These past few weeks we have been solving the pendulum problem from the story. In the story their is a person strapped to a table and a pendulum with a blade attached to the end is slowly descending down to kill the person. There are rats in the space that this is happening, as well as food. The person decides to put food on the bandages holding him down so the rats will eat through them and set him free. The problem was asking, if he had enough time before the blade reached him, for the rats to eat the bandages to set him free. So far to solve this problem we started by drawing out what we already knew about the scenario, we wrote about what we thought would happen and why. I also wrote everything we didn’t know and that I needed to know to get the answer. After this we made our own small pendulums to see how fast they could swing back and forth and how different weights effected it. Than we split into groups to each test different variables about the pendulum. I helped test that the shape of the blade (bob) could be and how it affects the speed. To test this we first tied some pencils together because they are thin and sharp at one end. Than we tested some corks and a weight tied together which was just like an odd blob. We timed how fast it took for the different materials to swing back and forth. The pencils ended up going faster. I thought this was because it had less air resistance, or that it had to do something with the points at the ends of the pencils. This could help solve the problem because if we can know how fast the pendulum swings than we know more about how much time the prisoner has left to escape. The second thing we tested, which was different weights on the pendulum, can help us solve this because depending on how much the pendulum in the story weighs it could also affect how fast it swings. Some questions I have about this so far is how we are supposed to solve this with as little information we were given. We know how tall the pendulum is, how long the blade is, the angle the pendulum reaches, and that their is a prisoner with food and rats. To solve this we would still need to know how tall the table is the prisoner is on, how thick the bandages are, how fast the rats can eat, how many rats there are, and I learned it was important to know how sharp the blade is. When we tested what the shape could be and the differences the different shapes had, we learned that how sharp it is affects the air resistance which affects the speed. I was also wondering how we are to get this information if it wasn’t in the story. It really depends on how accurate we want to be with the answer. I know we can solve it with what little information we were given, but I also know it won't be exact. During this unit the three main habits of mathematicians I think we used were start small collaborate and listen, and to stay organised. I know that we used “start small” because we started this problem by drawing and writing what we already knew and just thinking of possible outcomes, rather than just immediately solving it. We worked off of that by testing different things and putting what we learned into what we knew about the problem. I also know that we used the habit “collaborate and listen” because we worked in small groups to test more things at once or to get multiple perspectives on one thing. LIke when we tested different variables, after we shared what we got and how they were different or similar, and why they were this way. During this unit I also know that we used the habit ”stay organised” because we kept everything in our portfolios so we could look back at our past work in case we forgot something. It also just makes it easier to understand what we're learning which is nice for me because I can be disorganised and a slow learner at times. I think using these habits were important to use because it helped to better understand what we are doing, as well as to get more information.