Mathematics

1804 Desmos Christmas

/ ivasallay / Leave a comment

Today’s Puzzle:

Merry Christmas, everybody! Can you make a Christmas design in Desmos?

Here’s how I solved this Desmos Christmas puzzle: A few weeks ago, I saw this post on Bluesky and was inspired by the climbing sine curves on the featured Desmos Christmas tree:

#mathstoday I began thinking about a Desmos activity for my year 11 in which they could make a Christmas tree. Then I got carried away, thought about climbing sine curves (tinsel) and translating polar graphs. I’m not sure it’s suitable for year 11 anymore… Oops

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— over-drawn.bsky.social (@over-drawn.bsky.social) November 28, 2024 at 12:34 PM

What is a climbing sine curve, and could I use one to decorate the plain Desmos Christmas tree I made last year? I had to google “climbing sine” to proceed, but I learned that it is a function such as y = x + sin(x). That’s a familiar function; I just didn’t know it had a cutesy name.

I multiplied that function by a constant. Can you figure out what that constant was?

Later, I embellished the tree even more with lights and falling snow. I hope you enjoy it!

Here are some other delightful Christmas Desmos designs I saw on Bluesky. this first one rotates in 3-D.

Happy Holidays! 🎄
http://www.desmos.com/3d/p5t7m4kh4s
#iTeachMath

[image or embed]

— Raj Raizada (@rajraizada.bsky.social) December 10, 2024 at 10:46 AM

Enjoyed re-creating this visual in the @desmos.com Geometry tool: http://www.desmos.com/geometry/lx7… #mathsky

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— Tim Guindon (@tguindon.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 1:08 PM

More snowflake fun in @desmos.com
I don’t think it can show text mirror-flipped yet (?), so for this, you type your word, screenshot it, then load it as an image.
I’m hoping to have students load in pics of their names, then snowflake-ify them.
http://www.desmos.com/geometry/afo…
#iTeachMath #MathSky

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— Raj Raizada (@rajraizada.bsky.social) December 17, 2024 at 11:17 AM

This next one isn’t a Desmos design, but I enjoyed its playful nature just the same. Do you recognize the number pattern?

Inspired by @studymaths.bsky.social – #MathPlay 🧮 via Pascal’s Dice 🎲🔺

#ITeachMath #MTBoS #STEM #Maths #ElemMathChat #Math #MathSky #MathsToday #EduSky

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— Libo Valencia 🧮 MathPlay (@mrvalencia24.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 4:00 AM

Factors of 1804:

I know 1804 is divisible by four because the last two digits are divisible by 4.
1804 ÷ 4 = 451. Oh, and 4 + 1 = 5, so 451 is divisible by eleven and forty-one! Here’s a factor tree for 1804:

  • 1804 is a composite number.
  • Prime factorization: 1804 = 2 × 2 × 11 × 41, which can be written 1804 = 2² × 11 × 41.
  • 1804 has at least one exponent greater than 1 in its prime factorization so √1804 can be simplified. Taking the factor pair from the factor pair table below with the largest square number factor, we get √1804 = (√4)(√451) = 2√451.
  • The exponents in the prime factorization are 2, 1, and 1. Adding one to each exponent and multiplying, we get (2 + 1)(1 + 1)(1 + 1) = 3 × 2 × 2 = 12. Therefore, 1804 has exactly 12 factors.
  • The factors of 1804 are outlined with their factor pair partners in the graphic below.

More About the number 1804:

1804 is the hypotenuse of one Pythagorean triple:
396-1760-1804, which is (9-40-41) times 44.

1804 looks interesting in some other bases:
It’s A8A in base 13 because 10(13²) + 8(13) + 10(1) = 1804.
It’s 4A4 in base 20 because 4(20²) +10(20) + 4(1) = 1804.

Desmos Thanksgiving Mystery Dot-to-Dot

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Today’s Puzzle:

I wanted to create a Dot-to-Dot in Desmos for my students that wouldn’t require them to type in many ordered pairs. I concluded that if most points could be reflected over the x or y-axis, I could eliminate the need to type in about half the points. With that in mind, I recently created this mystery dot-to-dot you can enjoy over the Thanksgiving weekend.

What will this unfinished dot-to-dot become when the dots are connected, and 90% of the image is reflected over the y-axis?

My sister guessed it was a cat. The image reminds me of a snowman. What did you think it might be?

