Algebra, factors and multiplication madness!

Today, at Maths Club, our mathematicians worked hard to beat their most recent times table score.  There is excellent progress being made, for each of the children at Maths Club, in the rapid recall of their times tables.  Willow now has the highest score in the school, completing 82% of the grid in less than 4 minutes - there are a couple of others who are hot on her heels (Ollie/Dylan)! 

We then had a look at some algebraic equations.  We learned that it doesn't matter what the letter is, it just represents an unknown quantity which can be found by manipulating the numbers in the equation.

Finally, we were posed with a problem (which Mrs Comer was given at university, a long time ago!)  The problem was as follows:

Find a number with exactly 36 factors.

The strategies we chose to use were typically trial and error, narrowing our estimates each time.  This problem requires a lot of perseverance!  

We're going to re-visit this next week to identify the progress made.

Mathematician of the week was Professor Pethard!  Dylan could quickly explain how to solve simple algebraic equations.