Math Hombre

180 is a pretty amazing math number. 18 divisors, more than any smaller number. 18 divisors also makes it refactorable, divisible by the Very abundant, as you might guess. Harshad (or Niven) also, divisible by the sum of its digits. The sum of two squares (both squares of divisors!) For Euler's totient function, 

Speaking of triangles and math history, Pat Bellew discusses Heron and his formulas.

Chris Luzniak read a book that made him realize he needs Math Therapy. Chris is hosts Debate Math podcast with Rob Baier. I loved their episode on comparing teaching reading and math with married couple Courtney and Ryan Flessner.

Denise Gaskins, the home and creator of this here blog carnival, had a math journaling post with three elementary math games. Also don't miss her Math Game Mondays.

Ann Elise Record shared a great padlet of math games. It includes a link to her podcast, discussing meaningful math games with Dr. Nicki Newton.

Rachel Lambert shared the start of some research into mathematical games and their use with teachers. Really exciting and I can't wait to see where it goes!

Howie Hua, modern master of math memes, had the fun Tom and Jerry meme above show up in a reddit Explain the Joke thread. Speaking of Howie, this Star Wars math made me think of another of his memes.

Chalkdust, one of my favorite math periodicals, had an article looking at the discrete math underlying Sudoku. (While you're there, be sure to check out Dear Dirichlet, the funniest mathiest advice column ever.)

One of the great math events this spring has been showings of Counted Out, a documentary examining the importance of math and math education in modern life, centering the work of Robert Moses. Here you can read more about the movie and the people featured. I have never had a stronger endorsement for an education documentary.

The delight of March for me was Ayliean MacDonald's Math Art March. 

One idea I tried out for Math Art March was a pattern themed Exquisite Corpse game. This is an art game where you fold a paper and each subsequent artist can only see the very end of the previous artist's work, and draws off of that.

Jenna Laib writes about Anderson's Endless Zeroes, an elementary math investigation into a unit conversion problem.

Daniel Scher created a sweet dynamic applet to use sliding rulers to think about integer addition and subtraction.

I was pretty happy with this Escherized version of a hexagon dissection I saw. Play yourself in GeoGebra. 

I've just started on these, but Arula Ratnakar writes mathematical fiction at ClarkesWorld.

The two most recent math books I'm most excited about were The Five Sides of Marjorie Rice, about one of my favorite mathematicians, and How Did You Count?, another great Christopher Danielson book that makes the reader the mathematician.

We'll close with the math blog-o-sphere's most reliable writer, Dylan Kane, who took a break from deep thinking about learning and teaching to share a fun folding problem from Play With Your Math.

Sorry again this was so delayed! If you're interested in hosting the Playful Math Carnival, give it a go! Share what you've loved. The previous was at Denise's Let's Play Math, and the next might also be Denise. 

Coming up on my blog this month will be two elementary math and art activities, and some great new math games from my senior seminar.

To close, I think I have to share one of the Star Wars Standards of Mathematical Practice memes that Dave Coffey got us making a few years ago.

 I once again am getting to teach the math game design seminar (at some point they'll realize it's too fun to count for my workload) and I wanted to try and capture my design thinking on a promising new game.

Phil Shapiro shared on Bluesky his math pairs game. A randomized list of 1 to 100 where you find pairs that add up to 100. 

For whatever reason, that made me wonder about a game finding differences. In elementary there's often a default to subtraction=take-away (Separate Result Unknown si parlez vous CGI) (I don't speak French) So a game that focused on the difference would be a good thing. I thought, what if you roll a die and need to find a pair that is that far apart?

For kids I like a number board that has a structure, so kids can use patterns to find what they want. (Nothing against Phil's game, where the Where's Waldo feeling is a lot of the fun.) My first try was a double spiral.

The other thing you can see here is pretty typical for me when I have a mechanic idea. Try out the mechanic and worry about the win condition as you go. The above image was my first try. I asked on Bluesky who won, and Phil responded probably yellow, since it seemed to have more territory. Biggest block of squares? Longest path? I stuck with that for a while. Eventually I realized the game is about differences, the win condition should be, too. What if the path with the biggest difference won?

Mechanically I really liked that. Then there's an advantage for the first player. And it raises questions: what's a path? I thought it should be only edge to edge, but it became too easy to cut someone off. Having squares connect corner to corner gave some of that Blokus energy. I did wonder about the sum of two paths, but that's unnecessarily complicated.

