Following a recent maths challenge, one of our students has written a brilliant account of taking part. We love to hear our students’ voices and see them centred like this, it really brings the activities to life:
Activity 1 – Guess the number of pompoms:
The first challenge faced by the contestants was to guess how many pompoms have been stuffed in a small transparent plastic tub. People obviously guessed differently to one another and the one to guess correctly was John. I guessed seventy four and my method was to count outside the pompoms and then guess what was in the centre. As this may have been close I neglected to account for the top and bottom of the tub and anyway I was wrong.
Activity 2 – Guess the length of the tie:
This challenge was one I got correct and what I did was use my feet to measure the tie. I placed down the tie to the floor and carefully walked beside it. I reckon I won this because I was probably the only one to use an actual method of measurement as opposed to roughly guessing but then if I didn’t guess then how did I win? Did I cheat? I’ll have to think about this one.
Activity 3 – Guess the weight of the wooden skittle:
The third and final challenge was perhaps the most difficult. I had no idea how I could measure the skittle without cheating so I just guessed at random. My hand is not a scale and doesn’t know the name of a weight placed upon it automatically and neither do I. I have no idea how other people tried to solve it but perhaps they used an object they knew the weight of to feel if it was similar.
Activity 4 – Quiz:
The fourth challenge was a quiz about numbers in the world and real life. A lot of this required either guesses or mathematical calculation. I did the first page but I hadn’t finished for other more urgent matters needed my attention. An example from the quiz would be to answer what the average number of heartbeats there are in a day. What I did for this was, after I found my pulse, was to use my watch to count how many heartbeats my heart produced in ten seconds and then multiply that number by six, then by sixty and finally by twenty four. This came out to one hundred and twenty thousand, nine hundred and sixty heartbeats which was closest to one hundred thousand which was left as an option on the sheet.
The challenge I probably enjoyed the most was counting my heartbeats but the one which reminded me of something was the tie length as it reminded me that you don’t need a ruler to measure as if you’re consistent enough, you can use any object. Just as in Ancient Egypt the measurement of a Cubit was, as I am told, the length of the Pharoah’s index finger and whilst not strictly a form of measurement, tally sticks used to be a way to record amounts by striking a stick with a blade however many times you need and even splitting the stick so as to have two copies which would fit together perfectly, one for the client and one for the banker.
