Bolt B. More Mathematical Activities

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985. — 205 p.This book has been written in response to the enthusiastic reception given to my earlier book Mathematical Activities which was written to provide teachers with a readily available resource of ideas to enrich their teaching of mathematics. That book contained a mix of investigations,
puzzles, games and practical activities, together with a commentary, to stimulate mathematical thinking. That format was clearly approved of, so it has been retained.
The emphasis in the early activities is on spatial thinking, with details of interesting models to make from fascinating folding polyhedra and linkages to harmonographs- Chess board tours, matchstick puzzles, coin puzzles, shunting problems, ways to produce ellipses, parabolas and other curves continue themes introduced in the earlier book but can be attempted independently. The activity on building a matchbox computer can be seen on one level as fun, but has much significance in terms of artificial intelligence.
Rigid structures in two and three dimensions have endless possibilities for linking model building in the classroom with structures in the real world, and a box of drinking straws goes a long way! The calculator is now accepted as the main aid to computation, so several puzzles and investigations have been designed to exploit this. Games too have been designed to encourage the estimation of answers before using the calculator and these have proved very successfuL
Apart from a small number of activities little formal mathematical knowledge is required, but the ability to think creatively and mathematically will be essential. Many of the activities in this book have been attempted by a very wide range of people from upper junior school children in a mathematics club to students training as mathematics teachers and experienced teachers on inservice courses. Without the feedback, encouragement and ideas they have all given me this book would never have been written.