You can discover what it is by clicking on this pdf and following the instructions: Desmos Mystery Ordered Pair Dot-to-Dot

The instruction will look like this:

Depending on your device, you may be able to click on the lower right-hand corner of the Desmos image below to see how much fun I had transforming it four different ways: I made the image slide along the x-axis,  rotated it 90 degrees, reflected it over the x-axis, and dilated it. (The location of the turkey’s wattle can help you determine if an image is a reflection, a rotation, or a combination of both.) If clicking the lower right-hand corner does not work on your device, click this link. These transformations are all essential concepts for students to learn, and Desmos can make the process quite enjoyable.

Did you guess right? Have a very happy Thanksgiving!

1787 The11-Digit Palindromes of Base 2

/ ivasallay / 2 Comments

Today’s Puzzle:

1787 is an 11-digit palindrome in base 2. I wondered how many 11-digit palindromes there are, what they are, and what numbers they represent in base ten. I decided to try to make you wonder about all that as well. Try it out yourself before you read how I solved this puzzle.

The only digits in base 2, are 0 and 1. The first digit of any number must be 1 or else the number will not have eleven digits. The last digit also must be one for the number to be a palindrome. In fact, all five last digits will be determined by the first five digits. Thus, we only need to find all possible combinations of 0 and 1 that can occur in the second through sixth positions. There are 2⁵ ways to write 0 and 1 in those 5 positions. That means we know right away that there are 32 different 11-digit palindromes in base 2. I opened Excel and wrote those 32 different 11-digit numbers beginning with 00000 and ending with 11111. I put a 1 in front of them and had Excel copy the appropriate numbers into the last 5 spots. That gave me all the 11-digit palindromes. Then I had Excel multiply the values in each cell with the powers of 2 that head up each column to give the base 10 representations. This chart was the final product.

Did you notice that the first base 10 number in the chart is the number just after 2¹º and the last number is the number right before 2¹¹?

Factors of 1787:

  • 1787 is a prime number.
  • Prime factorization: 1787 is prime.
  • 1787 has no exponents greater than 1 in its prime factorization, so √1787 cannot be simplified.
  • The exponent in the prime factorization is 1. Adding one to that exponent we get (1 + 1) = 2. Therefore 1787 has exactly 2 factors.
  • The factors of 1787 are outlined with their factor pair partners in the graphic below.

How do we know that 1787 is a prime number? If 1787 were not a prime number, then it would be divisible by at least one prime number less than or equal to √1787. Since 1787 cannot be divided evenly by 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, or 41, we know that 1787 is a prime number.

More About the Number 1787:

1787 and 1789 are twin primes.
1783, 1787, and 1789 are a prime triplet.

1787 is a palindrome in some other bases, too!
It’s 919 in base 14 because 9(14²) + 1(14) + 9(1) = 1787,
595 in base 18 because 5(18²) + 9(18) + 5(1) = 1787, and
191 in base 38 because 1(38²) + 9(38) + 1(1) = 1787.

1786 is a Centered Triangular Number

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Today’s Puzzle:

A formula for the nth triangular number is n(n+1)/2. Centered triangular numbers are the sum of three consecutive triangular numbers. What would be a formula for finding centered triangular numbers? What value of n in your formula would produce the number 1786?

Factors of 1786:

  • 1786 is a composite number.
  • Prime factorization: 1786 = 2 × 19 × 47.
  • 1786 has no exponents greater than 1 in its prime factorization, so √1786 cannot be simplified.
  • The exponents in the prime factorization are 1, 1, and 1. Adding one to each exponent and multiplying we get (1 + 1)(1 + 1)(1 + 1) = 2 × 2 × 2 = 8. Therefore 1786 has exactly 8 factors.
  • The factors of 1786 are outlined with their factor pair partners in the graphic below.

More About the Number 1786:

From OEIS.org we learn that 1786³ = 5,696,975,656. Notice that all those digits are 5 or greater.

1786 is 1G1 in base35,
because 1(35²) + 16(35) + 1(1) = 1786.

 

1785 A Pythagorean Triple Logic Puzzle

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Today’s Puzzle:

If you can print a copy of the puzzle from this Excel sheet, 10 Factors1773-1785, it will look like this:

Note: I have revised this puzzle since originally publishing it. I was horrified to discover that the original puzzle had two solutions. I apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused. This revised puzzle only has one solution.

Factors of 1785:

17 × 5 = 85, so 1785 is divisible by 17.

