Maddie

Dear editors of invention magazine,

What kinds of math inventions do you use? People all over the world use all different kinds of tools and concepts to do math, ranging from pencils to abacus. All of the tools are used for different things Me, I prefer protractors, number and calculators.

First of all, protractors, what would I do without them? You can’t find the exact degree an angle is, unless you have a protractor. Protractors look like someone cut a circle in half. Then put number all around the rim. So when you don’t have a protractor you can’t know the exact degrees. So when you get a math problem and it says “what is the degrees of the angle shown?” you will get it wrong.

Also an important math invention is numbers. Without numbers you can’t do math at all. With numbers you can add five plus tow which equals seven, or multiply six times four which equals twenty four. Numbers will go on forever. If you know how to count math can be accomplished.

Last is the calculator. Calculators are very important to me too. With calculators, I can do all kinds of math in just a few seconds. Calculators are as fast as jet flying through the air. They can multiply numbers like seven hundred sixty two times nine hundred fifty six (which equals seven hundred twenty eight thousand four hundred and seventy two) in just a three seconds. If you didn’t use a calculator it would have taken at least two minutes. That’s one hundred and twenty seconds.

So you see protractors, numbers and calculators are all great math inventions to use, because without them we wouldn’t be able to find the exact degrees of an angle. Wouldn’t be able to do math at all, and wouldn’t be able to do math operations with big numbers quickly.

Sincerely,
A Sixth Grade Math Student

Dzana

Dear Invention Magazine,

To start off, I believe ideas are very important, since they lead to inventions. But the best type is a math invention. This includes all types of technology. But my favorite one’s are the, iPod, calculator and computer.

Of course the iPod brings smiles to faces, since it’s your private little world of music. You can block out thoughts, or even cause them to come back, but I use it as a time waster, especially while I’m bored. It makes me see a colorful version of the world.

Never forget the calculator, since its used world wide for almost anything. Using it for homework is an advantage. Mostly because I sometimes don’t have the nerve to do a complicated math equation. Like many other lazy people like me.

Last, but NOT least, the computer is like a diamond, in a pile of sand. Basically, everyone has one. It’s very useful; you can finish your work, have fun on it, and even write an essay, like me. Each year the computer is getting upgraded, causing us to have a super computer by the end of the century. Computers are great, and my favorite.

In conclusion, I believe all math inventions make our world go ‘round. Everyone uses them, especially me. So, keep developing new idea’s to get you started.

Thank you Invention Magazine

From: Student

Ashlyn

What should I Do?

Hmmm… I wonder what I could do for a whole week without my trusty computer, my faithful TV, or my friendly video games. What to do, what to do? Well I guess if I just had to I’d read more books, be more creative, and catch up on my basket ball skills.

1^st off, I’d start getting along with books a little more. I’ve always been fond of them and I’ve read books for as long as I can remember. But for a week I could explore a little more, maybe read a lot of books. You know, have an adventure, and think new thoughts. After polling my class, ¾ said agreed they do think differently after reading a book. In the end I might come out to be smarter, and all in all that would make me the winner. You never know, it might even help me with my carrier.

Next, I’d start being more creative. Creativity helps explore the mind. It can bring out your emotions in a drawing, your way of seeing in a painting, the way you think in a sculpture. It helps bring out your inner self and discover more. Not the world but you. I love to write stories, draw, and make things. It’s what makes me me. I’ve had to stop or ignore it for a long time though, because of home work, laziness, and most of all – technology. I’ve given up something fun and wonderful just for things that waste my time. I could be making myself a better person and, who knows, maybe even doing things for a local newspaper. I remember the time in 4^th grade when I had an art project to do and my art teacher told me it was so wonderful that she was putting it up in the Tequesta art gallery to represent the school. You know what I got to see that month? If I gave up on technology and put that aside, I bet you you’d be seeing my art and creativity everywhere you went.

