Two perfect logicians, Sam and Peter, are told that integers x and y have been chosen such that 1 < x < y and x+y < 100. Sam is given the value x+y and Peter is given the value xy. They then have the following conversation.
Peter: I cannot determine the two numbers.
Sam: I knew that.
Peter: Now I can determine them.
Sam: So can I.
Given that the above statements are true, what are the two numbers? (Computer assistance allowed.)
Sunday, October 31, 2004
Importance of teamwork
In a cliche effort to illustrate the importance of teamwork-oriented problem solving, the Boss has chained Dilbert to Carol The Secretary via wire wrapped around their wrists, as shown in the following snapshot:
The goal is for Dilbert and Carol to unlink themselves from each other; considering what a horrible woman Carol is, Dilbert wouldn't have it any other way. The wire is unbreakable, and as much as Dilbert would like to saw off Carol's limbs, that's against company policy. How can Dilbert and Carol get away from each other?
The goal is for Dilbert and Carol to unlink themselves from each other; considering what a horrible woman Carol is, Dilbert wouldn't have it any other way. The wire is unbreakable, and as much as Dilbert would like to saw off Carol's limbs, that's against company policy. How can Dilbert and Carol get away from each other?
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Math Test at BrainBench.com
I used BrainBench in the past to refresh and prove my IT skills.
So I decided to check my Math skills too and it's free!
To my satisfaction did pass it from the first run. Problems are rather simple but time is very limited 45 to 60 seconds. If you have good feeling of the numbers test is easy, but if you need to actually do the math you will fail it because of the time limitations. Great test to wake you up!
Here is my certificate!
So I decided to check my Math skills too and it's free!
To my satisfaction did pass it from the first run. Problems are rather simple but time is very limited 45 to 60 seconds. If you have good feeling of the numbers test is easy, but if you need to actually do the math you will fail it because of the time limitations. Great test to wake you up!
Here is my certificate!
The World of Math Online
Yet another great place for:
Algebra Worksheets - Generate your own algebra worksheets to print and use. Includes many options and types of equations, systems, and quadratics.
Free Homework Help
Puzzles, games, and cool math for the classroom.
Algebra Worksheets - Generate your own algebra worksheets to print and use. Includes many options and types of equations, systems, and quadratics.
Free Homework Help
Puzzles, games, and cool math for the classroom.
Saturday, October 23, 2004
Incredibly useful teach-nology.com !
site offers FREE access to 27,300 lesson plans, 5,900 printable worksheets, over 200,000 reviewed web sites, rubrics, educational games, teaching tips, advice from expert teachers, current education news, teacher downloads, web quests, and teacher tools for creating exciting classroom instruction.
Gold Membership allows members to download thousands of valuable resources including: activities, 6,560+ worksheets, 281 complete teacher workbooks, PowerPoint® templates, Excel® templates, Word® templates, web graphic sets, music loops, and sound effects.
Platinum Membership allows members to make custom puzzle, rubrics, lesson plans, math sheets, graphic organizers, timelines, and language arts worksheets. Members can save their work on site servers to be accessed and edited at a later date.
ExamBuddy aka Silver membership allows members to create: 40+ online activities, flash learning games, online quizzes, online calendars, printable tests, class web pages, electronic newsletters, learning units, class surveys.
One can have it all with Trilogy membership
Also highly recommended
Teachers.net
Lesson Plans arranged according to the NCTM Principles and Standards for School Mathematics
Gold Membership allows members to download thousands of valuable resources including: activities, 6,560+ worksheets, 281 complete teacher workbooks, PowerPoint® templates, Excel® templates, Word® templates, web graphic sets, music loops, and sound effects.
Platinum Membership allows members to make custom puzzle, rubrics, lesson plans, math sheets, graphic organizers, timelines, and language arts worksheets. Members can save their work on site servers to be accessed and edited at a later date.
ExamBuddy aka Silver membership allows members to create: 40+ online activities, flash learning games, online quizzes, online calendars, printable tests, class web pages, electronic newsletters, learning units, class surveys.
One can have it all with Trilogy membership
Also highly recommended
Teachers.net
Lesson Plans arranged according to the NCTM Principles and Standards for School Mathematics
Friday, October 22, 2004
First Days of School! Classroom Management! Discipline!
