Cody and Ken from St Ives North Public School in Australia worked together on this task. They didn't try flipping the grid over but they did try rotating it, and they imagined that the letters were consecutive whole numbers like they are in the activity So It's Times!. They said:
The lowest total would be made by turning the plastic grid 180˚ and the highest total would be made by turning the plastic grid 0˚ or 360˚.
Ken sent in this picture (you can click on it to make it bigger):
Cody sent in this picture (you can click on it to make it bigger):
Thank you both for sharing your solutions with us! It certainly does look like if the numbers are consecutive whole numbers, the smallest total is found by turning the top sheet 0˚ and the largest total is found by turning the top sheet 180˚. I wonder if flipping the sheet over would give a smaller or a larger total? Do you think the solution will be different if
the numbers change?
If anybody else has a solution they would like to share with us, please email us your ideas.