April 16 PSSA Math Boot Camp

Our April 16, 2009 PSSA math challenge problem involved geometry in solving an angle of an isosceles given one of the other angles. Answer is C.

• The problem.
• The problem and solution.

--Mr. Bujak

April 13 PSSA Math Boot Camp

Our April 13, 2009 PSSA math challenge problem involved geometric probability: the probability of a bug landing on a balloon shapes on a cake. Answer is B.

• The problem.
• The problem and solution.

--Mr. Bujak

April 1 PSSA Math Boot Camp

Our April 1, 2009 PSSA math challenge problem winner is Shkeem Brown. This geometry problem involved solving an expression involving a triangle's interior angles and 3 exterior angles. Answer is C.

• The problem.
• The problem and solutions.
• Shkeem Brown's solution.

--Mr. Bujak

March 13 PSSA Math Boot Camp Winner

Our March 13, 2009 PSSA math challenge problem winner is Jolesha Cruickshank. This geometry and algebra problem involved using algebra with properties of a parallelogram. Answer is B.

• The problem.
• The problem and solution.
• Jolesha Cruickshank's solution.
  
• Jolesha Cruickshank won a free dress down day.

--Mr. Bujak

March 12 PSSA Math Boot Camp Winner

Our March 12, 2009 PSSA math challenge problem winner is Tishell Wessells. This geometry problem involved relating a rectangle's perimeter and area with algebraic constructs. Answer is C.

• The problem.
• The problem and solution.
• Tishell Wessells' solution.
  
• Tishell Wessells won a free lunch.

--Mr. Bujak

March 9 PSSA Math Boot Camp Winner

Our March 9, 2009 PSSA math challenge problem winner is Tyler Linder. This geometry problem involved properties of a midpoint. Answer is C.

• The problem.
• The problem and solution.
• Tyler Linder's solution.
  
• Tyler Linder won 10 points on his math test of choice.

--Mr. Bujak

March 6 PSSA Math Boot Camp Winner

Our March 6, 2009 PSSA math challenge problem winner is Nadine Redic. This geometry problem involved finding the lines of symmetry (reflective symmetry) on a regular pentagon. "Regular" means all sides are the same. "Pentagon" means a 5-sided polygon. Answer is D.

• The problem.
• The problem and solution.

--Mr. Bujak

March 5 PSSA Math Boot Camp Winner

Our March 5, 2009 PSSA math challenge (algebra) problem involved extrapolating a data point from a table of data values given that the fact that the data is inversely related. Answer is D.

• The problem.
• The problem and solutions.
• The problem and solutions (utlizing Mathematica software).

--Mr. Bujak

March 4 PSSA Math Boot Camp Winner

Our March 4, 2009 PSSA math challenge problem winner is Nadine Redic. This geometry problem involved finding the length of the body (or space) diagonal of a rectangular prism. Note that this is the Pythagorean Theorem in 3 dimensions. Answer is D.

• The problem.
• The problem and some solutions.
• Nadine Redic's solution.
• Nadine Redic won a free lunch.

--Mr. Bujak

February 27 PSSA Math Boot Camp Winner

Our February 27, 2009 PSSA math challenge problem winner is Ernest McCollum. This geometry problem asked for the area of the circle given the circumference of the circle. Answer is B.

• The problem.
• The problem and solution.
• Ernest McCollum's solution.
• Ernest McCollum won 10 points on his math test of choice.

--Mr. Bujak

February 23 PSSA Math Boot Camp Winner

Our February 23, 2009 PSSA math challenge problem winner is Shkeem Brown. This geometry/algebra problem involved the application of the Pythagorean Theorem to solve for a leg of a right triangle. Answer is D.

• The problem.
• The problem and solution.
• Shkeem Brown's solution.
• Shkeem Brown won a free dress-down day.