I'm really glad I found this website! Here are Common Mistakes!
* Don't Smile 'Till Christmas: Becoming an effective teacher does NOT equal being mean! Students want structure, want to be able to feel comfortable, safe and to know what is expected of them. Refusing to smile does not insure that students will behave or that they will want to learn.
* I Want to Be Their Friend: It is great that you love students and want to be close to them. You may be loving, caring, friendly and sensitive, but do not set a goal to be a friend. They need you to be an adult role model that they can admire and look up to. You are setting yourself up for disaster if this is how you approach your classroom.
* Start the First Day of School with an Activity: Most new teachers are so excited about content and having the students engaged in learning that they forget to spend time teaching students the rules and procedures. The first week of school, elementary or secondary, should be spent getting students accustomed to your expectations for the classroom. Teach them the rules and policies, practice them and review them. You can not spend too much time on this. You will not regret the "lost time."
Also recommended Discipline without Stress® Punishments or Rewards by Dr. Marvin Marshall
* Don't Smile 'Till Christmas: Becoming an effective teacher does NOT equal being mean! Students want structure, want to be able to feel comfortable, safe and to know what is expected of them. Refusing to smile does not insure that students will behave or that they will want to learn.
* I Want to Be Their Friend: It is great that you love students and want to be close to them. You may be loving, caring, friendly and sensitive, but do not set a goal to be a friend. They need you to be an adult role model that they can admire and look up to. You are setting yourself up for disaster if this is how you approach your classroom.
* Start the First Day of School with an Activity: Most new teachers are so excited about content and having the students engaged in learning that they forget to spend time teaching students the rules and procedures. The first week of school, elementary or secondary, should be spent getting students accustomed to your expectations for the classroom. Teach them the rules and policies, practice them and review them. You can not spend too much time on this. You will not regret the "lost time."
Also recommended Discipline without Stress® Punishments or Rewards by Dr. Marvin Marshall
collection of links for new teachers
Quote:
"I DID NOT CREATE any of these websites;
I only COLLECTED & ARRANGED the URLs.
I hope you find these teaching websites useful."
"I DID NOT CREATE any of these websites;
I only COLLECTED & ARRANGED the URLs.
I hope you find these teaching websites useful."
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
School Math on the Web
A few good problems
Gradebook Software
Gradekeeper works together with
StarQuiz
to make it easier to give tests and have the results added to your gradebook
Edline and School Center to make it easy to give parents and students secure access to grades online.
StarQuiz
to make it easier to give tests and have the results added to your gradebook
Edline and School Center to make it easy to give parents and students secure access to grades online.
Terri Husted's Homepage page for New (And Not So New) Math Teachers
How to Start Making Connections
A Clear Lesson
Classroom Management
Resources for New Math Teachers
Multicultural Mathematics
Other Professional Suggestions
Most Loved Problems
Math Myths
Great Sites for Math Teachers
Cool Science Sites
Best Elementary Sites
Guidelines for Using the Internet
Homework and Assessments
Tons of Data for Statistics Lessons
Math and Science Internet Lessons
Links for Internet Lessons
Math Ties and Math Detective Workbooks to Order
Awards This Page Has Received
A Clear Lesson
Classroom Management
Resources for New Math Teachers
Multicultural Mathematics
Other Professional Suggestions
Most Loved Problems
Math Myths
Great Sites for Math Teachers
Cool Science Sites
Best Elementary Sites
Guidelines for Using the Internet
Homework and Assessments
Tons of Data for Statistics Lessons
Math and Science Internet Lessons
Links for Internet Lessons
Math Ties and Math Detective Workbooks to Order
Awards This Page Has Received
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Can Math Help in Terror War?
Order theory, a branch of abstract mathematics that deals with hierarchical relationships, could be applied to the war on terrorism.
EarthBrowser for armchair globe-hopping
- Detailed Earth Map
- Weather Forecasts around the globe
- Cloud Animations
- Hundreds of live webcams updating regularly
- Volcanoes
- Live Earthquakes
- Tectonic plate boundaries
Sunday, October 10, 2004
Unauthorized Teaching Materials
These materials meant to seduce students into being curious about science and about everything else.
Sandwich falls by oil downward at the worst posible time.
