Time for MATH
MINUTE! (add your favorite theme music here). Get out your
paper, pencil, and you may need scissors, because I have a new puzzle for you!
PUZZLE 2
Tiling the bathroom floor.
Sept. 18-22
You
know, we are all mathematicians to various degrees. The next puzzle will show
you how you can use math in an everyday situation.
I just tiled my
bathroom floor with yellow vinyl tiles which are square, and I got a nice clean
job with no sign of the old floor peaking through (what a job!).
Here
are two patterns I could have used (I prefer the one on the right).
But did you
know you can also tile with other shapes of tiles?
Maybe
you could even create an original design using different colors?
How about
regular triangle shaped tiles with equal length sides like the blue one below?
These triangles are called equilateral triangles.
Can
you show how this triangle would work as a tiling shape?
Get
out some paper & scissors and make a sample triangle to trace around. See
if you can cover a large section (like my bathroom floor) with no sign of the
old floor showing through.
How
about a more general shaped triangle, like the green or red one below? Can you
use all green triangles or all red ones?
What
if the tile store is having a sale on one of these triangle shapes? We could
save a lot of money and have a neat looking floor!
Get
out some paper & scissors and try out these different shapes.
And
above all - have fun!
Send
your comments and solutions before Friday to
and be sure to put MM in the subject line.
Visit
us online here at
http://www2.potsdam.edu/parksjm/MM.htm
to see the results every Friday.
See you next
time on MATH MINUTE! (music fades out here)