  • 1785 is a composite number.
  • Prime factorization: 1785 = 3 × 5 × 7 × 17.
  • 1785 has no exponents greater than 1 in its prime factorization, so √1785 cannot be simplified.
  • The exponents in the prime factorization are 1, 1, 1, and 1. Adding one to each exponent and multiplying we get (1 + 1)(1 + 1)(1 + 1)(1 + 1) = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 = 16. Therefore 1785 has exactly 16 factors.
  • The factors of 1785 are outlined with their factor pair partners in the graphic below.

More About the Number 1785:

Did you notice that 3, 5, 7, and 357 are all factors of 1785?
Or that 35 and 51 make a factor pair, and 3, 5, and 1 are also factors?

1785 is the hypotenuse of FOUR Pythagorean triples:
273-1764-1785
756-1617-1785
840-1575-1785
1071-1428-1785

1785 is the difference of two squares in EIGHT different ways:
893² – 892² = 1785,
299² – 296² = 1785,
181² – 176² = 1785, and five more ways. Can you find them?

1785 is a Palindrome in a couple of bases:
It’s 123321 in base 4, because 1(1024) + 2(256) + 3(64) + 3(16) + 2(4) + 1(1) = 1785.
And it’s 3F3 in base 22, because 3(22²) + 15(22) + 3(1) = 1785.

1784 Another Hundred Simplifiable Square Roots

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Today’s Puzzle:

What percentage of natural numbers less than or equal to 1784 have simplifiable square roots?

Here is a chart of the 601st to the 700th simplifiable square roots:

You can figure out the percentage of numbers up to 1784 that have simplifiable square roots by calculating 700×100 ÷1784.

Was the percentage higher or lower than you expected?

The green areas on the chart are for consecutive numbers with simplifiable square roots. 1680-1684 are the smallest five consecutive numbers that can make that claim. Why can they? Because every one of their prime factorizations has an exponent greater than one in it.

1680 prime factorization

Factors of 1784:

  • 1784 is a composite number.
  • Prime factorization: 1784 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 167, which can be written 1784 = 2³ × 167.
  • 1784 has at least one exponent greater than 1 in its prime factorization so √1784 can be simplified. Taking the factor pair from the factor pair table below with the largest square number factor, we get √1784 = (√4)(√446) = 2√446.
  • The exponents in the prime factorization are 3 and 1. Adding one to each and multiplying we get (3 + 1)(1 + 1) = 4 × 2 = 8. Therefore 1784 has exactly 8 factors.
  • The factors of 1784 are outlined with their factor pairs in the graphic below.

More About the Number 1784:

1784 is the difference of two squares in two different ways:
447² – 445² = 1784, and
225² – 221² = 1784.

1784 is a palindrome in two bases:
It’s 494 in base20 because 4(20²)+9(20)+4(1) = 1784, and
2C2 in base27 because 2(27²)+12(27)+2(1) = 1784.

1782 Don’t Chop Down This Factor Tree!

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Today’s Puzzle:

Today is Monday, February 19. In the United States, we are celebrating Presidents’ Day, honoring most especially two important presidents who were born in February.

Exactly one week ago was February 12.

George Washington was born on February 11, 1731, Julian calendar.
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, Gregorian calendar.

The Julian calendar didn’t have leap days, so in 1752 a year and eleven days were added to Washington’s birthday to convert it to the Gregorian calendar.

Neither president will ever have his birthday on the third Monday of February when Presidents’ Day is observed. Too bad the second Monday of February wasn’t chosen instead. Then we could fudge a little and say that Presidents’ Day would be observed on one of their birthdays 2/7 of the time!

What days of the month are the earliest and the latest that a second Monday could be? 

When I was young I was told the story about George Washington chopping down a cherry tree. When he was confronted, he would not and could not tell a lie, and confessed his misdeed. As I got older, I learned that this was a fabricated story designed to teach children honesty of all things!

Nevertheless, some people celebrate Presidents’ Day by eating a cherry pie in remembrance of that story.

Factors of 1782:

This is my 1782nd post. Since it’s Presidents’ Day, I thought I would make a few factor trees for that number. You could think of the prime factors in red as cherries on the trees. Notice that all the prime factors are low-hanging fruit on these particular trees!

