Logically...

Today's topic was deductive reasoning. Logic puzzles and if then statements.
Here is an example of a logic puzzle:
Click Here!

There are all different levels of logic puzzles, so you can start exercising your "logic" muscles by doing smaller, less complicated puzzles and working your way up to the more complicated puzzles. I suggest doing this, otherwise you will find yourself pulling your hair out (or at least getting so frazzled that you give up), before you get to the solution. They are great for helping younger children enter new problem solving skill sets into their mind sets.

There are so many different kinds of logic puzzles also.
Sudoku
Brain Box
Paint-by-number

Trust me, some of these make you feel like geniuses when you actually complete them, and some make you feel like a fool when you can't. But if you stick with them, it feels like such an accomplishment when you solve them!

Good luck!
Until next time,
Rose :)

Introduction to Deductive Reasoning

I did not realize how much Philosophy was intertwined with Mathematics. (Turns out there WAS a reason for me to take that class...)

Conditional statements (if-then) are really effective when used with venn diagrams. Let me explain:

Premises:

1. All humpbacks are whales.

2. All whales are mammals.

Conclusion:

3. All humpbacks are mammals.

(If all humpbacks are whales, and all whales are mammals, then all humpbacks are mammals.)

I'm sure you can imagine what a venn would look like using this statement.

So there you have it. Venn-Philosophy (not an actual term). :)

Until Next Time,

Rose

Hello Again!

It was a very productive day in Math 105 today.

At the end of last class, we were assigned a project: make your own 'clever' venn diagram such as the ones mentioned in my previous post off of Indexed.com. We all got to see each other's venn diagrams. Then we voted on which we liked the best. Well, our very tricky teacher turned the winners, honorable mentions, and the teacher's choice cards into a powerpoint, which I can now relay to you, my faithful blog readers. Click Here

I took second place (not to toot my own horn or anything)! :)

I also have to mention that Battleship (the game where you guess and try to sink each other's ships) is an excellent way to teach the (x,y) coordinate plain. I believe it was Scott (not sure, I will have to check) that thought of that. Kudos, very clever!

Until next time,

Rose :)

Discussed today were sets, elements, complements, venn diagrams, etc. This was a refresh for me (its been, oh, about 3 years since my last math course. I now understand the worry of returning to college after being out of highschool for 10, 15, or maybe even 20 years, even if my time has been significantly shorter. I sympathize.)

Anyways, venn diagrams are not just things used in elementary school, which is mostly what I thought of when someone mentioned one. They are useful tools for many things that are more diverse than just math. They are used to describe things that are more efficiently drawn than described in text.

A great way to find resources to see this applied is, of course, Google (on the web anyway). If you type in Venn diagrams (maybe funny venn diagrams to see some more entertaining versions) a lot of different examples will show up. One site, used in class today was Indexed. Funny, but probably not recommended for little eyes.

Ahh, the sequences!

Today we discussed, and played with, patterns and sequences. How interesting! We deal with numbers and their patterns daily and might not even realize it. I visited BB link on the Fibonacci Sequence (1,1,2,3,5,8,13...) , which applies the sequence in a few different ways. Lets just say I learned a lot about honey bees that I didn't previously know (Did you know that male honeybees only have a mother and no father? Yeah, me either).

Don't get me wrong, I like patterns as much as the next person, however, I am rarely the first person to figure them out... So, I will probably be checking out Google to find some of the different patterns in Pascal's Triangle. (I preferred the visual patterns with the manipulatives on page 19). So when you are trying to explain patterns and how they work, don't forget there are different learning types which may understand the 'fun' approach with the colorful tiles better than jumping straight into the number sequences!

Here is a fun thing to play with (using the 'visual manipulatives': pattern blocks!). Click Here

Until next time,
Rose :)

First Posting

Welcome :)
Its my first Blog post for Math 105! I am a little nervous about this Math Blog, but starting something new usually brings butterflies. So, I was trying to find something to post about and stumbled across (courtesy of google) Cool Math for teachers. I don't have much to share about learning things from this class (as this is only my second day in this class). So stay tuned, hopefully for more interesting useful relevant information!
Have A great Wednesday!
Rose