Math Contest Feburary 25 2010

Today, we took the math contest! Usually, when I took math contest, there was no pressure. I did not strive to get a good score. However, today, there was pressure, and i was inclined to do better. I was not nervous though. I was just more focused. I was able to do hard questions! On the test, my favorite question was 23. It was about gold. To do it, we had to find out how much gold blair got. Someone got 24 of the lightest bars which weighed 45 percent of the total amount and someone else got 13 bars which weighed 26 percent of the weight. To find out the answer, i plugged in the different multiple choice answers into the question. The unit weight of each one has to be inbetween the unit weight of the heaviest and lightest. basically, i had to find a number that fit between 1.875 and 2. I found out that 15 was the answer! After finishing the math contest, i got a feeling of happiness. I was finally done! and i felt like i had just finished climbing a mountain.

Math contest Feb 17 2010

Today, we had a math contest. There were 25 multiple choice questions that progressively got harder.
The most interesting question for me was number 11. At first, when i looked at the question, i was confused. The question had an upside down pyramid made of blocks. each of the blocks had a different number. some were left blank. one of the boxes had x and we were supposed to find out what it was. When i first read it, i felt like skipping ahead to the next question. However, I decided to read it again. After I read it again, i discovered that it was not as hard as I thought it would be. To find out the answer, i plugged in the multiple choice answers into X. i found out that the answer was 10.

From doing this question, i have learned that when i do a math question, i should read it again and again if i don't understand it

Math 10w problem solving

Here is a really interesting question in the problem solving worksheet we got yesterday.

13. Janet has 10 coins consisting of nickels, dimes, and quarters. Seven of the coins are either dimes or quarters, and eight of the coins are either dimes or nickels. How many dimes does Janet have?

To do this question, we looked at what the question stated. Eight of the coins are dimes or nickels. What are the other two? they have to be quarters. 7 of the coins are either quarters or dimes. That means that 3 are nickels.
There are 3 nickels, 2 quarters and five other coins. The five others have to be dimes.

I was really amazed because when i found out the answer, it felt great. I found out how to use linear equations! I used to learn how to do linear equations in grade 4, but i never knew what they were for. Now I know what they are for!

Tower of Hanoi

Tower of Hanoi is quite a difficult puzzle. In the puzzle, there are 3 towers. on the left tower, there are some rings. the objective is to move them to the right tower. bigger rings cannot go on to smaller rings. I was able to solve the puzzle with 5 rings with 31 moves!

My strategy was to try to get one disk over to the other side at a time. To do this puzzle, you have to rearrange all of the disks in order to transport one of the bigger disks to the right. It was very time consuming. Also, before i place disks, I visualize what is going to happen. This helps me and keeps me from making mistakes! Overall, my strategy is to plan ahead and visualize what i am going to do.