Mathematics Clubs

Improving Mathematical Thinking, Logic & Problem Solving

A club is a ‘fellowship’ of 15-20 students of similar age-group and ability who embark on a journey to
systematically improve their Mathematical thinking, Problem solving skills and Critical thinking.

 The Club meets once-a-week (pre-decided day and time) and engage in problem-solving and
activities.
 The problem-set for each week is carefully selected to drive a concept, ignite curiosity and
provide learning opportunities for the group.
 During the session, students solve the problems individually and in groups. They discuss the
approach and solutions.
 The Club is led by a Facilitator from Club 1729 who nudges, inspires and at times, helps students
to explore and learn.
 The Club has a WhatsApp group – in which students post doubts and progress. The facilitator
nudges and encourages students to solve the problems
 In the subsequent week, the problems are discussed in detail with underlying concepts and
problem-solving strategies. In addition, the concepts that are not taught are covered.
 Meetings are Virtual – on Zoom App

Problem Sets
1. Linking to School: The problems are carefully selected /designed to be in synch with the school
syllabus taught (for most of the boards).
2. Liking of Students: The problems for each group could be different – based on whether students
like the subject or not, and where they are in the journey of problem-solving.
3. Difficulty Levels: Each session and problem-set has a combination of easy, medium and difficult
problems. Some of the problems could be open-ended.
4. Additional Problems: Students who are able to sovle the complete problem-set are given
additional problems to solve.
5. Careful Mix: Quite a few problems of a session are around a topic. However there is a healthy mix
of different areas so that students do not get bored.

What activities are done in clubs

 Problems and Puzzles with multiple levels of difficulty for students to discover patterns and
formulae on their own
 Challenging and Contest Problems
  Open ended activities where students make and prove conjectures
 Problems where multiple approaches can work
 Strategy Games for Analyzing Strategies

Important Aspects of Club

1. Discussions around problem-solving strategies
2. Discussions around solving the same problem in multiple ways
3. Emphasis on questioning, reasoning and mathematical articulations
4. Mathematics is made fun and interesting
5. The approach is ‘using problems and puzzles’ to develop mathematical approach

Fees
 We charge a fee of Rs. 1357 per month for a student to be part of any club.

Join a Club or Start a Club

Contact (WhatsApp)
Arpita (+91 – 976 549 1735) / Dhiraj (+91-985 068 2789)
Tentative Topics / Areas
1. Basics of Mathematics  Fractions, Ratios, Proportions, Percentages
We will revisit topics from the past and  Numbers, Divisibility and Introduction to Number
work with students to gain clarity and theory
advance their applications. This will  Triangles, Circles & Coordinate Geometry
make them ready for the leap.  Challenging problems in Geometry
2. Foundations for Future  Combinatorics (the Art of Counting)
We work on areas that are important in  Statistics & Probability
the current and the future scenario.
3. Explore & Curious Mathematics  Bridges of Konnigsberg (Graph theory)
We work on some of the areas that are  Pigeonhole principle
not taught in regular curriculum but are  Set Theory
interesting, important and fun. This will  Cryptology
expose children to interesting areas of  Vornoi Diagrams
Mathematics
4. Logic  Venn Diagrams
We investigate logical statements and  Solving with grids
their implications. An interesting and
very important area from thinking and
articulating point of view
5. Foundations for Computing  Algorithmic thinking
We understand that the future of work  Recursion
lies in being able to program. We lay a  Search and Sort
solid foundation for this through
Algorithmic thinking
6. Challenging Problems & Puzzles  Counterfeit coins
We look at some of the repeating  Problems of Parity
‘types’ of problems and puzzles that  Cryptarithms
are part of contests of popular  Optimizations
‘interview’ questions. We address them  Chess Problems
here.  Strategy Games

While our approach is to work from ‘Problems towards concepts’ to help children ‘discover’ and
understand it fully, in this group, we will occasionally indulge in teaching and explaining, especially where
the acceleration of knowledge may be required.
Learning Outcomes:

We expect the children to learn ‘Problem solving strategies’ that will be useful in their
future.

1. Thinking visually
2. Start from a simpler problem
3. Systematic working & Iterations
4. Art of elimination
5. Break-it-down
6. Recursion
7. Identifying & articulating patterns
8. Working backwards
9. Decision-trees
10. Mathematical articulation

The emphasis is going to be around approaching and solving a problem in multiple ways.
Sample Problems
Note: These are not from the same session. They are intended to provide an idea about different problems.
They are also inspired (or taken from) some of the contests around the globe exposing children to these
areas.

1. A square has line segments connecting corners to the mid-points as shown. What fraction of the
square is shaded green?

Given information
Figur

To Solve for the fraction of green square

Solution

So the square is x

The right angle triangle is divided into three parts

 Final Answer 1/5

2. The city of Pune has more than 5 million inhabitants. Show that 2 of these people must have the
same number of hairs on their heads if it is known that no person has more than 1 million hairs
on his or her head.

Given information

The city of Pune has more than 5 million inhabitants. Show that 2 of these people must have the same
number of hairs on their heads if it is known that no person has more than 1 million hairs on his or her
head.

To solve for how to know that 2 people have more than

S {5,000,000}
A{2}
P{400,000}

So this shows us that 400,000 people have a high chance of having same number of hair
 3. Prove that 111111...1 (81 ones) is divisible by 81.

1111111111/11 = 1010

So by using this formula we can see that 81 ones is divisible by 81

4. Nancy, the letter-eating bird, goes to a store that sells the letters A, B, C, D, E, G. She would like
to buy a 3-letter word made out of distinct letters that appear in alphabetical order. In how
many ways can she do it?

5 x 5 x 5 x5 x 5 = 3125

5. Alice and Bob are playing a game which has 3 piles of stone with each having 13, 14 and 15
stones respectively. The two players take turns removing stones from the game. On each turn,
the player removing stones can only take stones from one pile, but they can remove as many
stones from that pile as they want. If they want, they can even remove the entire pile from the
game! The winner is the player who removes the final stone.

It could be Bob because if he picks 13 stones then Alice can take 14 and then Bob can take 15

6. You are handed 8 identical looking coins. Out of the 8 coins, one of them is a counterfeit coin. All
the coins are identical in size, shape color, etc – except that the counterfeit coin is slightly lighter
than the other coins. You have been given a weighing balance. You want to find the counterfeit
coin using the weighing balance. How will you find it?
I would weigh 8 coins and see which one was the lightest or the heaviest

a. What if you are allowed only 2 weighings?

I would first convert the coin into 4 sets and then I would see the weight on the basis of
that I would find out about the mass of the coin and whether the coin is fake