I'm still trying different play rules. Should one of your new squares have to be adjacent to one of your old squares? Currently I'm saying no, because that makes more interaction possible as well as opening up more strategy with more choice.

The board was 9x9 originally because I wanted that double spiral, so it had to be odd x odd. I can see this being on a hundred board. Great representation, and I love to have kids spend time with it. I like that +/-9 are above each other, because 10s are often comfortable already, and it feels like 9s still makes for lots of interesting patterns. It does make a game around 20 turns - which is long for 2nd & 3rd grade. Although kids play Joe Schwartz's Hundred Board Game (definitely a Best of Math Games awardee; video explaining it) is more turns, but the turns are quicker. 

Why I think this is worth developing is because as I play, I have to think! Looking for pairs, any in good strategic placement, what is possible... a lot to consider. Too much for middle elementary? I hate to underestimate the players. Towards the end of the game, there are surprisingly frequent times that you can't take the number you would first take. The number rolled makes a difference in play, as well as providing some variance that helps with surprise.

Current rules text: 

Two teams. Roll a 10 sided die (0=10) or flip a Tiny Polka Dot card. High number goes first and gets 10. Team 2 rolls and takes 90 and then 90 minus their number. 

On your turn, find two numbers whose difference is the number you rolled and color them in your color. After 10 and 90, teams can choose any pair of numbers with the difference they rolled.

Game ends when both teams have to pass because there is no pair with that difference. Both teams draw a path connecting the biggest difference that can find. Squares connect edge to edge or corner to corner. Winner is the team to have the biggest difference in their path.  For example if team 1 makes a path from 10 to 71 (71-10=61) and team 2 makes a path from 24 to 90 (90-24=66) team 2 wins! If tied, the winner is the team with the longest 2nd path that doesn't overlap their first.

The 10 and 90 start is trying to remove that first turn advantage. It's also is a step towards understanding strategy, which can be nice to bake into the rules.

Definitely want to try with a d20 as well. Maybe as a 4th and 5th grade variation? On a 0 with Tiny Polka Dot cards, you could be allowed to pick a single number - which definitely could be useful. Another variation for high school + players could be the sum of two paths victory rule.

Two games with the most recent rules. 10/90 start is working well. 

PS. I make some references here to the criteria I use for thinking about games. Definitely a part of my design thinking.

PPS. I also like the name, which is unusual for me, but am open to suggestions. 

Interesting time to be hosting this carnival! I feel like there's a small resurgence with blogging, and I want to be part of it. I've really missed writing informally professionally. I've been a part-time host since Math Teachers at Play 22, 14 years ago!, and a big part of the original purpose of the blog was to collect, curate and share things that delighted and supported me. If you're interested in hosting, contact Denise Gaskins, the founder of this here carnival. The January carnival will be at her blog, but I think February is open!

177 is semiprime, for which two primes? 

177 is a Leonardo number, so named by Edsgard Dijkstra for their relation to the Fibonacci numbers. The first five are 1, 1, 3, 5, 9... can you determine the pattern?

(Thanks to Jim Olsen who caught a istake in my original!)

Supposedly the 2nd highest dart score is 177 - but I need someone to explain that to me. Supposedly I used to play darts!

177 is getting too big for many interesting images on Google image search. So I tried AI. Give me 177 ants marching! 75 at most. Give me a stack of 177 balls. Hmm... I don't think so. That set me off to GeoGebra to make a visualization tool.

Things are hopping over on Bluesky. Most of these links are from there. Here's a math teacher starter pack, or a mathsky star pack part 1 or part 2 or an #elemmathchat starter pack. Other good tags to check are #mathsky, #iteachmath or #mathstoday. So far it's been positive and energetic.

Gamey

Denise shares a math game every Monday, like Area Block or Coin Chain.

Sara Van Der Werf reshared her amazing 5x5 game, for adding, multiplying and a bit of strategy.

Erick Lee and his son invented a sweet exponents game that I'm dying to try.

Some fine mathematicians seem to have proved that Henry Dudeney's famous equilateral to square dissection is minimal. I made a GeoGebra puzzle out of it to celebrate. That dissection is hinged and Manuel Sada made GeoGebra for that! Denise shared a Dudeney game I had never seen before.

I've really been enjoying the Celtix puzzle by Andrew Taylor. Great UI. Multiple solutions to each, but took me awhile to get the hang of just focusing on one color at a time. Here's two solutions to Puzzle 177. HT Ayliean.

Sarah Carter, queen of math puzzles, shared some winter themed Sudoku puzzles, also available in Christmas flavor.

