This high level task is an example of applying geometric methods to solve design problems and satisfy physical constraints. This task is accessible to all students. In this task, a typographic grid system serves as the background for a standard paper clip.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This task examines the ways in which the plane can be covered by regular polygons in a very strict arrangement called a regular tessellation. These tessellations are studied here using algebra, which enters the picture via the formula for the measure of the interior angles of a regular polygon (which should therefore be introduced or reviewed before beginning the task). The goal of the task is to use algebra in order to understand which tessellations of the plane with regular polygons are possible.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This task uses geometry to find the perimeter of the track. Students may be surprised when their calculation does not give 400 meters but rather a smaller number.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
The goal of this task is to model a familiar object, an Olympic track, using geometric shapes. Calculations of perimeters of these shapes explain the staggered start of runners in a 400 meter race.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
The famous story of Archimedes running through the streets of Syracuse (in Sicily during the third century bc) shouting ''Eureka!!!'' (I have found it) reportedly occurred after he solved this problem. The problem combines the ideas of ratio and proportion within the context of density of matter.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: Eric and Julianne are shoveling snow. After an hour of hard work, Eric remarks ''I bet we have shoveled more than a ton of snow.'' Explain what measure...
Material Type: Activity/Lab
The purpose of this task is for students to apply the concepts of mass, volume, and density in a real-world context. There are several ways one might approach the problem, e.g., by estimating the volume of a person and dividing by the volume of a cell.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This is a mathematical modeling task aimed at making a reasonable estimate for something which is too large to count accurately, the number of leaves on a tree.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
In this problem, the variables a,b,c, and d are introduced to represent important quantities for this esimate: students should all understand where the formula in the solution for the number of leaves comes from. Estimating the values of these variables is much trickier and the teacher should expect and allow a wide range of variation here.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
his is a version of ''How thick is a soda can I'' which allows students to work independently and think about how they can determine how thick a soda can is. The teacher should explain clearly that the goal of this task is to come up with an ''indirect'' means of assessing how thick the can is, that is directly measuring its thickness is not allowed.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
As written, this problem gives students all of the information they need to estimate the thickness of a soda can.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: The following clip shows the famous opening scene of the movie Raiders of the Lost Arc. At the beginning of the clip, Indiana Jones is replacing the go...
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This tasks examines how to calculate the area of an equilateral triangle using high school geometry.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This task is intended to help model a concrete situation with geometry. Placing the seven pennies in a circular pattern is a concrete and fun experiment which leads to a genuine mathematical question: does the physical model with pennies give insight into what happens with seven circles in the plane?
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This task provides a concrete geometric setting in which to study rigid transformations of the plane. It is important for students to be able to visualize and execute these transformations and for this purpose it would be beneficial to have manipulatives and it will important that the students be able to label the vertices of the hexagon with which they are working.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This task provides an opportunity to model a concrete situation with mathematics. Once a representative picture of the situation described in the problem is drawn (the teacher may provide guidance here as necessary), the solution of the task requires an understanding of the definition of the sine function. When the task is complete, new insight is shed on the ``Seven Circles I'' problem which initiated this investigation as is noted at the end of the solution.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: Below is a picture of $\triangle ABC$: Draw a triangle $DEF$ which is similar (but not congruent) to $\triangle ABC$. How do $\frac{|DE|}{|DF|}$ and $\...
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This modeling task involves several different types of geometric knowledge and problem-solving: finding areas of sectors of circles (G-C.5), using trigonometric ratios to solve right triangles (G-SRT.8), and decomposing a complicated figure involving multiple circular arcs into parts whose areas can be found (MP.7).
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: In the July 2013 issue of United Airlines' Hemisphere Magazine the following article appeared: Write down an equation that describes Captain Bowers' me...
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important aspects of the task and its potential use.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
