This problem solving activity has a number focus.
Gill is playing with her name and with numbers.
She lets all her consonants equal 1.3 and all her vowels equal 0.5.
So the value of Gill’s name is 1.3 + 0.5 + 1.3 + 1.3 = 4.4
What is the value of your name?
Change the rules so that the value of your name is 4.253
In this problem students are substituting values for the letter their own names. It is a precursor to algebra which seeks to generalise number. To succeed in this problem, students should have knowledge of recognising, ordering and adding and subtracting ones, tenths, hundredths, and thousandths.
Other similar Number problems include: Points, Level 1; Names and Numbers, Level 2; Multiples of a (Algebra), Level 3; Go Negative, Level 4; and Doubling Up, Level 5.
Gill is playing with her name and with numbers. She lets all her consonants equal 1.3 and all her vowels equal 0.5. So the value of Gill’s name is 1.3 + 0.5 + 1.3 + 1.3 = 4.4
What is the value of your name?
Change the rules so that the value of your name is 4.253
Using Gill’s original substitution, what is the biggest and smallest value that you can find using names in your class?
The answers that you get for the first part of the question will depend upon the names of the students in the class.
To get a name with a value of 4.253 will require some imagination. Students may abandon the consonant/vowel value rule and use arbitrary values for individual letters in their name, adjusting the final letter to ensure that the total value is 4.253.
Printed from https://meaningfulmaths.nt.edu.au/mmws/nz/resource/make-4253 at 8:56pm on the 26th February 2024