--Mr. Bujak

February 20 PSSA Math Boot Camp Winner

Our February 20, 2009 PSSA math challenge problem winner is Nadine Redic. This algebra/geometry problem involved knowing and applying the equation of a circle. Answer is A. See also: conic sections.

• The problem.
• The problem and solution.
• Nadine Redic's solution.
• Nadine Redic won a free snack.

--Mr. Bujak

February 17 PSSA Math Boot Camp Winner

Our February 17, 2009 PSSA math challenge problem winner is Shkeem Brown. This geometry/algebra problem involved solving areas of a triangle and a similar area for a square. Answer is A.

• The problem.
• The problem and solution.
• Shkeem Brown's solution.
• Shkeem Brown won a snack.

--Mr. Bujak

February 13 PSSA Math Boot Camp Winner

Our February 13, 2009 PSSA math challenge problem winner is Tishell Wessells. This geometry/algebra problem involved approximating the length of a line segment which was part of a figure involving squares and right triangles. Answer is A.

• The problem.
• The problem and a few solutions.
• Tishell Wessells' solution.
• Tishell Wessells won a free dress-down day.

--Mr. Bujak

February 3 PSSA Math Boot Camp Winner

Our February 3, 2009 PSSA math challenge problem winner is Tiffany Swan-Henley. This geometry problem tested your 3D visual abilities, by rotating (or revolving) a triangle about a fixed x-axis to result in a cone. Answer is A.

• The problem.
• The problem and solution.
• Tiffany Swan-Henley's solution.
• Tiffany Swan-Henley won a free dress-down day.

--Mr. Bujak

January 30 PSSA Math Boot Camp Winner

Our January 30, 2009 PSSA math challenge problem winner is Maryah Span. This geometry problem needed you to set up a proportion since there are similar triangles and cross multiply to solve for the length of the unkn0wn triangle side. Answer is B.

• The problem.
• The problem and a solution.
• Maryah Span's solution.
• Maryah Span won a free lunch.

--Mr. Bujak

January 23 PSSA Math Boot Camp Winner

Our January 23, 2009 PSSA math challenge problem winner is Nadine Redic. This geometry problem asked how many small cubes of a given size would fit into the volume of a larger right rectangular prism with given dimensions. Answer is B. See also: dimensional analysis.

• The problem.
• The problem and a solution.
• Nadine Redic won free 10 points on a math test.

--Mr. Bujak

January 21 PSSA Math Boot Camp Winner

Our January 21, 2009 PSSA math challenge problem winner is Maryah Span. The geometry problem involved a triangle's interior angles, exterior angles, sum of interior angles = 180, supplementary angles. Maryah took a novel approach of estimating the angle measures knowing all the sum of the interior angles of a triangle = 180. She also knew the indicated exterior angle and the adjacent interior angles are supplementary (sum = 180). Knowing all this, Maryah simply crunched the numbers to come up with a quick solution.

• The problem and a few solutions.
• Maryah Span's solution.
• Maryah Span won a dress-down day.

--Mr. Bujak

January 14 PSSA Math Boot Camp Winner

Our January 14, 2009 PSSA math challenge problem winner is Ashley Alston.
This geometry problem involved finding the area of a square given the length of a diagonal. Ashley solved for the length of the side of the square using the Pythagorean Theorem and used that to find the area of the square. See also: special right triangles.

• The problem and multiple solutions.
• Ashley Alston's solution.
• Ashley won 10 points on a math test.

--Mr. Bujak

January 13 PSSA Math Boot Camp Winner

Our January 13, 2009 PSSA math challenge problem winner is Cindi Gil. Since this was multiple choice, Cindi did a quick approximate measurement of one side of the regular (all side lengths are equal) hexagon at about 3 cm. Since there are 6 sides in a hexagon, Cindi added six 3's to get 18 cm for the perimeter. She picked the closest answer since her initial measurement of one side was only approximate.

• The problem and solution.
• Cindi Gil's solution.
• Cindy won a free dress-down day.

--Mr. Bujak