- "Add four then add six" and "Add six then add four"
- "Double then triple" and "Triple then double"
- "Add four then subtract six" and "Subtract six then add four"
- "Multiply by two then divide by four" and "Divide by four then multiply by two"
ME: if 4 goes in, what comes out?
Student: 8
ME: Give me a more interesting number to put in the box.
Student: 98
ME: That is not really more interesting…
Student: 98.94
ME: OK, so if we put 98.94 in the box, what comes out?
Student: (with calculator) 197.88
ME: Give me a more interesting number.
Student: 147.324
ME: Is that more interesting?
Student: -3.24
ME: That is definitely more interesting. If we put -3.24 in our box, what do we get out?
Student: -6.48
ME: Excellent. A more interesting number?
Student: Square root of 2
ME: Now we are getting somewhere! What do I get out?
Student: Two root two (others also said things like 2 and root 8, which we discussed)
ME: Give me a more interesting number
Student: pi!
ME: Excellent. And we get…?
Student: 2 pi
Me: Is there another type of interesting number we haven't seen yet?
Student: One half
Another student: Gives one
ME: Can we make that more interesting?
Student: 17 over four
ME: Great, and what do we get?