This is an interesting problem that was given to about 30 Maths Teachers in one of the PD workshops that I attended recently. I must confess that almost all of us, baring very few, struggled quite a lot and for quite a long to find its solution.. In fact, many of us could not even arrive at the desired solution :) However, I had a gut feeling that my students 'will' be able to reach the destination, and that too in a 'proper' way....
Yes, I was quite sure that my students would do this problem-solving much 'better than me' ! ..... Why?
Because I have been taking care and effort since past 2 years, to see to it that I do not pollute their minds or damage their mathematical thinking by feeding them 'my' methods or by enforcing upon them some 'standard' methods directly....
Makes you reflect? :-)
So here is the problem:
So, I told this incident to my students while giving this problem... (that it was given to teachers and we all took lot of time, etc).. Naturally, the first thing they asked me was-
"Sir, could you solve it?"
"Yes, I could..."
I could see one of them saying to the other, "'Sir' will 'obviously' solve it....!"
"Wait ! It took me lot of time and effort.... and I was not so happy with my work.... However, I feel you will do better than me....and hence I am giving this to you.... "
Some of them smiled at me, while others had already dived into the problem.. :)
They sought clarification about some requirements mentioned in the problem... I clarified those with examples... and then there was silence for about 10 minutes...
I told them mid-way that they can even work in pairs or groups if they wish.... But none of them did.... It seems they wanted to give their own shot for some time..
Would suggest you to give a try before reading their solutions :)
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Two of them - Sahil and Rohit - told me that they are on the verge of completion... have eliminated many possibilities out of the total 120 and are working on the final six ones ....
I understood what they were saying / doing... Did you? :-)
Soon, they declared that ---- "There is No solution."
I felt Waaaow.... but contained my excitement and rather probed them if they have a proof to support their claim...
Yes sir, we can prove it...
I asked them to pen down their solution systematically while others were still solving...
In some time, Vaishnavi too declared her accomplishment and this was followed by the rest of the class in next 10-15 minutes....
Every student who was done, was directed to 'write down' their solution / approach in a comprehensible form...
Only when everyone claimed that they have solved it, we began with the Whole-Class Discussion...
Rohit pushed Sahil for sharing.... I had seen both of them working together in the end....
Sahil's work:
He says that there is only one way to make 14 and 13. For 14 - 2,3,4,5 should be together while for 13 - 1,3,4,5 should be together. Hence he concluded that 1 and 2 should be on the two extremes.
So this leaves 3,4,5 in the middle zone which gives rise to 6 possibilities, as listed by him.
He then ruled out each of these possibilities with reasoning. For example:
Option 1 ---- 1,3,4,5,2 does not yield 6
Option 2 ---- 1,3,5,4,2 does not yield 7
and so on.....
Since none of the options work in the favor of given conditions, so the problem does not have any solution.
I asked others if they want to ask anything to Sahil.... All agreed with his work...
Jeetu said that his approach was also very similar to this....
Tanvi came forward. This is her work:..
She too first found out that 1 and 2 will be on the two extremes.
Later, she wrote down all the possible ways of making every number from 6 to 15 (though she later said there was no need to write for 13 to 15 again :)
She then cancelled out all the options which used both 1 and 2 to make a number.
Then she started with 6-sized bogie. She chose to test one of the options of 6 i.e. 5+1
This would mean placing 5 besides 1. This forces 7 to be made using 4,3. However the option (5,3) for making 8 fixes the position of 3 at the center and hence 5 next to 1.
Thus the train looks like this: 1,5,3,4,2
This structure cannot however make a small train of size-10.
So this means the initial assumption of 6 to be made using 5 and 1 would be wrong, thus leaving only (4,2) for 6.
Again, sizes 7 and 8 will fix the positions of 3 and 5 respectively, eventually and surprisingly leading to the same arrangement 1,5,3,4,2 which does not help us for giving 10.
Thus any of the options of 6 leads to an impossibility for the size 10 and hence it is not possible to make such a train....
Again, I looked at the class for their agreement/ disagreement. .. All agreed...
Vaishnavi came up with her approach:
Her initial approach is same as that of Tanvi.... Listing down and ruling out the options having 1 and 2 together. However then she chose to work from the other end (bigger numbers), unlike Tanvi who worked from 6.
Done with 15,14 and 13, she said 12 will also be possible with 3,4,5 anywhere in the center..... 1 ? ? ? 2
Analyzing the only remaining option for 11 i.e. 5,4,2, its clear that 3 will have to be next to 1. This rules out two more options (5,1) for 6 and (5,4,1) for 10..... 1 3 ? ? 2
Analyzing the only remaining option for 10 i.e. (5,3,2) its clear that its impossible to make 10 because 3 and 2 are already 2 spaces apart.
Thus its not possible to complete this order.
All agreed to this.
Kanchan said that her approach is also somewhat similar to Vaishnavi's (starting from the bigger numbers).. This is her work:
She first fixed up 1 and 2 in the two extremes like others. However, she did not list all the possibilities for 6 to 14 like her two peers.
After finishing off the work of 12 to 15, she listed the two options for 11:
(5,4,2) and (1,2,3,5)
She ruled out the latter (since 1 and 2 are apart) and hence the former got fixed. This meant either 4 or 5 should be next to 2. .... (note that Vaishnavi had directly concluded that 3 will be next to 1 using this case)
She then listed down the three options for making 10 and one-by-one ruled out those too with appropriate reasoning
(5,4,1) -- Not possible as 5 and 4 will be next to 2.
(1,2,3,4) -- Not possible as 1 and 2 are 3 spaces apart
(2,3,5) -- Not possible as (2,4,5) have to be together to make 11 as discussed above.