Catriona Agg continues to invent the sweetest geometry puzzles. This one with four equilateral triangles was really neat.

I've always thought a card sort was an activity that invited play. Marilyn Burns continues to amaze me, like here when she tried her first card sort!

David Flynn shared a puzzle he made for 3rd graders. Get from start to finish using only right angles.

Artsy

Xavier Golden (full relation) found the classic Eames math shorts (plus more) in a single YouTube playlist.

Ben Orlin's math with Bad Drawings is a constant delight, but I especially loved his musings on Edgar Degas and math.

Erick also shared an old Bree Pickford-Murray post making posters for missing hexagons (after first inventing hexagon types).

Min Min shared an old post of Sarah's making slope-keyed nameplates. 

Paula Beardell Krieg has a bunch of upcoming workshops, but still found time to share this open and close pop up.

Grant Snider drew a sweet math fable. (Is it a rhombus, though?)

Sue Van Hattum's super cool Althea series is continuing. Here she shares a problem with a problem.

Lucie Rose mathematically constructs medieval geometry.

Teachy

Nat Banting blogged about an essential teaching reminder.

Dan Wekselgreene shared a routine that my preservice secondary teachers tried and liked, Correct, Incorrect, Incomplete.

Jenna Laib writes about students writing silly story problems.

Glenn Waddell did a whole series of quadratics this fall, wrapping up with the mystery of the b coefficient.

Dylan Kane never lost the beat, still the most consistent math teacher writer. Here he's thinking about Ben Orlin's book and Hemingway and Negative Numbers.

Extry

Maybe you're looking for last minute mathy gifts? Thanks, Aperiodical. Who wouldn't want a handmade zine? How you could wrap them from this post.

Ali Almossawi shares some math history about a few great mathematicians who were famously slow.

I didn't get many math comics made this #mathtober  but this was definitely the biggest hit.

That's it for me! See you next year. Coming soon, Xavier's and my math graphic novel, AL, Logical!

What? Are you still here? Then enjoy one of Howie Hua's many riffs on a holiday meme.

I had an elementary ed class canceled for low enrollment and got a calculus course instead. It's really been a teaching challenge, which is always good for a teacher educator. Usually when I teach calculus, I start with integration. It's more intuitive than derivatives, and a lot of our calc I students have had some calculus before and think they know it because they can take derivatives of polynomials. But I have the good fortune to be in a department with Matt Boelkins, who's written a terrific calculus book, free to students, so I'm trying to be more of a team player.

I have not been able to establish a good culture of collaboration, and say at least 20 times a class to talk to their tablemates as they work on activities. I'm using random grouping daily, and by now most have worked with most others. I'm disappointed in myself that I have not made more tasks into complex instruction tasks, which would help with interaction A LOT. But time is what it is.

The heart of the differential calculus part of the course to me is the optimization and related rates sections. Making sense of rate of change in context for optimization. And the power of the derivative idea in related rates. We can take the derivative with respect to time even when time is not a variable! Astounding!

After two days on optimization and two days on related rates I had not gotten a lot of the in class assessment options back, and I thought they were intimidated by the problems. So I took an extra day to do one more of each. Both pretty standard problems which I added some small wrinkles.

Finally I just started sitting down with the groups. Asked where they were, found out from each member, and asked questions that got them explaining to each other what they thought. Table by table, sat with everyone. I know, on some level, that if you want learners to do something you have to model it, but do I do it? The rest of the class conversation was pretty good.

The next class we started integration thinking, and discourse was better than average. So I think I'm going to continue sitting down on the job. As opportunity allows.

I'm still posting games from the Fall 2023 GAMES seminar at GVSU. This senior capstone was begun by Char Beckmann. See many of the games from her seminar in this YouTube playlist. Many of the games completed in my seminar are in this playlist. In the seminar, we play lots of games and math games, the future teachers make a first video to promote a class math game that already exists, we develop a group game (a monster-themed middle school Desmos escape room and Math Heads, a number mystery game this year), and they develop a game of their own.

Ryan Brummel made a video for Math Heads, our group game as mentioned above, a game he tested extensively with his algebra students.

I brought this very rough idea to my Math 496 math games class at Grand Valley. From there my professor and classmates did a great job helping me brainstorm and try to arrange my setup so that it would be as user friendly as we would get it to be. We came to the conclusion of a rough idea of a game with two teams trying to solve a linear equation and create the biggest output.

