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Flip

Age 7 to 11
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow star
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I'd like you to imagine a large square piece of rigid plastic, maybe perspex or pretend glass.
On it is marked a square made up of 6 x 6, that is 36, dots:

blank

Someone marks a capital or big "F" in this way:

F

You are pretending to hold this in front of you.

You are going to flip it over in front of you along imaginary lines which I've drawn in blue on the diagrams below. You could do this by imagining you are holding each end of the blue line with a hand and turning the sheet over.
 
 

Each time start with the "F" as shown above, and in your mind find how it will look when you flip it along the blue line.

First this one:

HorizFlip

Try to describe to someone how it will now look to you.

 
 
 

Now try this one:

 
VertFlip
 
 
 

If you feel you could go further try this one:

 
 
 
DiagFlip
 
 
 

And my last suggestion as a different way of flipping is:

 
 
 
DiadB
 
 

How did you get on?

 
 
Talk to others about the experience.
 
 
 
 

If that's been ok. then use this next shape instead of the "F" and do the same flips.

Can you tell where the triangle will be?

Tri
 



Move around the blue dots to see what happens when you flip using different lines.


Here you can move the line and try different triangles.


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Little Boxes

How many different cuboids can you make when you use four CDs or DVDs? How about using five, then six?

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The NRICH Project aims to enrich the mathematical experiences of all learners. To support this aim, members of the NRICH team work in a wide range of capacities, including providing professional development for teachers wishing to embed rich mathematical tasks into everyday classroom practice.

NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.

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