For this week of inspirational math the purpose of the videos and the investigations were to teach us that no one is born with a math brain. You can do anything if you put your mind to it. I feel like the lessons that the videos demonstrated to us can really help me personally. Like when they said time isn't everything, I usually try to finish fast so I am not the last to finish or struggling last minute. That video showed me that it is fine to finish last and good to take my time on problems.
All of the activities and videos showed us all different things, each video can help everyone with math and their confidence. In every video there was a lesson that they acted out, spoke about, and showed. The four activity problems that we investigated were somewhat difficult, but fun to figure out. The easiest out of the four, was the painted cube and the most difficult was the tiling 11x13 rectangle.
The problem that I enjoyed the most that we worked on. Was the 11x13 rectangle. You have to find the least amount of squares in the rectangle given. The squares must be squares for example 1x1, 2x2, 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, 6x6, 7x7, 8x8, etc. The least that I personally got was 8. Then I got some help from others and they seen less than 8, they found 7 squares in the rectangle.
I chose this problem because it interested me the most. The way I felt when I seen this problem was like I thought this could be very easy. It turned out not being as easy as I thought. It was sort of difficult, but very frustrating. It was frustrating because once you thought that you can get less squares than your last attempt and you end up getting the same or more amount of squares than your last attempt.
Some ways that I attempted this problem was that I tried to make the largest square I could in the rectangle. Then filling in the rest with smaller squares. I kind of tried something new like half a square and trying to make four squares in total then I found out you can't half squares. The way I found seven squares was I mad a big square, but not as big as you can make it. Then I made bigger small squares which left me two small individual squares, so I ended up with seven.
A challenge that I faced was me being only able to find seven squares. I personally could not find less squares than seven. All of the peers that I asked found seven squares or more. Which frustrated me a lot. I did not really overcome this challenge. I just know I was very confident in my answer and at the moment seven was the least I could find.
A habit of a mathematician that I used a lot was being systematic. For this problem I had to have a plan on how I was going to get the least amount of squares in the rectangle. Another habit I used was collaborating and listening. I had to collaborate with my peers to get help. Also I had to listen to what they were saying and showing me to find the least squares.
This week is giving me the confidence and determination to do my best all year. With this confidence it will help me participate more in class. Before I already participated enough, but now I am even more comfortable. With my answers and the class environment.