2012-12-10
Mathematical tools – Part 3
On the morning of June 20, 1944, two weeks after D-Day, New York high school students sitting for the Plane Geometry Regents exam were asked to do the following construction:
The task posed almost 70 years ago was not difficult, but it also wasn’t rote. It required the test-taker to make connections and to solve a problem: to apply basic construction techniques to notions of similarity and its theorems. Additionally, it required visualization skills: before actually drawing the lines and arcs necessary to complete the construction, students needed to envision the final picture.
The task posed almost 70 years ago was not difficult, but it also wasn’t rote. It required the test-taker to make connections and to solve a problem: to apply basic construction techniques to notions of similarity and its theorems. Additionally, it required visualization skills: before actually drawing the lines and arcs necessary to complete the construction, students needed to envision the final picture.