I took that idea to my Honors class and had them try it. It went over surprisingly well, The students had a blast. They found holes in the game that needed to be addressed, and they begged me to play the next week. I brought their comments back to class and we continued to playtest and mess around with the rules and setup of the game. Once I thought we had a final product I brought it back to my students and had them play it one more time. Having honed in on some of the minor issues of the game a lot better, it went very well and my students were very self-sufficient and able to play in teams of 2-3 the whole hour without my help. That is when I knew the game was pretty well set in stone.

From there the game needed a name. My students did not have any bright ideas like I thought, however my 496 class gave me the idea of “Variable Kings” as the name since the game is all about winning variables and the king cards are the ones that count as variables. From that point I did what I never thought I would really do which was create my own math game that I can effectively use in my 8th grade classroom.

Why Play Math Games?

Coming into the Grand Valley education program I was completely foreign to the idea of math games in the classroom. I have a dad who just retired as a high school math teacher and spent 30 years in the classroom. I went all throughout my 12 year educational journey from kindergarten to high school not remembering any semblance of math games in the classroom as I know of them today. However now that I have taken math education courses, taken a math games course, and have taught in my own classroom I now can see the importance of games in the classroom.

Math classes at the primary or secondary level tend to get the reputation of being very boring. As someone who was good at math, I did well in my math classes and enjoyed them but I enjoyed them more because of my classmates and friends in the class rather than the content itself and the way the classes were run. There were some teachers that had good personalities that made the classes more engaging but again, that is nothing to do with the content and most of my classmates didn’t even feel the way I did. What happens when students say class is “boring”. That means they are not engaged, and don’t have any desire to be engaged. Students who are not engaged have no chance at success. These students who tend to not be engaged, whether it be in math or any class, are the students that are the toughest to reach, but the students we have to try and reach. What I have found when using math games in my classroom is that a lot of the students that normally tune out, or misbehave, will perk up when there is a game to be played rather than the traditional notes or worksheet. I believe the reason for this is that a lot of these games that teachers use in the classroom have a very low entry point. This means that students who feel like they struggle in math or don’t want to share for fear of getting an answer wrong, are much more likely to engage in mathematical conversation during a math game. Math games invite students of all achievement levels to participate and also have fun which is something not always associated with a math class.

The engagement piece is huge when it comes to math games in the classroom. However, if I played dodgeball every day in my Algebra class I’m sure students would be engaged, but they wouldn’t be learning any math. The thing that surprised me the most about math games is that I really feel like students get more out of it. When you pick a good math game it gets students to think deeper about mathematical concepts without even realizing it. With good scaffolding and discussion facilitation students really start to notice things about math while playing games that they wouldn’t using a textbook. The more students are engaged and are invested in the activity they are doing the more they will dig deeper and get out of said activity.

Overall I think that math games are super essential to any math classroom. Not every single part of every day has to be a game, but I think that using math games in your classroom is super beneficial to the students and the teacher. With my experience, math games cause engagement and the depth of mathematical thinking to skyrocket. Both of these are things that can be lacking in traditional math classrooms. I wish my teachers and classrooms would have incorporated math games a lot more in my education experience. And I know classmates that would have benefited greatly from that!

 All this month I'll be posting games from the Fall 2023 GAMES seminar at GVSU. This senior capstone was begun by Char Beckmann. See many of the games from her seminar in this YouTube playlist. Many of the games completed in my seminar are in this playlist. In the seminar, we play lots of games and math games, the future teachers make a first video to promote a class math game that already exists, we develop a group game (a monster-themed middle school Desmos escape room and Math Heads, a number mystery game this year), and they develop a game of their own.

Keri Herman chose Tens Go Fish, a classic addition fluency game. As an extra feature, she demonstrates the game with Tiny Polka Dot cards. (Find them here at Math for Love.)

Keri's original game was a new idea for the seminar: she was interested in making a puzzle. I recently saw a description of a puzzle as a game for one person.  That certainly fits here. The puzzles are available on a Google doc here. What follows is Keri's story of making the game, and her ideas on why we should play games in math class.

Story of my Game

I knew when I got the opportunity to create my own game, I wanted to develop something that was related to quick multiplication facts. The reason being that my memory of learning my multiplication tables was always timed and quite stressful for me as a young student. I wanted to create a game where students could get great practice of their multiplication facts, and build in aspects of a good game; strategy, any player can win, etc. 