Last but certainly not least, I’d definitely brush up on my basket ball. Let’s face it, everyone knows I’m not the best basket ball player in the world, but that’s just because even though I have a love for the game, I’m just spending my time gluing my teary red eyes to the TV or computer. I’d have more time to practice and more devotion to if I couldn’t use my electronics. 78% of people don’t practice at something because they’re too busy watching TV or playing video games. I know if I tried, I’d be better than anybody else. For example, Michael Jordan always practiced basket ball and turned out to be one of the most famous players. If I practiced more, I might be better than anybody.

So if I had to be stuck in my house and not be able to watch TV, play my Wii games, or even go on the computer you’d find me reading, being creative, or outside shooting hoops. I just know I could do better in all 3 things if I paid more attention to them and you’d see me conquering them all.

Sonam

Can you imagine one week without any technology? What if it happened to you? Well, if it happened to me, I’d know what to do. Some activities that I could do are playing board games, playing tennis, and talking with my friends.

First off, one thing you can do without technology is playing board games. Board games are a classic way to have fun! Your family could have one night of playing a special board game each week. Some of my favorite board games are Monopoly, Life, Clue and faces.

Halle

How much time do you think that you spend when you use the computer, watch television, or play video games? For one week of no video games, T.V, computer, this is what I would do to keep occupied.

One thing I would do is to go outside and play. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that kids now-a-days watch too much television or play video games or play on the computer too often. You also don’t have to be an Einstein to know that after a few hundred years of video games, T.V and the computer that kids won’t be exercising at all. How horrible do you think that would be?

Another thing that I would do would be to study, like really study everything. For example, I would go to the back of book in my math, social studies, science, and Language Arts textbooks and look up things to do in them. Like maybe I would study vocabulary words for science or read poems and find examples of figurative language for Language Arts and things like that. Because when I would go to school after this week of no electronics, everything would be so much easier to understand. I would know what my science teacher was talking about if she said to me ” Halle, if you baked a cake, would, or would this not be an example of a chemical reaction?” or if my social studies teacher asked me what the capitol of Mongolia was, I would be able to tell her because I had studied.

Lastly, I would go meet and talk to people. When I am sitting in front of a box watching shapes move, I’m not interacting with anyone, even if my family is sitting next to me. We aren’t talking to each other the way we would if we were playing a family game, or discussing something at the dinner table. We wouldn’t even really be together. The only thing we would be doing together is sitting on a couch. So what I would do would be to go take a walk and engage people that I saw maybe sitting out in their front yard in a conversation. Maybe even make a few friends.

So all together, if I had no T.V, video games, or anything else electronically related for one week, I would go outside and play, study for school, and interact with others. So you never know, you might enjoy doing this more then just playing with your video games!

Danny P

One job which I could grow up to be is probably and architect. It involves graphs, balance, and physics. Designs, manufacturing, and physics all packed together into one great job.

Designing a building needs to have coordinate graphs or it might be off balance. Also you need graphs if you are going for a record. For example, bar graphs and histograms will help to compare the other records. Also the same with Line plots and line graphs

Balance is everything in architecture. One off place piece of ply-wood and someone will be shouting from the street, “Timber.” Plus people will want to be assured that the building won’t tip or shake when people or working hard or trying to enjoy lunch.

Graphing will help with the balance and designing. Making it even out so it will look good and help with weird loopy designs. The balance would be perfect with all the care put into it. Everyone will know you. Also you will be asked to design more buildings.

Architects make lots of money from just designing historical monuments like the monument The Washington Memorial. Designing, graphing, and balancing are the architect’s only jobs. It’s so easy. Plus they het famous, names on the building, and being known are all you can ask no matter what the job.

Shayla

I would say my ideal job is to be an equine vet. For as long as I can remember that’s the job I’ve always wanted. I grew up around horses, but I never owned any.

This job is definitely ideal for me because I love horses! I’ve also always loved to take care of animals. When I was in 1^st grade I used to play vet with my cat Sprinkles; it always made me feel good inside. I also remember a year or two ago when I went to the vet with my grandma, the vet let me give one of her dogs a shot, I felt very helpful.

