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Mathman 3 - |
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Terrain: Easy (flat with one moderate hill)
Difficulty: Easy (kid & mathematically challenged friendly)
Placed by The Dragon (Mathman) and his Honors Advanced Algebra students on June 22, 2003
Location: Menomonee Falls, Waukesha County, WI
Materials needed: Rubber stamp, stamp pad, calculator (?), compass, these clues
Students and parents of students should read my introduction to letterboxing before seeking the boxes.
This box is
the third in a series of letterboxes with mathematical clues. The boxes
are intended for both regular letterboxers and my students. This box was
developed by some of my Honors Advanced Algebra students for an extra credit
opportunity, and as an example for future boxes to be created by my students.
Unfortunately, their clues did not work well, so I turned this into an
elementary level Mathman box for those letterboxers not wanting as much of a
challenge as the other boxes in this series provide, or for letterboxing kids to
do. (Please excuse the minor mis-spelling of the name of the park on the
stamp - not my fault!) Enjoy!
Clues:
Be sure to read through all the clues before looking for the box so you know what is expected of you.
Take Hwy 41/45 to the Silver Spring Rd. exit and head west on Silver Spring Rd.
Willow Wood Park is on the south side of Silver Spring between Lily Rd. and
Pilgrim Rd just past the fire station. Park in the park's parking lot.
Before you consider trashing the place, read the sign in the middle of the
parking lot. Note how much the fine is for trashing the park! ______ Note
the phone number in case you see someone else trashing the park.
________________ (Sign was vandalized! I believe
the number is 251-8477.)
Go watch a softball game (or look at the field if a game isn't going on).
Dream of hitting a home run over the centerfield fence! How far must you
hit the ball to clear the fence? ______ Divide that number by the fine for
trashing the park and remember that number! ______ We'll call this the "softball
number".
Look to the center of the park and find the big hill. (Where did THAT come
from?) Climb the hill and play King of the Hill for a while (or rest on a
bench and let the kids play). From the top of the hill you can see the
whole park! How many softball fields are there? ______ How many benches are
on the hill? ______ How many tennis courts are there? ______ How many basketball
hoops are there? ______ Multiply these four numbers together and remember the result.
______ We'll call this the "hill number".
From the top of the hill, spot the south entryway into the park. Notice
that there are large rocks on either side of the driveway. Go down there
to take a look at them! Ignore the seven rocks at the end of the driveway
by the dumpster. Count the number of rocks on the north side of the drive. ______
Count the number of rocks on the south side of the drive. ______ Subtract the
number of rocks on the north from the number of rocks on the south. ______ We'll
call this the "rock number". Take the square root of the number of rocks
on the south side. ______ We'll call this the "rock root number".
Hey! There's a playground nearby! What's a park without a
playground? Go and play for a while! Find the "matrix" of oval
blocks you can turn. They have a picture and word on one side and nothing
on the other side. It has 6 rows and 3 columns. Turn the blocks so
they are all blank. Number them one through eighteen counting across by
row. Turn the following blocks to their non-blank side:
The softball number, the hill number, the rock number, and the rock root number.
The matrix will now show you a number and what direction to go. Using the
number, multiply its first digit times the two digit number made up of its last
two digits. ______ This is the number of paces you are away from the letterbox!
Start counting and head in the direction indicated on the matrix. Stop
counting and walking when you reach the middle of the "four-sided beach".
One of the triangles that make up the boundary of this "beach" points to the
closest tree from this spot. Begin counting paces again as you head in
the direction of the pointer (you'll go along the right side of the nearby tree). About the time you run out of paces, you should find yourself at a
tree line before a large multi-trunked tree.
BEFORE RETRIEVING THE BOX, BE SURE NO ONE IS AROUND TO
SEE YOU TAKE THE BOX OUT! DO NOT BRING ATTENTION TO YOURSELF OR THE HIDING
LOCATION OF THE BOX!
Search between the trunks of the tree for your prize (it's under loose bark and
leaves)! Please re-hide the box well so it can't be seen from any side of
the tree! Thanks!
Good luck!
Before you set out read the waiver of responsibility and disclaimer.