math them

My colleague Gabriella Pinter presented a neat 2D rigidity activity at JMM this January that I might write about later, but it reminded me of a 3D rigidity exploration that I've enjoyed running over the years.

I try to design activities every once in a while that have a tie-in to another discipline. Here we'll look at a collection of puzzles that are superficially about words but are more about geometry and arithmetic once you start looking for strategies.

There is a healthy number of turn-based dice games with a press-your-luck element such as 10,000, Farkle, and Greed. Here is a variant that keeps the numbers smaller and probabilities simpler in order to make the arithmetic and analysis more tractable for younger audiences.