Math Arguments
Problems, Questions, and Puzzles to spark discussion and argument in the maths classroom.
Reported Ages
Sayeth Mr Honner:
Patrick Honner: Here’s a fun little data set from a statistics textbook I’m reading.
These are the distributions of last digits of ages reported on the 1880 and 1970 US Censuses. At least two interesting questions come to mind, one with a seemingly easy answer.
What do you think his two questions are?
What other questions did you have?
What would the graph look like if we asked people for the ages of their parents?
What other mathematical aspects of this caught your attention? What do you wonder about the situation?
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Source:
Mr. Honner
More Information:
Noticing and wondering is a tool to help students:
- Understand the story, the quantities, and the relationships in the problem.
- Understand what the problem is asking and what the answer will look like. Have some ideas to begin to solve the problem.
More Here at NCTM
Noticing and wondering is a tool to help students:
- Understand the story, the quantities, and the relationships in the problem.
- Understand what the problem is asking and what the answer will look like. Have some ideas to begin to solve the problem.
More Here at NCTM
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