My first idea was a game board, moving the amount of spaces of the product. However, I was then drawn to the idea of more of a maze. I started with a small grid and filled in very small multiplication facts, students would have to find their way to the end. This turned into the development of three mazes, 5 x 6, 7 x 8, and 9 x 10, all with their own unique solution. To figure out how to design these mazes took a lot of different approaches, starting from scratch, and overall just thinking about how to make them work. I believe that the final product of these mazes will provide students with a very fun way to practice their multiplication, while being able to try to solve the maze. 

The goal was to have a large mathematical objective for the game. Students will be focused on trying to find the solution, even if they are going the wrong way, or have to start over, they are still constantly doing the math and getting practice of their multiplication facts. I think this game would be something that teachers should play with their learners because you can never have enough practice with multiplication. Especially in the 9 x 10 maze, all multiplication facts are used from 1 through 9 (not including zero). These mazes will also help students recognize patterns between multiples, factors, and products. 

These games could be used within a lesson, if students finish early, or simply just given as an opportunity for more practice, without time constraints. I also share within my video the development process of these mazes. With students who have learned multiplication facts,  I think it would be a great idea to turn this into a project or performance assessment. Students can work to develop their own maze. Not only does it take strategy, but at the same time students are able to continue working with the facts themselves and continue to recognize patterns. Overall, I am very proud of the way these mazes have turned out. I want to continue to show these to math educators and I hope that students will enjoy solving them as much as I had hoped. 

Why Play Games in the Math Classroom?

As a future math educator, incorporating games into the classroom is something that I want to use and will continue to encourage others to consider as well. It is often looked over to play games in the classroom, but the reasons as to why they are beneficial to student education should be considered. There are few specific reasons that are important to point out, including; building mathematical knowledge and skills, collaboration with peers, student engagement, critical thinking skills, and more. Each one of these reasons in its own makes games in a math classroom worthwhile. 

Building Mathematical Knowledge

Math games all are built upon their own goals and mathematical objectives. Teachers have the option to choose a game that targets the content that is being focused on. To find a game that can build mathematical knowledge, choosing a game that is relevant to your current learning goals within a classroom can help students extend their skills. There are so many aspects built within games that students can pick up on mathematically, without noticing. This can be beneficial to students because they are still learning, but without the title of class, homework, or assessments. 

Collaboration with Peers

It is important for a classroom to have communication among students that can lead to quality discussions. Discussions can uncover so many helpful aspects to student learning. In a game setting, a lot of times students will play with each other in teams, or against each other. In both cases, students are able to communicate and learn from each other. Students are able to pick up on each other’s strategies and build off of them. When playing with each other, this can help build a more positive classroom environment. This is because this type of communication is not usually seen in a regular lecture or discussion. 

Student Engagement

Oftentimes we hear negative assumptions about math and negative attitudes are common when stepping into a classroom for some students. It is important as teachers that we are able to increase student interest by engagement and participation. Incorporating math games into the classroom is a great way to develop student engagement. A lot of times, the mathematical objective of games are mixed in with aspects of interaction, surprises, and fun. A game can also change the view of many students. All students can participate and it is important to use games where any student can win. In math class, students can often point out the “smartest” students and become discouraged. When using games that are designed that anyone can win, not just based on skill, this can build a lot of confidence in students. 

Critical Thinking Skills

In many situations, students become disengaged after they reach the level of knowledge and understanding. However, it is things like analysis, critical thinking, and application that get students to really push past that level of reasoning for the content that they are learning. Math games provide a different way to push students to build upon their critical thinking skills. Having to figure out a strategy to finish or win the game is a very important tool when it comes to building these skills. With that being said, games that are chosen to play in a class should have aspects that involve strategy. 

Overall, math games have so many advantages when it comes to incorporating them into the classroom. Being able to play different types of games this semester has taught me so much about what a good math game should look like. Being able to develop and create our own group game, and my own game has changed my perspective on math games. Math games can help students learn in a unique, fun, and interactive way. 

 All this month I'll be posting games from the Fall 2023 GAMES seminar at GVSU. This senior capstone was begun by Char Beckmann. See many of the games from her seminar in this YouTube playlist. Many of the games completed in my seminar are in this playlist. In the seminar, we play lots of games and math games, the future teachers make a first video to promote a class math game that already exists, we develop a group game (a monster-themed middle school Desmos escape room and Math Heads, a number mystery game this year), and they develop a game of their own.

Kacy Jeffries chose Number Boxes from Jenna Laib for her first video. See Jenna's blogpost for it here. This game was really influential to the seminar this year. Corrina Campau made a high school/college focused video for it, and Jordan Burnham made a game built on that structure, Boxzee.