Heard a neat problem on a math podcast today which basically boils down to this question:
If I give you a square (or a bunch of squares) of side length 1, how can you make a square with area 2?
I thought trying out this question with both of the boys would be pretty fun. Here’s how it went:
(1) My younger son went first
(2) My older son went second
Next I thought it would be interesting to extend the problem a little bit and ask them to try to create a square with area 3. To my surprise this problem was significantly more difficult – the two video below are roughly 9 min each.
(3) My younger son went first:
(4) My older son went second
I was surprised at how much more difficult the 2nd problem was for both kids. I was also surprised that they approached it the same way (my older son wasn’t home when I did the project with my younger son so it really was a coincidence).
Would be fun to find some more problems like this one.
Mike's Math Page 