STEAM - Magical Math

STEAM/Magical Math

Ever think of MATH as FUN?  Not many do.  It can be tricky and hard to do, but during STEAM we learned MATH CAN BE MAGICAL.

Try these games at home and see if it truly is magic or math 

Find magic number 9:  

 Use a calculator and answer these questions:

a.      Start with your age

b.      Add the number of your house (1229, 270, etc.)

c.       Add the last four digits of your phone number (2201, 5813, etc.)

d.      Add the number of pets and the number of brothers and sisters you have

e.      Then multiply the result by 18

f.        Add the digits of the answer together.

If the answer still has more than one digit, keep adding the digits together until there is only one.

              The answer is always 9.             

Bet you CAN!  Through a series of games and challenges, we will make MATH FUN.

  Foot Feat:  Bet you CAN tell shoe sizes without looking at feet!

Your forearm and your foot are the same length. Try measuring the length of your forearm (from the crook of your elbow to your wrist) and compare it with the length of your foot. You'll be surprised that they are the same length.

Up against the wall:   
Bet you CAN’T pick up a dollar bill
that’s right in front of you

 Instructions:

Have your friend stand against a wall with his heels touching
the wall.  Place the dollar on the floor in front of him.
Ask your friend to lean down and pick the dollar
bill up without bending his knees and without moving
his feet.Your friend can’t do it. He’ll fall over if he
tries too hard!

Here's why you can't get it without falling:

When you stand straight against the wall your center of
gravity is over your feet (base) as it should be.
When you bend forward, you move your center of
gravity forward.  In order to keep your balance, you
must move your feet forward too.This maintains the
base under the center of gravity needed for stability.

  On paper the odds look good…but:  Bet you CAN’T fold a sheet of paper in half more than seven times.

What is the Seven Fold Limit?

It’s commonly accepted that you cannot fold a single sheet of paper in half more than 7 times, no matter what paper finish, size, or basis weight you’re using, for two main reasons:

• Every time you fold your sheet, you reduce your total surface area by half, so eventually you simply run out of surface area to fold.
• Every fold also increases the strength of the paper. Think about it this way: when you try to tear a page out of your phonebook (if you still have one), it tears easily. But when you try to rip the entire phonebook in half, it takes a lot more effort. The same principle applies to folded paper.

If you’re a numbers person, think about the seven fold limit exponentially:
2^x = total layers of paper, where x = number of folds

Number of Folds	Layers of Paper
1	2
2	4
3	8
4	16
5	32
6	64
7	128
8	256
9	512
10	1024
11	2048
12	4096

128 layers of paper? No wonder it’s hard to fold a single sheet of paper more than seven times.

Fact or Fiction?

So is the seven fold limit real? Yes and no.
The seven fold limit holds true for every sheet of paper the average person could get their hands on. You can increase the number of folds with a larger sheet of paper, but as you fold more, your folds get stronger and it gets harder. Plus, you’d have to massively increase the size of your sheet before you can even think about making just one more fold.

Guess the domino

Use some nifty math to fool your friends into thinking you are psychic by guessing which domino they have in their hand.  This trick is simple, but it works every time!

1.       Give a set of dominoes to a friend.  Ask her to choose a domino at random without letting you know which one she has picked.

2.      Ask her to pick one of the numbers on the domino and then do the following calculations.  She should multiply the number by 5, add 7, multiply by 2, and then add the other number on the domino.

3.      Ask your friend to tell you the answer she arrived at.  Subtract 14 from this and you will be left with a two-digit number, which will correspond to the two numbers on your friend’s domino.

Be sure to read: 

Ben Franklin and the Magic Squares  by Frank Murphy

Go Figure! (a non-fiction book with really cool facts) by Johnny Ball. 

First person to call me after reading this Blog wins a prize!  Kim Anderson (847) 289-5813