Math is involved in this job because you have to know the amount of pills to give an animal and how many teaspoons of medicine to give an animal. If you didn’t have the right amount the animal could get sicker or may not get better at all. You also need to know conversions if you travel around the world to help animals.

In this career, you also have to use math to figure out the cost of your services. If you don’t charge enough you won’t make a good enough profit. On the other hand, if you charge too much people won’t take their pets to see you anymore. If you don’t make enough of a profit you won’t be able to keep running your business. At the end of the day, you need to know how much money you made so you can pay your bills and buy more supplies.

I never really thought of how much math is involved in this job until now. This job is hard work, but I know I can handle it! It’s also a very good thing that I have an A in math!

Did you know that inventors use math everyday? Inventors don’t just slap some things together and make something. That only half of it! After they make something, they have to use math to make a profit. Also, this will be great because I love inventing. So three things I will do is calculate how much the materials will cost, how much I am going to buy and figure out my profit.

To start off, I have always enjoyed inventing. It is exhilarating. Inventing requires someone to think outside the box and I have always exhibited those abilities. One time when I was just seven years old, I created an awesome sandwich and my Dad told I should be an inventor. That’s when my interest in inventing first entered my mind. But believe it or not, you have to use math. One of the first things you do after you invent something is find out the cost of the materials you need. So let us just say, its twenty dollars and fourteen cents for the plastic and five dollars and sixty seven cents for the wire, then you simply add them together and that’s where the math comes in.

Secondly, I enjoy inventing because it is satisfying to know I am making human lives a little easier or entertaining for my buyers. For example, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone and made a lot of people’s lives easier by being able to communicate better than ever. So I hope that one day I will be able to create something like Graham Bells. Today almost every kid has a phone In America. So as an inventor you need to know how much of your product you’re going to buy. If you think you’ve got an invention bigger than Graham Bells than get a lot of your product. Let’s say you’re getting one hundred fifty of your product. Take the sum of twenty dollars fourteen cents and five dollars sixty cents and times it by one hundred fifty. Then you’ll get how much all of these costs.

Last but not least I love inventing because of the money you can possibly get. But as an inventor you’re not going to get fifty dollars if the item you’re selling is fifty dollars. If you think that then you’re crazy. If the total cost of the materials you need for your item is fifty dollars you would logically sell you’re item for about eighty five dollars. But if you’re taxes are three thousand five hundred dollars a month you’d need to sell quite a bit of you’re invention. Also the store makes money every time someone buys you’re item which everything a lot harder on you. So obviously you would definitely have to think things out.

So there you have it, to be a good inventor you have to know how to calculate how much the materials cost, how much I’m going to buy and how much I am going to make. When I grow up I am going to be an inventor who knows how to do his math!

Persuade your math teacher to set aside one day a month for math games.

Imagine one day a month when everything was perfect. 69% of my friends agree that one day a month of math games would be a good idea.  Math games are great because they are fun to play, they keep students busy, and math games are educational.

To start off with, math games are fun to play. It is one of the many ways to hang out with friends. In my opinion, games like” Sorry” are not enjoyable. To exemplify, while playing “Sorry” you could be 2spaces away from finishing and someone could knock you off, you would have to start all over again.

With math games wins are almost always locked in. Math games are like fair rides.  Math games are not like roller coasters that are unpredictable, yet they are still entertaining.

I invite you to plunge into the fun. More over, the games keep students busy. Don’t you hate it when the class starts to daydream? Their plates are completely empty.

Math games are a great way to keep their plates full. Math games are grand way to occupy the mind. To win a math game you have to be attentive. ¾ of the students I asked thought math games are a superior way to keep the students aware in class. I beseech you to keep our minds engaged. After all, math games are educational. While trying to win, students actually learn.

Math games are magical. You learn without even noticing. Most students never detect the gears spinning in their brains. The reason that no one distinguishes the knowledge being gained is because there isn’t as much stress to learn a subject. I am imploring with you to let us learning alternative ways.

In summation, you should have a day for math games once each month because they are amusing, they pre-occupy the mind, and they’re enlightening. Why not try today?

