Other tags that relate to Cola Can
Volume and capacity. Spreadsheets. Pythagoras' theorem. Interactivities. Maths Supporting SET. Surface and surface area. Visualising. Spheres, cylinders & cones. Cubes & cuboids. Mathematical reasoning & proof.There are 178 results
Broad Topics > Thinking Mathematically > Visualising
Efficient Cutting
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Use a single sheet of A4 paper and make a cylinder having the greatest possible volume. The cylinder must be closed off by a circle at each end.
All Tied Up
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
A ribbon runs around a box so that it makes a complete loop with two parallel pieces of ribbon on the top. How long will the ribbon be?
All in the Mind
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Imagine you are suspending a cube from one vertex and allowing it to hang freely. What shape does the surface of the water make around the cube?
Tic Tac Toe
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
In the game of Noughts and Crosses there are 8 distinct winning lines. How many distinct winning lines are there in a game played on a 3 by 3 by 3 board, with 27 cells?
Painted Cube
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Imagine a large cube made from small red cubes being dropped into a pot of yellow paint. How many of the small cubes will have yellow paint on their faces?
The Spider and the Fly
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
A spider is sitting in the middle of one of the smallest walls in a room and a fly is resting beside the window. What is the shortest distance the spider would have to crawl to catch the fly?
Drilling Many Cubes
Age 7 to 14 Challenge Level:
A useful visualising exercise which offers opportunities for discussion and generalising, and which could be used for thinking about the formulae needed for generating the results on a spreadsheet.
Take Ten
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Is it possible to remove ten unit cubes from a 3 by 3 by 3 cube so that the surface area of the remaining solid is the same as the surface area of the original?
Marbles in a Box
Age 11 to 16 Challenge Level:
How many winning lines can you make in a three-dimensional version of noughts and crosses?
Tourism
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
If you can copy a network without lifting your pen off the paper and without drawing any line twice, then it is traversable. Decide which of these diagrams are traversable.
An Unusual Shape
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Can you maximise the area available to a grazing goat?
Natural Sum
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
The picture illustrates the sum 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = (4 x 5)/2. Prove the general formula for the sum of the first n natural numbers and the formula for the sum of the cubes of the first n natural. . . .
Picture Story
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Can you see how this picture illustrates the formula for the sum of the first six cube numbers?
Building Tetrahedra
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Can you make a tetrahedron whose faces all have the same perimeter?
The Old Goats
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
A rectangular field has two posts with a ring on top of each post. There are two quarrelsome goats and plenty of ropes which you can tie to their collars. How can you secure them so they can't. . . .
Keep Your Distance
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Can you mark 4 points on a flat surface so that there are only two different distances between them?
Cubes Within Cubes Revisited
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Imagine starting with one yellow cube and covering it all over with a single layer of red cubes, and then covering that cube with a layer of blue cubes. How many red and blue cubes would you need?
Doesn't Add Up
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
In this problem we are faced with an apparently easy area problem, but it has gone horribly wrong! What happened?
There and Back Again
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Bilbo goes on an adventure, before arriving back home. Using the information given about his journey, can you work out where Bilbo lives?
Concrete Wheel
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
A huge wheel is rolling past your window. What do you see?
Rati-o
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Points P, Q, R and S each divide the sides AB, BC, CD and DA respectively in the ratio of 2 : 1. Join the points. What is the area of the parallelogram PQRS in relation to the original rectangle?
Triangles Within Triangles
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Can you find a rule which connects consecutive triangular numbers?
Ten Hidden Squares
Age 7 to 14 Challenge Level:
These points all mark the vertices (corners) of ten hidden squares. Can you find the 10 hidden squares?
On the Edge
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
If you move the tiles around, can you make squares with different coloured edges?
Cuboids
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Can you find a cuboid that has a surface area of exactly 100 square units. Is there more than one? Can you find them all?
3D Treasure Hunt
Age 14 to 18 Challenge Level:
Some treasure has been hidden in a three-dimensional grid! Can you work out a strategy to find it as efficiently as possible?
Something in Common
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
A square of area 3 square units cannot be drawn on a 2D grid so that each of its vertices have integer coordinates, but can it be drawn on a 3D grid? Investigate squares that can be drawn.
Zooming in on the Squares
Age 7 to 14
Start with a large square, join the midpoints of its sides, you'll see four right angled triangles. Remove these triangles, a second square is left. Repeat the operation. What happens?
Coloured Edges
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
The whole set of tiles is used to make a square. This has a green and blue border. There are no green or blue tiles anywhere in the square except on this border. How many tiles are there in the set?
Square It
Age 11 to 16 Challenge Level:
Players take it in turns to choose a dot on the grid. The winner is the first to have four dots that can be joined to form a square.
Convex Polygons
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Show that among the interior angles of a convex polygon there cannot be more than three acute angles.
Inside Out
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
There are 27 small cubes in a 3 x 3 x 3 cube, 54 faces being visible at any one time. Is it possible to reorganise these cubes so that by dipping the large cube into a pot of paint three times you. . . .
Cubic Conundrum
Age 7 to 16 Challenge Level:
Which of the following cubes can be made from these nets?
Sliced
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
An irregular tetrahedron has two opposite sides the same length a and the line joining their midpoints is perpendicular to these two edges and is of length b. What is the volume of the tetrahedron?
Tilting Triangles
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
A right-angled isosceles triangle is rotated about the centre point of a square. What can you say about the area of the part of the square covered by the triangle as it rotates?
The Development of Spatial and Geometric Thinking: 5 to 18
Age 5 to 16
This is the first article in a series which aim to provide some insight into the way spatial thinking develops in children, and draw on a range of reported research. The focus of this article is the. . . .
Eight Hidden Squares
Age 7 to 14 Challenge Level:
On the graph there are 28 marked points. These points all mark the vertices (corners) of eight hidden squares. Can you find the eight hidden squares?
Corridors
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
A 10x10x10 cube is made from 27 2x2 cubes with corridors between them. Find the shortest route from one corner to the opposite corner.
Steel Cables
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Some students have been working out the number of strands needed for different sizes of cable. Can you make sense of their solutions?
Tetra Square
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
ABCD is a regular tetrahedron and the points P, Q, R and S are the midpoints of the edges AB, BD, CD and CA. Prove that PQRS is a square.
Auditorium Steps
Age 7 to 14 Challenge Level:
What is the shape of wrapping paper that you would need to completely wrap this model?
Star Gazing
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Find the ratio of the outer shaded area to the inner area for a six pointed star and an eight pointed star.
Framed
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Seven small rectangular pictures have one inch wide frames. The frames are removed and the pictures are fitted together like a jigsaw to make a rectangle of length 12 inches. Find the dimensions of. . . .
Dissect
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
What is the minimum number of squares a 13 by 13 square can be dissected into?
Chess
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
What would be the smallest number of moves needed to move a Knight from a chess set from one corner to the opposite corner of a 99 by 99 square board?
Linkage
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Four rods, two of length a and two of length b, are linked to form a kite. The linkage is moveable so that the angles change. What is the maximum area of the kite?
Thinking Through, and By, Visualising
Age 7 to 16
This article is based on some of the ideas that emerged during the production of a book which takes visualising as its focus. We began to identify problems which helped us to take a structured view. . . .
NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.