  • 1782 is a composite number.
  • Prime factorization: 1782 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 11, which can be written 1782 = 2 × 3⁴ × 11.
  • 1782 has at least one exponent greater than 1 in its prime factorization so √1782 can be simplified. Taking the factor pair from the factor pair table below with the largest square number factor, we get √1782 = (√22)(√81) = 9√22. The exponents in the prime factorization are 1, 4, and 1. Adding one to each exponent and multiplying we get (1 + 1)(4 + 1)(1 + 1) = 2 × 5 × 2 = 20. Therefore 1782 has exactly 20 factors.
  • The factors of 1782 are outlined with their factor pair partners in the graphic below.

More About the Number 1782:

(5(27²) -3(27))/2 = 1782, so it is the 27th heptagonal number after 0.

Here’s another cool fact about 1782 from OEIS.org.

1780 Reflections of a Polygonal Bird

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Today’s Puzzle:

What ordered pairs were used to create this bird?

Its eye was formed from an equation of a circle:
(x – 7)²+ (y – 15)² = 3/4.

After creating the polygonal bird using ordered pairs and that circle equation, I wanted to do other things with the bird. Everything I did was like a puzzle for me to figure out.

Could I make it “fly”? Yes!

 

Could I make it reflect itself more than once over the y-axis and the x-axis? Yes! And I could make it do some sliding at the same time!

This next one was the toughest for me to do. I wanted the bird to be in motion rotating counter-clockwise around the origin. I was able to do it, but Desmos wouldn’t save the sliders exactly the way I wanted. I will need your help on this one. Click on this rotating bird link, then push play on slider a. About the time that slider goes to zero, push play on slider b. If you hit the sliders just right, it will look something like this GIF I made, but slower:

Rotating Polygonal Birds

make science GIFs like this at MakeaGif

 

Factors of 1780:

Perhaps our polygonal bird would like to fly to a tree. Here’s a factor tree for 1780 that it can take a rest on.

I knew that 1780 was divisible by 4 because its last two digits are divisible by 4.

  • 1780 is a composite number.
  • Prime factorization: 1780 = 2 × 2 × 5 × 89, which can be written 1780 = 2² × 5 × 89.
  • 1780 has at least one exponent greater than 1 in its prime factorization so √1780 can be simplified. Taking the factor pair from the factor pair table below with the largest square number factor, we get √1780 = (√4)(√445) = 2√445.
  • The exponents in the prime factorization are 2, 1, and 1. Adding one to each exponent and multiplying we get (2 + 1)(1 + 1)(1 + 1) = 3 × 2 × 2 = 12. Therefore 1780 has exactly 12 factors.
  • The factors of 1780 are outlined with their factor pair partners in the graphic below.

More About the Number 1780:

1780 is the difference of two squares in two different ways:
446² – 444² = 1780, and
94² – 84² = 1780.

1780 is the sum of two squares in two different ways:
42² + 4² = 1780, and
36² + 22² = 1780.

1780 is the hypotenuse of four Pythagorean triples:
336-1748-1780, calculated from 2(42)(4), 42² – 4², 42² + 4²,
780-1600-1780, which is 20 times (39-80-89)
812-1584-1780, calculated from 36² – 22², 2(36)(22), 36² + 22², and
1068-1424-1780, which is (3-4-5) times 356.

1780 is KK in base 88 because
20(88) + 20(1) = 20(89) = 1780.

1779 How Many Similar Triangles Are There in This Image?

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Today’s Puzzle:

All of the triangles in the image below are similar. How many similar triangles are there in the image? Why are they similar? Hint: If I were counting them, I would list all the triangles by writing each one indicating the sides in this order every time: the smallest, the medium, and the longest side. Don’t forget to list ΔLKJ. It’s pretty tiny!

Factors of 1779:

  • 1779 is a composite number.
  • Prime factorization: 1779 = 3 × 593.
  • 1779 has no exponents greater than 1 in its prime factorization, so √1779 cannot be simplified.
  • The exponents in the prime factorization are 1 and 1. Adding one to each exponent and multiplying we get (1 + 1)(1 + 1) = 2 × 2 = 4. Therefore 1779 has exactly 4 factors.
  • The factors of 1779 are outlined with their factor pair partners in the graphic below.

More About the Number 1779:

1779 is the hypotenuse of a Pythagorean triple:
1104-1395-1779, which is 3 times (368-465-593).

From OEIS.org we learn that 1779 = 10,016,218,555,281, and that’s the smallest 4th power that has 14 digits.

1779 is palindrome 323 in base 24 because
3(24²) + 2(24) + 3(1) = 1779.