Grayson

The question I selected is: 43=15b-17. The question involves variables and this is one of my favorite topics in mathematics.  It is a piece of cake once you understand the steps needed to solve the problem.

About the problem, I will dissect what the question uses, to easily evaluate the problem.

A variable is a letter representing  an unknown number. The point of a variable is usually to figure out the value of the variable. For example, I will choose 5+X=9.  The problem can be solved by subtracting 5 from 9 to get 4. The answer to this variable (X) = 4.

In this specific question, the equation has both negative and positive numbers.  When you add positives and negatives,    such as 4-7, the question is really asking 4+ (-7) which equals -3.           Now, bring it all together,  using the following steps:                       43 = 15b + (17)

Step I: write the problem correctly 43=15b+ (-17)            Add seventeen to both sides of the equation

+ 17             +17            43+17=60, (-17) + 17=0,  60=15b

Step II: add                                            60/15 = 15b/15      Divide 60 by fifteen, divide 15b by 15

Step III: solve/divide                                   4 = b                  Solve 60 divided by 15 is 4, 15b divided by 15 is b, 4=b

Conclusion: The answer to this problem is 4.

By using the steps 1 through 5, you can correctly solve the problem of 43=15b-17.

Courtney O

To reduce to lowest terms, you have to find the greatest common factor of 50 and 300.

First, you’d choose ten because both numbers end in a zero.  Ten goes into 50 five times, and it goes into 300 thirty times.  So, you’d get 5 and 30, which still have common factors.

Then, you’d choose 5 because both numbers end in a five or a zero.  Five goes into 5 once, and it goes into 30 six times.  So, you’d get 1 and 6.  They have no common factors so you can’t do anything else.

You’d take 1 and 6, and since they were the numbers you ended with, you’d make them into, which is reduced to lowest terms.

÷ 10=                 ÷ 5=

7×2=14, yes we can all agree it’s easy, maybe too easy for some. Just the other day my friend told me she was tired of math, it was too easy, and that she didn’t care about it anymore.

She also wanted to work at the mall as a cashier, so I told her, “if you’re going to work at the mall, you’re going to work as a cashier, now how are you supposed to give you’re customer the right amount of change back if you don’t know math?” so she said she would work somewhere else.

Little did she know, all jobs have something to do with math!  Of course, here she was trying to prove me wrong, but job after job she still couldn’t find one that didn’t involve math. “A zookeeper, a vet, a taxi driver, a designer?”  “No, no, no and NO!” now I could see she was becoming desperate. By now, after her being my friend for 7 years, she should know you can’t win an argument with me if I knew I was right!  So finally she gave up trying and accepted the fact that she needs math in her life and I could always help her find a way to make it easier and more fun for us both.

Finally she agreed and now loves it and makes the best out of it, and will for the rest of her life.

Raisa

We all know that math can be a pain, but math is important to learn. Math is used for everything and when I mean “everything”, I literally mean EVERYTHING! Math is used for different types of jobs, daily life, and surprisingly math is also used in technology.
To start off, the many different concepts of math are used for different types of careers. Careers that include math are accounting, architecture, and engineering, geology, managing, and carpentering.

Accountants use mathematics formulas to work on taxes. Engineers use measurements and calculus. Geologists use mathematics models.

Managers keep track of schedules which include timing and they also have to analyze on graphs. Carpenters also use measurements, volume, and distance. These are just the few of the jobs, or careers that include math.
Did you know that our daily life includes math as well? When we go shopping we have to calculate all of our items’ prices to receive a total. Also when we cook we make sure we have accurate measurements for each type of ingredient. When we go on vacation we use math by determining arrival and departure times.
Technology is also involved with math. Technology includes math concepts such as ordered pairs and measurements. It also includes geometry. I bet there are many other concepts in technology, but these are just a few.
All in all, math is important to learn because it is used in jobs, daily life, and technology. There are just so many things that include math, but these are just a couple of them

(Photo Credit must go to Deanna Lowe @ Fortune magazine and the photographer (Corbis) of the original photo in which this mosaic is based.)

