Math Art Project Journal reflection entry

As a group, we have chosen Sharol Nau’s math artwork “How Many Triangles Do You See” for our Math art learning project from the Bridges Math & Art 2019 Conference Gallery, as a resource. All members of our group have been actively involved in the project. I have shared my method and strategy with the group.  Karmdeep has prepared Base-5 triangles model for the math art project by using two different colors for the up-facing triangle and down-facing triangle. Ziyad has prepared handouts for the interactive activity to engage our classmates. Anwar has guided us on how to present the project step by step in the class.

My experience with the project:

First of all, I have tried to understand the project through the reverse engineering strategy.  I mean, I have tried to understand the project by participating in a learning activity and by analyzing what I have noticed and experienced from the activity. First, I have counted how many triangles I can see on Base-2 triangles, on Base-3 triangles, on Base-4 triangles, and Base-5 triangles. I have noticed a certain pattern for Base-n triangles where n = 1, 2,3,4,5.

I have noticed the following pattern for the Base-5 triangle:

For the Up-facing triangles, there is 1 triangle of Base-5, 1 + 2 = 3 triangles of Base-4, 1 + 2 + 3 = 6 triangles of Base-3, 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10 triangles of Base-4, and 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 15 triangles of Base-5.

For the Down-facing triangles, I count from the smallest base. For the smallest Base-1 there are 10 triangles, the next smallest Base-2 there are 3 triangles, the second next smallest Base-3 there is 0 triangle, and the pattern continues.

The total of the numbers Base-5 triangles is 48. Therefore, T (5) =48.

This sequence is 1, 5, 13, 27, 48, 78, and so on. 

I have reviewed the math curriculum on https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/mathematics.

I have found that the project is directly connected with "Patterns", "Geometry", and “Series and Sequence” Math concept. 

The project takes place in Grade 5& Grade 6 (for Patterns content), Grade 7 &Grade 8(for geometry content), Grade11&Grade12 Pre-calculus( for "Series and Sequence” Math concept). It generates an opportunity for students to understand the concept through the interactive learning experience. In other words, how does a sequence help to identify certain patterns by arranging an ordered number, and how does a series help to find out the formulas or equations through the activity.