved have not been
cancelled down to help with sorting out this investigation.
What is the equation of the line that cuts the square in the ratio
2:1? 3:1? 4:1?
A knowledge of equivalent fractions, equations of y=mx+c graphs
and ratio is required to successfully tackle this tricky investigation.
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