Des-blog

There are times when we all just need to set our troubles aside and have a little fun.

At Desmos, that usually means math-based play, and if you’re the kind of person who’s into this kind of thing, the Friday Fave invites you to join the club.

While you will be playing golf in this week’s Fave, you will not need clubs. No, you’ll need to sink those putts with rotations, reflections, and translations in Transformation Golf: Rigid Motions.

You’ll find some of our challenges simple, and some of them quite difficult. Keep in mind that this all about fun. No one’s keeping score. Take all the mulligans you need.

Sure, the Fave could tell you about the Common Core standards that introduce congruence by way of rigid motions. Or about the importance of developing spatial visualization skills, or even about how breaking things down into discrete steps can support learner’s development of algorithmic thinking. And that’s all true! But sometimes you just want to play.

In that spirit, here’s a class code: TV67R.

Then when you’ve finished on the course for the day, check out these other activities on the Desmos math playground.

Polygraph: Hexagons

Marbleslides: Parabolas

Water Line

Look for and make use of structure. Supporting students in engaging in this mathematical practice is the major objective of this week’s Friday Fave.

In Match My Picture, we work first to create a need. When you’re writing equations for two lines, it’s just fine to think about the slopes and y-intercepts independently of each other.

When you’re writing equations for nine lines, it may start to get a bit tedious. Plus, you may start to notice that these lines have something in common. Not only that, but what is changing is changing in a predictable way. It’s y=-2x plus something.

Hopeful that you’ve noticed the structure, we invite you to capture that structure in symbols.

Finally, we show you how to capture it with our tools. We tell you about lists. We invite you to use your newfound structure-capturing powers to match more pictures, and to design your own structured decorative masterpiece.

Taking students from needing a structure, to representing it formally, to using it creatively—this is what makes Match My Picture a Friday Fave.

While you’re thinking about matching, have a look at these activities too:

FEATURED ACTIVITIES

Match My Line

Match My Parabola

Card Sort: Derivative Match

The Fave is writing these words at 9:29 on 9/29 (or the arguably palindromic 9:29 on 29/9 for those outside the US). That means it’s autumn where the Fave resides, and in autumn one’s thoughts turn to lasers.

That’s right. Lasers.

Like how much easier it would be if you could just zap those fallen leaves with lasers. Or how soon it will be winter and many people will have no choice but to amuse themselves with indoor cats chasing laser pointers.

And what goes great with lasers (besides cats and fallen leaves)? Mirrors. Which leads us to the Fundamental Theorem of Laser Pointers:

Lasers + Mirrors = Angle Play

That equation right there is the premise of this week’s Friday Fave: Laser Challenge.

You set the angle of the laser and the mirrors, then click “Try It!” and see the results of your work.

Negative angles, reflex angles, angles greater than 360°….try them all!

We offer several challenges of increasing complexity, and then we invite you to design your own laser challenge. (You’ll need to show it’s solvable before turning it over to your partner.)

So if your students are studying geometry, trigonometry, or physics, come have them celebrate autumn—the season of lasers—with Laser Challenge!

While our minds are on angles, here are a few more angle-based activities to enjoy with a warm cup of cider (but sorry, no lasers).

Complete the Arch

Sector Area

Polygraph: Angle Relationships