#MTBoSBlaugust Friday Fun Favorite Numbers

This is a repost ... I still love thinking about favorite numbers, unusual numbers, and such!

I wrote about this idea a couple of years ago ... about exploring students' favorite number ... and why.  Surprisingly there is a research project with more than 30,000 results.  The favorite number among those 30,000 is .... seven!

Of course, Sheldon, of Big Bang Theory episodes, would disagree ... and say the rest of the world is wrong!  His favorite number is ... 73!




Then I ran across this visual in Twitter.  It adds interest to our favorite number exploration!

And then just one more ...1729 ... known as a "taxi-cab" number ... the smallest number that is representable in two ways as a sum of two cubes.  The number derives its name from the following story G. H. Hardy told about Ramanujan. "Once, in the taxi from London, Hardy noticed its number, 1729. He must have thought about it a little because he entered the room where Ramanujan lay in bed and, with scarcely a hello, blurted out his disappointment with it. It was, he declared, 'rather a dull number,' adding that he hoped that wasn't a bad omen. 'No, Hardy,' said Ramanujan, 'it is a very interesting number. It is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two [positive] cubes in two different ways' " http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Hardy-RamanujanNumber.html

I saw online that one teacher turned "my favorite number" into a class project.  The requirements are good late elementary, early middle school math concepts.  I wonder how it might also be tweaked to be a good algebra mini-project?!?

Do you have a favorite number??

#70Days - What's your Favorite Number?

Day 2

From Practice Resurrection by Eugene Peterson, the devotional phrase for this morning: God calls, we walk.

Axios … means worthy. The word picture is a balance scale.  Place a known weight in one pan (1 pound of lead for example) and then pour flour in the other pan.  When they balance, you know the weight of the flour is 1 pound.  The two items, lead and flour, are axios – worthy.  In Ephesians, Paul says walk worthy of the calling to which you have been called … meaning our walk must be in balance with the calling of God on our lives. When in balance we are living congruent with the way God calls us into being. When God’s calling and our walking fit, we are growing up in Christ.  God calls, we walk.

The balance scales are not static.  As God calls, we grow.  The balance can shift, it may need correction.  The Scripture says “work out your own salvation” … our work to stay in balance with the call of God … which means we must be listening to God’s voice.

Axios, worthy, God’s call, our walk, in balance when “God’s voice and our ears are in organic intimacy.”

After my devotional reading this morning I switched books ... to Beyond Infinity: a mathemattical adventure.  The book is about high schoolers who find a secret computer and passageway in the school.  But what caught my eye today was the main character's exposition of his favorite number, 313.  I was intrigued by the math but also because the passage fits so perfectly with a presentation I'm doing this summer on "warm-ups" in math class.  I'll be sharing some of my favorite websites like Estimation 180, Visual Patterns, 101 Questions and more.  AND we will be talking about number routines.  I plan to start the session by asking participants about their favorite numbers and why.  Then I planned to show a short clip from The Big Bang Theory ... this one:

Now I have an additional number routine to share ... and it's awesome.  I have to admit, "happy" numbers are new to me ... and I look forward to exploring them with my students!

Check out the number routine passage from Beyond Infinity: a mathemattical adventure by Charles Fischer!  In fact ... check out the book!  It's awesome!

This has been a great start to Day 2 of 70 Days of summer ... now on to some gardening :)