Thus it is not possible to make 10 and hence this problem has no solutions.
Remember, I told you in the beginning - about my confidence that my students would be probably solving this better than me... And I am so happy and even proud that they did so !!
You want to see my work? This is it :))
How about you trying this problem with your students / children?
Could you arrive at the correct solution on your own? What/ How was your approach?
I will be happy if you can share your or your students' approach with me, if its different than any of the above....
What are your views about the thought processes of students above?
Waiting to hear from you,
Thanks and Regards
Rupesh Gesota
PS: These students are studying in class-7 and 8 in a navi-mumbai based marathi medium government school.. I am working with them on their Maths Enrichment since past couple of years after their school hours. To know more, check the link:
www.supportmentor.weebly.com
Would suggest you to give a try before reading their solutions :)
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
Two of them - Sahil and Rohit - told me that they are on the verge of completion... have eliminated many possibilities out of the total 120 and are working on the final six ones ....
I understood what they were saying / doing... Did you? :-)
Soon, they declared that ---- "There is No solution."
I felt Waaaow.... but contained my excitement and rather probed them if they have a proof to support their claim...
Yes sir, we can prove it...
I asked them to pen down their solution systematically while others were still solving...
In some time, Vaishnavi too declared her accomplishment and this was followed by the rest of the class in next 10-15 minutes....
Every student who was done, was directed to 'write down' their solution / approach in a comprehensible form...
Only when everyone claimed that they have solved it, we began with the Whole-Class Discussion...
Rohit pushed Sahil for sharing.... I had seen both of them working together in the end....
Sahil's work:
He says that there is only one way to make 14 and 13. For 14 - 2,3,4,5 should be together while for 13 - 1,3,4,5 should be together. Hence he concluded that 1 and 2 should be on the two extremes.
So this leaves 3,4,5 in the middle zone which gives rise to 6 possibilities, as listed by him.
He then ruled out each of these possibilities with reasoning. For example:
Option 1 ---- 1,3,4,5,2 does not yield 6
Option 2 ---- 1,3,5,4,2 does not yield 7
and so on.....
Since none of the options work in the favor of given conditions, so the problem does not have any solution.
I asked others if they want to ask anything to Sahil.... All agreed with his work...
Jeetu said that his approach was also very similar to this....
Tanvi came forward. This is her work:..
She too first found out that 1 and 2 will be on the two extremes.
Later, she wrote down all the possible ways of making every number from 6 to 15 (though she later said there was no need to write for 13 to 15 again :)
She then cancelled out all the options which used both 1 and 2 to make a number.
Then she started with 6-sized bogie. She chose to test one of the options of 6 i.e. 5+1
This would mean placing 5 besides 1. This forces 7 to be made using 4,3. However the option (5,3) for making 8 fixes the position of 3 at the center and hence 5 next to 1.
Thus the train looks like this: 1,5,3,4,2
This structure cannot however make a small train of size-10.
So this means the initial assumption of 6 to be made using 5 and 1 would be wrong, thus leaving only (4,2) for 6.
Again, sizes 7 and 8 will fix the positions of 3 and 5 respectively, eventually and surprisingly leading to the same arrangement 1,5,3,4,2 which does not help us for giving 10.
Thus any of the options of 6 leads to an impossibility for the size 10 and hence it is not possible to make such a train....
Again, I looked at the class for their agreement/ disagreement. .. All agreed...
Vaishnavi came up with her approach:
Her initial approach is same as that of Tanvi.... Listing down and ruling out the options having 1 and 2 together. However then she chose to work from the other end (bigger numbers), unlike Tanvi who worked from 6.
Done with 15,14 and 13, she said 12 will also be possible with 3,4,5 anywhere in the center..... 1 ? ? ? 2
Analyzing the only remaining option for 11 i.e. 5,4,2, its clear that 3 will have to be next to 1. This rules out two more options (5,1) for 6 and (5,4,1) for 10..... 1 3 ? ? 2
Analyzing the only remaining option for 10 i.e. (5,3,2) its clear that its impossible to make 10 because 3 and 2 are already 2 spaces apart.
Thus its not possible to complete this order.
All agreed to this.
Kanchan said that her approach is also somewhat similar to Vaishnavi's (starting from the bigger numbers).. This is her work:
She first fixed up 1 and 2 in the two extremes like others. However, she did not list all the possibilities for 6 to 14 like her two peers.
After finishing off the work of 12 to 15, she listed the two options for 11:
(5,4,2) and (1,2,3,5)
She ruled out the latter (since 1 and 2 are apart) and hence the former got fixed. This meant either 4 or 5 should be next to 2. .... (note that Vaishnavi had directly concluded that 3 will be next to 1 using this case)
She then listed down the three options for making 10 and one-by-one ruled out those too with appropriate reasoning
(5,4,1) -- Not possible as 5 and 4 will be next to 2.
(1,2,3,4) -- Not possible as 1 and 2 are 3 spaces apart
(2,3,5) -- Not possible as (2,4,5) have to be together to make 11 as discussed above.
Thus it is not possible to make 10 and hence this problem has no solutions.
Remember, I told you in the beginning - about my confidence that my students would be probably solving this better than me... And I am so happy and even proud that they did so !!
You want to see my work? This is it :))
How about you trying this problem with your students / children?
Could you arrive at the correct solution on your own? What/ How was your approach?
I will be happy if you can share your or your students' approach with me, if its different than any of the above....
What are your views about the thought processes of students above?
Waiting to hear from you,
Thanks and Regards
Rupesh Gesota
PS: These students are studying in class-7 and 8 in a navi-mumbai based marathi medium government school.. I am working with them on their Maths Enrichment since past couple of years after their school hours. To know more, check the link:
www.supportmentor.weebly.com
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