Brandon

It is important to learn math because everywhere you turn you’re using math! You use math in building, cooking, & playing. If you ever go bowling, look at the ball, it is a sphere. A sphere is a shape used in geometry, and geometry is a form of math. Now if you look at the pins, what shape are they, you can make up your own shape if you would like!

First, when you build you have to use calculations to measure out the length of the boards you are going to use. You will measure & order the boards. Also when you order the pieces you need to calculate how much money you need + tax! It is easy addition or subtraction. Hey aren’t those used in MATH!!!

Now, second of all, when you cook you have to measure the amount of ingredients. Without math, if you tried to make delicious chocolate chip cookies you might use too much, or too little flour! That probably wouldn’t work out to well. You could end up with Godzilla cookies!!!! That’s another reason why math is important!

My favorite sport to play is hockey! In hockey the puck looks like a flattened cylinder. A cylinder is another geometric shape! Geometry (repeated again) is a method used in math for shapes. That’s how playing and having fun has to do with math, so next time when you play or have fun look for math!!

As you may have noticed, I’ve listed examples of where you might spot math. Look in specific areas like cooking, playing, or even building! If you’re bored or have nothing to do, try thinking of some other areas where math is used. For me, I really don’t like math. But I better start liking it because I’m going to be using it for the rest of my life!!!

Emmanuel S.

“Who are you?” asked the young boy.

“I am a very important mathematical symbol,” I responded.  “I am the symbol of addition called the plus sign.”

“What do you do?” the child asked me.

I responded with much openness “I add numbers together to intentionally make them larger.  But they sometimes get smaller because of the subtraction sign minus, and…”

“Who is this so called minus sign?”

“I was just about to tell you that.”

“To me minus is a very sinister symbol.  Many times when I am adding equations minus barges in and kicks me out making all the numbers much smaller.  Other times he brings in many of his loyal brothers, turning all the numbers in the equation into negative numbers.  Occasionally my best friend the multiplication symbol is around and goes in between the negative numbers and turns all of them into positive numbers at the end of the equation, he…”

“Who is he?” interrupted the boy.

“The multiplication sign is also called times.  We both have a lot in common, obviously we both like making things larger.  Times does a different form of my job when making the same number bigger.  When it comes to making different numbers bigger that’s where my job takes place.  Times and I both despise division very much.  Before you interrupt me again I’ll tell you who he is.”

“Division is almost as irritating as minus.  He always splits the numbers into halves, 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, and so on.  His appearance is similar to minus’s.”

“What does he look like?” the child asked curiously

“He is a horizontal line with one dot above it and one dot under it.” I explained, “I also know some one named pi but he is infinite and the conversation on pi is really not worth it.”

“In the future you will probably have to use these symbols.” I said,“I’ve never thought of that before.” The boy said, “I used to think they were just dull things we were forced to learn in school.”

“Dull?” I yelled in a puzzled way “Mathematics is one of the greatest things to learn.  But I don’t think you would be interested in that.”

Daniella L

Hello! This is the mathematical sign here, and I want you to guess who I am. Dot, Line and another dot… That’s right, it’s me the division sign! And I am a very important sign. With out me you wouldn’t have number to divide by anyway. To start off, I’m very intelligent sign kiddo! I help you divide the number and make it easier. Unlike my selfish brother who always keep thinking about himself and NOT others.

He just multiplies numbers until they get larger and larger for him. I just hate him, I wish I never had him for brother. He always keeps showing off that the numbers he multiplies are very, very easy for him. And leaves me stranded with the hard work of dividing big numbers like 3445 and 236 and etc. But I have better family members than that double head! For example I have aunt addition, she is always being nice to me, she has this saying that she always says its “always add and you’ll forget about your problems, dearie.” it’s supposed to be funny but I don’t get it at all. My brother is sometimes good and sometimes annoying but once, he showed me how to multiply numbers in a very easy way that’s how I got to be very intelligent.

