Math Beyond Workbooks

Consider starting each class (or each week) with a "Problem of the Day" or "Problem of the Week" - a fun brain-teaser-type problem to get students thinking, generate interest, and exercise those problem-solving parts of the brain.

Resist urges to give away the answer, at least for a few days, because many students will continue working on the problems outside of class until they figure them out.

I've found that many students who claim to be "no good" at math are excellent at figuring out the Problems of the Day.

The link to the answers is at the bottom of this page.

1. A woman has nine gold bars that all look identical, but she has discovered that one of them is not pure gold and weighs less than the other bars. She has a balance scale. What is the fewest number of weighings she can do in order to locate the lighter bar of gold?




2. A man has a gold chain that has broken into five groups of three links, like this:
   
   
   
   
   
   He takes it to a jeweler to get it fixed so that it is a straight chain of 15 links. It costs a dollar each time the jeweler has to cut and re-join a link. The jeweler says it'll cost a total if $4. But the man, being a clever mathematician, says that it can be done for $3. How?




3. A rectangle is divided into eight congruent squares. The perimeter of the large rectangle is 60 cm. What is the area of each square?




4. Solve in five minutes or less: Add the integers from one to 100. That is,
   1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + ä+ 99 + 100 = ?





Come back soon - there are many more problems of the day and number tricks to come!


Answer Page
Top



[Home] [Introduction] [Student-Centered Lessons] [Worksheet intoActivity] [Brain Teasers]
[List of Activities] [Resources and Links]




Written by Ruth Estabrook
restabrook@yahoo.com