Sunday, February 28, 2010

POW #13

Handshakes
There are 26 students in your class (including yourself). Every student shakes hands with exactly one-half of the students in the room. What is the minimum number of handshakes that occurred?

Prove it with a picture, table, or equation/rule (or all three!)

Hint: First try this problem with smaller numbers to find a pattern and then apply your pattern to the above situation.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Your January Word Defintions

January Words Vocabulary Quiz = Friday afternoon, February 26th

1. Paroxysm- n. Sudden violent action
2. Insipid- adj. Lacking flavor; lacking vigor or interest; dull or uninteresting
3. Inundated- v. to flood, overwhelm, to immerse, to overflow, to submerge
4. Berate- v. to scold, to criticize, to give one hell
5. Superfluous- adj. extravagant, spending more than necessary; needless, extra
6. Truculent- adj. cruel, brutally harsh, aggressively hostile, hateful, fierce
7. Panacea- n. a medicine, a remedy for all disease, an answer/solution for all probs.
8. Perjure- v. to give a false testimonies, to lie under oath, to fib
9. Lackluster- adj. lacking liveliness spirit or enthusiasm, dull
10. Convivial- adj. friendly, fun-loving, agreeable, merry
11. Taut – adj. pulled tight, not slack, tense, drawn
12. Caricature – noun, picture, exaggerated features,
13. Mitigate – verb, to make less severe serious, painful,
14. Lugubrious – adj. look or sound sad, or dismal, gloomy or mournful
15. Pallid – adj. pale, faint or deficient in color, feeble, insipid
16. Timorous – adj. fear, lack of confidence, timid
17. Erroneous – adj. mistaken, incorrect wrong, error,
18. Surreptitious – adj. obtained, done, secret
19. Asunder- adverb/adj. in pieces, apart, divided, widely separated
20. Vapid – adj. not stimulating, boring, lacking liveliness or having lost life,

Sunday, February 21, 2010

POW #12

POW #12
Choose one of the following problems:


#1 Super Ball

A Super Ball rebounds half the height from the height it is dropped. One day, Darin drops a Super Ball from the roof of the school. If the roof is 32 feet off the ground, what is the total distance (up and down) that the ball will have traveled when it strikes the ground for the sixth time?

#2 Consumer Interview

A certain product is sold as either a liquid or a powder. Consumers were interviewed, and a survey revealed that—

1/5 do not use the product,
1/3 do not use the powder form,
427 use both the liquid and powder form, and
2/7 do not use the liquid form.

How many consumers were there in all?

Sunday, January 31, 2010

POW Extra Credit

No POW due this week but I found this great problem in the book I'm reading right now- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night by Mark Haddon (don't go to the book b/c the answer is right there)

Monty Hall Problem
You are on a game show on television. On this game show the idea is to win a car as a prize. The game show host shows you three doors. He says that there is a car behind one of the doors and there are goats behind the other two doors. He asks you to pick a door. You pick a door but the door is not opened. Then the game show host opens one of the doors you didn't pick to show a goat (because he knows what is behind the doors). Then he says that you have one final chance to change your mind before the doors are opened and you get a car or a goat. So he asks you if you want to change your mind and pick the other unopened door instead. What should you do?

Why should you do what you do? Show/prove how you got your answer (describe in detail, write an equation or draw a table)

Monday, January 25, 2010

POW #11

Fair Die

A fair die is tossed four times. What is the probability that it lands with either 5 or 6 on top at least once?

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Your December Vocabulary Definitions

Quiz = Friday, January 22nd

  1. Creed~ (n) a system/main points of religious beliefs; a set of beliefs that guides someone’s actions.
  2. Tacit~( adj) implied; unspoken but understood
  3. Erudition~(n) advanced learning or scholarship
  4. Squalid~(adj) an extremely dirty/unpleasant place due to poverty; wretched, gross; foul
  5. Palpable~(adj) obvious, apparent, tangible
  6. Prodigal~(adj) recklessly extravagant, having or giving on a lavish scale (over the top)
  7. Jubilant~(adj) great joy or triumph, rejoicing (super happy)
  8. Charlatan~(n) a cheat, con artist, imposter, a person who pretends to have knowledge/skill
  9. Emphatic~(adj) strongly expressive, forcefully insistent
  10. Circumvent~(v) to go around or bypass
  11. Perspicacious~(adj.) having keen/sharp mental perception/understanding; observant
  12. Malleable~(adj.) adaptable/can be shaped; easily influenced: pliable
  13. Portend~(v) to be a sign/a warning that is likely to happen (as an omen)
  14. Inclined~(v) to favor; at a slope (physical); to lean towards doing something
  15. Materialize~(v) to emerge; to come into being; to become real/concrete
  16. Havoc~(n) disaster; confusion; disorder; devastation; destruction; chaos
  17. Befuddled~(v) perplexed; bewildered; baffled; dazed; confused
  18. Quip~(n) a witty/sarcastic remark
  19. Magnanimous~(adj.) generous/forgiving towards a rival/someone less powerful:
  20. Serendipitous~(adj.) happy/lucky event; random good fortune