NCTM Standards: Represent and analyze mathematical situations and structures using algebraic symbols; Understand patterns, relations and functions
Activity 1: Mining With Fours!Added on 9/12/2007 |
Downloads: TI-73 PDF file |
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| ACTIVITY OVERVIEW In this activity we will:
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Clear the Home Screen by pressing   and the selecting 5: Clear Home. Then press  . This will clear all previous entries from the Home Screen. |
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| Your objective is to find expressions using four 4s and the four basic operations with whole number results from 1 to 20 Record the expressions on the right for your teacher as you discover combinations. Use your results to build answers for other target numbers. |
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| Here is an expression that gives a result of “0”. If you are having a problem coming up with expressions that work, use this expression and change it to find new answers. |
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| The four 4s can be separated by at most three operation signs. It is possible to use parentheses to change the order in which a problem will be done. Look at the example to the right. How did the calculator come up with 64? Could you change something inside one parenthesis to get at answer of 8? |
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| Sometimes it is easier to solve a problem with an easier problem. If you are trying to get an answer of 20, you know one way to get 20 is 5*4. Find an expression of four 4s that would reduce to 5*4. (HINT at right.) |
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HINT: You can “scroll” up your screen and use previous expressions to create new ones. Press the up  arrow key until you get to the expression you want. Press and the expression will be pasted on a new line. You can edit it to produce new results. |
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If you have solved all numbers from 1 to 20 with fours, choose a new number to use. Would it make a difference if you used an even or odd number? |
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