Welcome to the not so new, but still ridiculously exciting maths blog from everyone's favourite teacher Mr Marlow.
This blog is designed to keep the pupils that I teach up to date with their maths and numeracy studies. The blog will include links to useful websites, videos, downloadable documents and lots of other useful stuff. Happy studying!!
Sunday 7 July 2030
Wednesday 19 December 2012
Merry Christmas 2012
Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas and a successful 2013. From Mr Marlow (currently on gardening leave) and his chickens (currently fed up with the weather!!).
Advent Calendar
A little late in the day, but here is a fun activity just click on the link to be taken to the website.
Thursday 25 October 2012
Pythagoras was weird!
Discovered this amusing little video from the wonderful ViHart this morning. Enjoy!
Tuesday 23 October 2012
October 23rd - Mole Day
Happy Mole Day!!
Mole Day commemorates Avogadro's Number (6.02 x 10^23), which is a basic measuring unit in chemistry.
Thursday 4 October 2012
Sunday 13 May 2012
Font for digits lets numbers punch their weight
This is a fascinating article from New Scientist. The symbols we use to represent numbers are, mathematically speaking, arbitrary. Now there is a way to write numbers so that their areas equal their numerical values. The font, called FatFonts, could transform the art of data visualisation, allowing a single infographic to convey both a visual overview and exact values.
Font for digits lets numbers punch their weight - physics-math - 12 May 2012 - New Scientist
Font for digits lets numbers punch their weight - physics-math - 12 May 2012 - New Scientist
Thursday 10 May 2012
Classic Mathematical Joke
A mathematician finishes a large meal and says: √(-1/64)
Confused?
√-1 = i and as we all know √64 = 8
Hence, the mathematician actually said i/8 (I over ate).
To quote the late great Frank Carson "It's the way I tell 'em".
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| Adam Richman from the TV show Man versus Food |
Confused?
√-1 = i and as we all know √64 = 8
Hence, the mathematician actually said i/8 (I over ate).
To quote the late great Frank Carson "It's the way I tell 'em".
Friday 4 May 2012
Wednesday 25 January 2012
Proving Pythagoras
The Pythagorean (or Pythagoras') Theorem is the statement that the sum of (the areas of) the two small squares equals (the area of) the big one.
In algebraic terms, a² + b² = c² where c is the hypotenuse while a and b are the legs of the triangle.
The theorem is of fundamental importance in Euclidean Geometry where it serves as a basis for the definition of distance between two points.
There are at least 96 seperate proof of Pythagoras (cut-the-knot).
Here is another proof from Vi Hart (see links opposite).
In algebraic terms, a² + b² = c² where c is the hypotenuse while a and b are the legs of the triangle.
The theorem is of fundamental importance in Euclidean Geometry where it serves as a basis for the definition of distance between two points.
There are at least 96 seperate proof of Pythagoras (cut-the-knot).
Here is another proof from Vi Hart (see links opposite).
Why not get a piece of paper and give it a try?
Functional Maths and Football
Due to the stunning disorganisation within the "Gas Board" the school is closed, to pupils, again on Thursday 26th January. So, here are some questions to keep everyone busy.
1. The table shows the results of football matches played by five international football teams in the last four years.
Won | Drawn | Lost | |
31 | 8 | 11 | |
36 | 5 | 9 | |
28 | 14 | 8 | |
42 | 3 | 5 | |
11 | 10 | 29 |
(a) Which team won the most matches?
(b) How many more matches did Brazil win than Italy
(c) Which team drew more matches than they lost?
2. Here are the ages of the eleven players in the French football team picked to play the first match in a cup competition:
22 25 36 31 21 33 22 22 27 28 30
Work out
(a) the modal age of the players
(b) the median age of the players
(c) the mean age of the players
(d) the range of ages
The player aged 36 retires and is replaced by a new player for the second match in the competition.
(e) If the median age of the team does not change, what is the youngest age the new player could be?
