Operations

1+ players

The aim is to get the highest number possible after using each of your tokens.

There is 1 die

Each player has 4 tokens with different symbols on:

+ − × ÷

Each player rolls the die and the number they get is their starting number.

Lowest score starts. If there's a draw, youngest of those starts.

Each round:

1. Roll the die
2. Choose one of your operations.
3. Perform your operation with the new number and your existing number. Try to get the highest score
4. Discard your operation token. You only get to use each operation once.

Note: When the calculation is a division with a remainder, you can either discard the remainder or continue with decimals, depending on who is playing.

Example game:

2 players.

A rolls 2, B rolls 3. A has the lowest starting number so they start

1. Round 1
   • A rolls a 4. They decide to use their + operation. They now have 6.
   • B rolls a 1. They use their ÷ . They still have 3.
2. Round 2
   • A rolls 6. They use their × . They have 36.
   • B rolls 5. They use their × . B now has 15
3. Round 3
   • A rolls another 6. They've already used their × so they have to either subtract 6 or divide by 6. They use − . They have 30
   • B rolls 2. They + it. B has 17
4. Round 4
   • A rolls another 6! Now they only have their ÷ left. They have to divide 30 by 6. Now they have 5.
   • B rolls 3. They have their − left. B has 14.

B wins.

Variations

• For advanced maths, add in the power and root symbols ^ √
• Try to get the lowest score instead of the highest.
• Try to get the lowest score without going below zero.

A what? A pi-ku?

To quote Maths Week Scotland:

A pi-ku is a poem that follows the form of a haiku, but instead of the 5-7-5 haiku pattern, the syllables in a pi-ku follow the number of digits in the mathematical constant pi (π).

So, instead of 5-7-5, a pi-ku would follow the pattern 3-1-4 (-1-5-9-2…etc.)

Of course, I couldn't avoid having a go myself, could I?

---

Approximation of Pi

Pi is three
Well...
Three and a bit.
…ish.
The 'bit' is quite small.

---

Full-time Score of the Final of the World Circle Geometry Ratio Tournament 2023

Radius:
2
Diameter:
1

---

Subjectively Reviewing areas of Mathematics

Algebra?
Fine.
Geometry?
Fun.
Trigonometry?
Partial Differential Equations?
Both Good.
Fractal Geometry?
Looks simple at first.
Gets... tricky
When you look closer.

---

Marginal

Fermat's Last?
Gasp!
I Found a Proof!
Which,
Unfortunately...
This poem is too short to contain.

I've done a lot of projects over the holidays. This is a quick collection of notes to remind myself later.

I took the insides out of an old IKEA Spøka nightlight and squeezed in a Particle Photon, a battery shield and a battery then soldered the nightlight's on/off switch onto some jumper cables and wired that in. I now have an internet-connected button that looks cute.

Still no idea what to do with it but it’s fun.

Here's the code that's running on the Photon:

int led = D7; // Built-in LED
int pushButton = D6; // Old Spøka momentary switch


bool wasUp = true;

void setup() 
{
  pinMode(led, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(pushButton, INPUT_PULLUP); 
}

void loop() 
{
  int pushButtonState; 

pushButtonState = digitalRead(pushButton);

if(pushButtonState == LOW)
  { // If we push down on the push button
    digitalWrite(led, HIGH);  // Turn ON the LED
    if(wasUp) {
        Particle.publish("Spooky pressed");
        wasUp = false;
    }
  }
  else
  {
    digitalWrite(led, LOW);   // Turn OFF the LED 
    wasUp = true;
  }

}

When you press the button, you get a message published to the Particle Cloud.