Math Facts Game
Math Facts
GameMath Facts Game
Opportunity...............................................................................................................................
You would like to have a game for your students to play that will test their
math facts mentally and at the same time work on a skill that will be useful for
factoring trinomials of the form x^2 + bx + c in algebra. It would be nice if this
was something the students could do on their own, in a small group, or with
the entire class. The “Math Facts Game” shows the sum and product of two
numbers and then asks the students to guess the correct numbers.
Solution and Overview
You will create an Excel spreadsheet to play “The Math Facts Game”. Excel
will randomly generate two numbers using parameters of your choosing
(numbers between 1 and 5, for example, or integers between –10 and +10). The
student arrives at the answer by using paper and pencil or mental math, and
then enters the numbers into the spreadsheet. Excel will then tell the student
if their answer is right or wrong, and can also give the correct solution. This is
another worksheet that uses circular references and manual calculations.
Creating the Solution
There are actually only five cells that have any type of formula, ranging from
very simple to relatively complex. You will build all the parts of the worksheet
first, and then finish by putting in the formulas.