I don’t mean to brag but I really want to show you. Ready or not here it is! So you have number let’s say that is 7. So 7 here is going to add itself to himself as many times with a number that number can be 3. so you are going to add 7 three times and you get your answer. Just kidding, that was the lame and long way to find the answer, this is the right way, 7×3=21 that was easy! Duh!

I am important because I have matters, my matters are that if it weren’t for me you wouldn’t have good buildings, right now you are probably wondering what on earth does division has to do with buildings well, if you didn’t have a division sign like me, you would’nt be able to find out what the circumference or the radius out of a diameter of the circle was you may or may not know what a circumference, radius or a diameter is yet but I don’t want to get any further.

Last but not least, My mathematics world may have annoying signs in it (my brother) but I like my world, its where I belong, I like being intelligent and good in doing division. My mom the denominator, and my dad the decimal, I love them all! I’m just this jumpy and happy division sign who loves division!!!!!!!!!

Kathleen M

Meet Bob. He teaches babies how to use mathematical symbols. Today, he’s going to teach Caroline how to use +. “Hi banana!” says Caroline.

Even though Caroline is only 1 year old, Bob thinks she’ll figure it out eventually. “Now, lets begin!” says Bob. “Caroline, this is a + sign. It tells you that you need add. Do you know what that means?” “Ball” says Caroline. “Okay, I’ll take that as a no, so I guess we’ll have to start from the basics.” Says Bob. “Caroline, to add means to put numbers together to make a new number. See:”

3 + 4 = 7

“Ha!” shouts Caroline. “I think she gets it!” says Bob. “Now, Caroline, here’s where + comes in. It’s the little sign between the 3 and the 4. It tells you to add…”

“I do!” says Caroline. ”Okay, you try then!” Says Bob. “But just so you know, it’s rude to interrupt.” “I DO!” screams Caroline.

3

“Um…” Caroline thought for a minute.

3 + 4 = 127639

“No, I don’t think so.” Says Bob. “Try again.” “Ugh!” Caroline was frustrated. She picked a random number.

3 + 4 = 7

” ALL DONE! All done! All done! ALL DONE!” yelled Caroline. She was bored, and ready for a nap. “Okay, what did I tell you?” Says Bob. “She now not only knows how to use +, but to add as well! Now I think she’s getting a little annoyed with us, so lets leave.” He was right. Caroline reached for the nearest thing she could find (a bunch of bananas) and threw it as hard as she could. “Hey!” shouted Bob. “Stop throwing bananas at us! RUN!”

How are Music and Math related?

Rudo

Math and Music are actually really similar if you think about it. When you are playing music you have to read the right note length, and when you are doing math you have to solve a question using the right numbers. So in Music there are these things called measures, basically sections divided in a song. In each measure there is a beat. Each beat counts as a different number which has to equal the number of beats shown on the time signature, a symbol shown at the beginning of a song. On a time signature are two numbers, the top of the time signature is how many beats are in a measure, and on the bottom tells you which kind of note receives one count. For example in 4/4 time a whole note equals 4 beats and there are 4 beats in a measure.

Now not all notes are whole there are half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, 16th notes, and on and on and on. So on the example shown above if a whole note equals 4 beats then half notes equals 2 beats, and a quarter notes equals 1 beat, and an eighth note equals ½ beat, etc. Now if the time signature is 4/4 and every note is an eighth note in that measure that means there can be up to eight notes in that measure, if there is 2 quarter notes and one half note that will take up one whole measure.

Right now I’m not going to go into to much detail because there is an infinite amount of time signatures like 3/4 time, 2/4, 2/5 time, 3/5 time etc. But remember that behind music there is mathematics.

Autumn

Music is related to math in many ways. With different notes such as eighth notes, whole notes, quarter notes, and half notes etc. Different notes equal different counts. In every measure there is often four counts. Also in some songs you have to write in the counting. But in the end, each measure should have two to four beats.
With eighth notes the counting starts with 1and ends with +, so at the end of the measure the counting would be 1+ 2 3 4. Or it could be 1 2 3+ 4. It could be any numbers. Sometimes you have dotted half notes that get 3 beats. And dotted quarter notes get 2.5 a beats.

