The DaVoag Code

The next decoding tool we are going to work with is called Letter Frequency Code. The idea is to take a secret text and apply a tool to find out which letters occur the most often. We can then compare the frequency of letters occurring in the English language to those letters that show up in our secret text. The letter E is the most common in our language therefore the letter that shows up the most in our secret text is E. The next most common letters are A, O and T. Use the two links to the right to help you crack the code below. The first one to break the code will win a prize.

TFNRIUJ UZV DREP KZDVJ SVWFIV KYVZI UVRKYJ; KYV MRCZREK EVMVI KRJKV FW UVRKY SLK FETV.

Interactive Mathematics

There are many games on line that challenge us to solve an equation. Usually the game brings us to a higher lever question until we find we are stuck. While playing these games it becomes clear that there is a strategy to moving up. Your challenge this week is to play the game you find at the link to the right; when you get to the highest level you can go, copy the equation into a comments window and post it.

Tiling the Kitchen

Now that we've been practicing finding the area of a room, we should be able to apply that knowledge to out own home. The project today is to change the floor on the kitchen of your home. Here are the steps I would like you to perform:

1. Choose a room in your home that you would like to change.

2. Open a Word document in a new window and draw the room; estimate the size and label the drawing.

3. Go to homedepot.com or lowes.com and pick a tile that you like.

4. Find the price of buying enough tiles for the room you are changing.


5. Copy the word document into the comment window and post it to me.

Rubik's Cube and problem solving

One of the difficulties of solving a problem is to overcome the fear that we don't understand what is in front of us. A mathematical problem if full of symbols that may be unclear as to their meaning. A typical response is: I can't do that. Today's lesson is to begin to learn how to overcome that fear.

Task: click on the link to the right and type s to begin the game; when you think you see a pattern that will lead you to solving Rubik's Cube then post a comment.