In fifth grade my teacher taught us an awesome magic trick. We had 16 cards and we wrote the numbers 1-16 on them. Then we punched 5 holes at the top of the cards, and labeled them from right to left 1, 2, 4, 8, 16. We went through each of the cards individually. Starting from left to right, we decided if the hole was bigger or smaller than the number on the card. If it was greater than or equal to the number then we left it. If it was less than the number on the card, then we cut it out. Then, subtracted that number from the number on the card and went to the next hole with the new number. So on and so forth. Sorry my explanation isn't very good. Once our cards were made, we played games. You mix up the cards and then someone gives you a number 1-16, and you magically find their number, without looking, by sliding an unbent paper clip through the holes. For example, say your number is 7(uuooo). That's what your card would look like. You slide your wire through the 8's hole. All the numbers less than 8 fall off, as well as sixteen. You pick these up, take the others off and set them aside, then slide your wire through the 4's. Only 7,6,5,4 will stay on this time. Take these cards and slide it through the 2's. Only 7,6 remain. And through the 1's only 7 remains. ta da!!!!!! It's magic. You do have to know your cards well enough to know whether to work with the ones that fall off or the ones that stay on. We thought it was incredible. It wasn't till a number of years later that I discovered that my favorite magic trick was actually just binary. By the way, I highly suggest this activity for upper elementary. I'm 26 and I still think about this activity whenever binary comes up.
Posts: 240 | Registered: Jan 2001
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I never took high math during high school. The highest math I completed with Geometry. Sad huh? I'm just about to start my first math class in college. Oh well, I'll get there. It's not that I'm bad at math, I just never learned it. Read my landmark post for more info. Posts: 4229 | Registered: Dec 2002
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I am utterly befuddled by the Boolean algebra explanation. I think it would help if someone put down what each line of numbers means. I know that it has something to do with comparing digits in binary, and seeing which ones match/don't match/whatever, but when you type:
quote:!Or: A B Output 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
I am left in the dark.
Posts: 285 | Registered: Jun 1999
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Well I've been planing on making boolean another Cousin Hobbes column, hopefuly this week but because of Thanksgiving maybe not until next week.
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T_Smith, when you say A+1=1, can A have any value other than 0 or 1? Cause I was picturing like four digit binary arrays or something (as my example), and obviously if A is 1010, then A+1 is 1011, not 1. For all of your other identities, my 4 digit arrays were working.
I realize that when I follow something someone is saying, I make up a specific instance of it in my head, and then follow along with that in mind. That way I know exactly when they say something that doesn't work out. Do other people do it like that?
Posts: 968 | Registered: Sep 2003
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pepperuda, I'm going to use that card magic trick for my brother's girlfriend's seventh grade math class. That's a great idea! Thanks for telling me about it!
I remember now that you teach math to kids. If you can think of any other cool things like that, would you let me know? Janie would love to hear about them. She's a very innovative teacher and was recently given two math classes, though she prefers science.
Posts: 968 | Registered: Sep 2003
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At Thanksgiving, I tried to teach my wife's cousin how to count in binary on her fingers. I'm not sure she followed, but that's okay. Counting to 512 on 10 fingers is a strange concept at first.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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