Music is related to math because there is a lot of counting involved. When you have to clap the counting, the different notes and rests tell you how long to hold the note. It seems hard at first, but it really isn’t. It’s probably the easiest thing in music or band.
Music is related to math in so many other ways! I just can’t think of them. But the counts and beats are very important. And that is how math is related to music.

The Guinness Book of World Records challenged math students from all over the world to see if more than 1 million students could help unite the world in numbers within the 48 hours of the event..  It only took 1 hour to pass the 1 million-student mark.

For today’s event I made arrangements to take all classes to the computer lab.  The day began slowly with some technical difficulties but by 4^th hour we were full steam ahead and the kids loved it.  I even had the students that were absent compete from their home computer.  Before the day was over it was reported that because of the problems experienced earlier in the day, the event would be extended an additional 12 hours.  The kids were thrilled and they left for the day anxious to get home and continue competing.

When the event ended for us on Thursday at 6 PM EST. 1,133,246 students and 56,082 schools from 235 countries united to set a new world record by correctly answering 479,732,613 questions.

We had 115 students participating from my 5 classes completing 46,836 correct answers.

Overall High Score for Practice

1. Allison W.                        3,035
2. Emma L.                           1,801
3. Colby B.                            1,335
4. Rachel Z.                          1,270
5. Anthony C.                       1,029
6. Garrett E.                            821
7. Daniel S.                              556
8. William W.                          514
9. Zayna G.                              464
10. Ari D.                                    438

Overall High Score for Event

1. Grayson H.                            3515
2. Anthony C.                            1,772
3. Rudo M                                  1,734
4. Cynthia L.                              1,678
5. Emma L.                                1,672
6. Jonathan S.                          1,589
7. Rachel Z.                               1,299
8. Ashley M.                              1,292
9. Travis M.                               1,022
10. Emmanuel S.                           979

2011 will be even bigger with World Maths Day becoming part of the World Education Games which will include events not only for Math but also Science and Spelling..

Everyone is invited to unite the world in learning! See you in 2011.

Mariano

Math is a very fun and challenging concept that teaches you skills necessary now and in the future. You learn new math skills almost every day. I have recently learned about ratios. Ratios are a very big part of algebra. They support certain equations and make doing math a whole lot easier.

For example, ratios are most likely used in the store when you try to decide what item has a better price. Lets say you have a choice of buying a 16-ounce bag of candy for $2.99 or a 20-ounce bag of candy for $3.09. To find the better price, ratios create the equation. 16/2.99 as 20/3.09 then you divide. So for a 16-ounce bag, 1 ounce costs 19 cents. And for a 20-ounce bag, 1 ounce costs 15 cents. It pays off to buy a 20-ounce bag of candy rather than a 16-ounce bag. These types of ratios can also be used for determining which bank has a higher interest rate, or even deciding on which size (small, medium, large) of beverage cup to get at a fast food restaurant.

Ratios can be expressed in many ways. Lets deal with two certain numbers: 20 and 100. You can write them in these ways; 20 : 100, 20 is to 100, 20/100 and they all still mean the same thing.

On a recent homework assignment, Lesson 10-6: Similar Figures, ratios were used to express measurements of the similar figures. The image below shows two similar triangles.

In order to find x cm, we relate the same sides of the two different triangles 4/2 as 9/x and find the cross products.

• 2(9) = 4x
• 18    =  4x
• Divide both sides by 4 and get:
• 4.5   =  x

However, don’t forget writing ratios in simplest form. Lets go back to the numbers 20 and 100. When we write a ratio, you usually have to put it in simplest form. As you may know, 20/100 = 1/5 in both fractional and rational form. You may sometimes see ratios as 20 : 100. Just take an extra step and change it to a fraction and simplify.

There are many more methods involving ratios that we have not yet learned. Some methods may seem hard to you, but as you get more experience, you will soon find what you once thought of as hard will be a piece of cake.