The team of a mathematician, a psychologist and an economist put into mathematical terms what we all knew:
that things don't just go wrong, they do so at the most annoying moment. The formula,
((U+C+I) x (10-S))/20 x A x1/(1-sin(F/10)),
indicates that to beat Murphy's Law you need to change one of the parameter:
U for urgency,
C for complexity,
I for importance,
S for skill,
F for frequency and
A for aggravation, default value 0.7
In the researchers' own words:
"If you haven't got the skill to do something important, leave it alone.
If something is urgent or complex, find a simple way to do it.
If something going wrong will particularly aggravate you, make certain you know how to do it."
Here is how to use formula:
The equation has seven steps to forecasting a potential Murphy's Law moment, so you can work out which factors you need to change to avoid it:
1. Rate the urgency, importance and complexity on a scale of one to nine and add the three figures together.
2. Rate from one to nine how skilled you are at the task, then subtract this from 10.
3. Multiply answers to 1 and 2 and divide by 20.
4. Rate from one to nine how frequently you perform the task and divide this by 10.
5. Rate the sine (or sin) of your answer to step 4 and subtract this from 1.
6. Divide 1 by your answer to step 5.
7. Multiply your answer to step 3 by 0.7 and multiply this by your answer to step 6, and that's your Murphy’s Law rating.
The closer to 10 it is, the higher your risk of falling victim.
Slashdot.org
Sod's Law: It will go wrong at the worst posible time.
The correct, original Murphy's Law reads: “If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it.” Murphy's Law
“Finagle's Law of Dynamic Negatives” usually rendered “Anything that can go wrong, will”.Finagle's Law
Wikipedia
that things don't just go wrong, they do so at the most annoying moment. The formula,
((U+C+I) x (10-S))/20 x A x1/(1-sin(F/10)),
indicates that to beat Murphy's Law you need to change one of the parameter:
U for urgency,
C for complexity,
I for importance,
S for skill,
F for frequency and
A for aggravation, default value 0.7
In the researchers' own words:
"If you haven't got the skill to do something important, leave it alone.
If something is urgent or complex, find a simple way to do it.
If something going wrong will particularly aggravate you, make certain you know how to do it."
Here is how to use formula:
The equation has seven steps to forecasting a potential Murphy's Law moment, so you can work out which factors you need to change to avoid it:
1. Rate the urgency, importance and complexity on a scale of one to nine and add the three figures together.
2. Rate from one to nine how skilled you are at the task, then subtract this from 10.
3. Multiply answers to 1 and 2 and divide by 20.
4. Rate from one to nine how frequently you perform the task and divide this by 10.
5. Rate the sine (or sin) of your answer to step 4 and subtract this from 1.
6. Divide 1 by your answer to step 5.
7. Multiply your answer to step 3 by 0.7 and multiply this by your answer to step 6, and that's your Murphy’s Law rating.
The closer to 10 it is, the higher your risk of falling victim.
Slashdot.org
Sod's Law: It will go wrong at the worst posible time.
The correct, original Murphy's Law reads: “If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it.” Murphy's Law
“Finagle's Law of Dynamic Negatives” usually rendered “Anything that can go wrong, will”.Finagle's Law
Wikipedia
Friday, October 08, 2004
Electoral Vote Predictor 2004: Kerry 280 Bush 239
Here is something that is not directly related to my teaching
inspiration but it definitely put things into context...
Electoral Vote Predictor 2004: Kerry 280 Bush 239
inspiration but it definitely put things into context...
Electoral Vote Predictor 2004: Kerry 280 Bush 239
Thursday, October 07, 2004
paperwork will take 30 days
On Wednesday I got negative reading of my TB skin test which was done on Monday.
On October 6 I submitted all required paperwork for substitute teacher position.
Was told it will take at least 30 days...
On October 6 I submitted all required paperwork for substitute teacher position.
Was told it will take at least 30 days...
Saturday, October 02, 2004
My contest to became a teacher started
After some delay and hesitation I finally started my contest to became a teacher....
New profession needs new tools and this blog is one of them...
Here is a link to a similar inspiring and cautionary tale...
New profession needs new tools and this blog is one of them...
Here is a link to a similar inspiring and cautionary tale...
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