(a) What is the probability of picking a red football from the box?
(b) How many white footballs would the referee need to add to the box so that it is equally likely that he selects a red or white football?
The director of the competition has bought 420 footballs for the competition.
He tests 20 of the footballs and finds 2 to be faulty.
(c) What is the theoretical probability that any football is faulty?
(d) How many faulty footballs would be expected altogether?
4. The ground-person has measured the temperature throughout the first day of the competition. She measured the temperature in °C each hour and plotted the results in a line graph.
(a) What is the temperature at 15:00?
(b) Work out the range of temperatures during the day
(c) Write a sentence to describe how the temperature changes throughout the day.
Tuesday 24 January 2012
GCSE Foundation Revision - Pythagoras for right angle triangles
Here is a nice little video from YouTube on Pythagoras' Theorem. Which is the current topic for Year 11 pupils.
Functional Maths
Our school is closed on Wednesday 25th January due to work on the gas main. So as pupils don't miss out on vital learning here is a functional maths question to keep you occupied.
Mr Walker receives his gas bill every three months.
He pays £45 to the gas company every month.
The first 350 units of gas on each bill cost 7.2p per unit.
The rest of the units cost 4p.
Mr Walker gets a rebate of £41.64 for money he has overpaid in the last 3 months.
How many units of gas has Mr Walker used in the last three months?
Remember you need to show each step of your working and show all the sums that you have carried out.
Challenge
In order to install the new gas main a considerable amount of digging will need to take place. Can you come up with a solution to the following problem?
Working alone, Ryan can dig a 10 ft by 10 ft hole in five hours. Chris can dig the same hole in six hours. How long would it take them if they worked together? Give your answer in both hours (2 decimal places) and hours and minutes.
Challenge
In order to install the new gas main a considerable amount of digging will need to take place. Can you come up with a solution to the following problem?
Working alone, Ryan can dig a 10 ft by 10 ft hole in five hours. Chris can dig the same hole in six hours. How long would it take them if they worked together? Give your answer in both hours (2 decimal places) and hours and minutes.
Monday 23 January 2012
National Pie Day
Today (23rd January) in America is National Pie Day. The American Pie Council created this day simply to celebrate the pie.
National Pie Day is a special day that is set aside to bake and cook all of your favorite pies. On this day, you are also encouraged to bake a few new pie recipes. And most importantly, it's a day to eat pies!
A great way to celebrate National Pie Day is to bake some pies and give them away to friends, neighbours, and relatives. You never know, you may be starting a tradition of pie giving between your friends and family.
My favourite pie is Pi but this doesn't always quash my hunger pangs so my other top choice is cherry. What is your favourite?
National Pie Day is a special day that is set aside to bake and cook all of your favorite pies. On this day, you are also encouraged to bake a few new pie recipes. And most importantly, it's a day to eat pies!
A great way to celebrate National Pie Day is to bake some pies and give them away to friends, neighbours, and relatives. You never know, you may be starting a tradition of pie giving between your friends and family.
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| Cherry Pi Pie |
Friday 20 January 2012
Fibonacci Numbers and all that
This week we have been looking at number patterns in class and finished off the week drawing flowers based on the Fibonacci sequence. Here is the relevant video which can also be found on Vi Hart's excellent blog.
We also had a peek at fractals via Sierpinski's Triangle and Pascal's Triangle.
This also linked neatly into the Ulam Spiral and Prime numbers.
We also had a peek at fractals via Sierpinski's Triangle and Pascal's Triangle.
This also linked neatly into the Ulam Spiral and Prime numbers.
Hopefully, all this activity helped demonstrate the overall inter-connectedness of mathematics and how it can be utilised in both explaining and describing the world we live in. An excellent source of further information can be found on the web pages of Dr. Ron Knott at the University of Surrey.
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| Daisies with 13, 21, 34, 55 or 89 petals are quite common. Here we have a Shasta daisy with 21 petals. |
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