Math Games: A Review of Math Tricks, Puzzles & Games by Raymond Blum By Annamae Lang
First published in 1994, Raymond Blum’s Math Tricks, Puzzles and Games is a unique collection of some very amusing mathematical activities. The audience is aimed for ‘nine and up’. A teacher himself, Blum says he "discovered … children will learn if they are properly motivated" and children are motivated when they perceive something is fun.
Many of the activities are aimed for younger children. (A glossary is given to help with hard to understand words.) It’s a great book for kids to take out of the library and try at home. However, certain questions are easily modified to be used in a high school classroom where students can be expected to not only do the question, but explain why it works.
The first section on card tricks can be used with younger grades (nine and ten) as an introduction to algebra. Each trick could be discussed, and then the explanation (or "secret", as Blum calls it) as to why it works can be revealed.
The second chapter contains games for two people. Students can play these games and try to discover a strategy for winning. Many of these games, including Snake Eyes and Las Vegas, are probability games. Teachers can use many of these for units in statistics.
The puzzle chapter offers a challenge to both students and teachers. It gives some very simple instructions for the problems and requires people to think beyond the usual 2-dimensional ideas. These are fantastic questions for students to do when teachers are introducing abstract topics, including problem solving and geometry. Students will start to use extended ideas to solve difficult problems in those topics. Of particular interest to teachers are the Magic Square and Box Score.
Calculator riddles are a little silly for classroom use, but might be good to have posted around the classroom for interests’ sake. An example of what is offered in the chapter is:
Picture these coins: a nickel, a penny, and a dime. OK? Ellie’s parents have 3 children. One is Nick and another is Penny. Who is the third?
0.05 ÷ 0.01 ÷ 0.10 x 3 x 211 + 123 =
My favourite chapter is called "Wordles", which are words as pictures to make a phrase or word. These are perfect for the end of a test (or beginning instead of a comic) or to have around the classroom walls for wandering eyes to view. My favourites include:
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TpoEsiGtiEveR |
R O O T |
The last chapter, on calculator tricks, is particularly useful for the algebra unit. Students can take these activities and explain why they work using their algebra knowledge.
The activities in Blum’s book are great for entertainment in any math class, but they are easily adapted for topics in the curriculum. The activities teachers do with their students based on the questions can be varied depending on the academic knowledge and level of the students. This book is recommended for teachers to add to their folder of gems or ice breaker activities in the classroom.
A sample of what the book has to offer can be found here.
Raymond Blum: Math Tricks, Puzzles & Games. Sterling Publishing Co.,
New York, 1995. ISBN: 0-8069-0583-2 $8.95 (paperback)