Paradox

Keywords: Starter | Multiple Intelligences

• Wikipedia,
• Wednesday, April 25, 2007
• "A paradox is an apparently true statement or group of statements that leads to a contradiction or a situation which defies intuition."
• Natalie, London
• Thursday, May 24, 2007
• "I am thankful for providing such wonderful starters. They are of immence help and the students enjoy them very much. These starters have saved my time and have made my lessons enjoyable."
• Rhonda, Arizona
• Tuesday, April 28, 2009
• "The answer states that multiplying by a negative whole number makes the answer negative. However, whole numbers cannot be negative by the definition of what whole numbers are. So that answer is true."
• Wiliam, Lincoln
• Friday, May 01, 2009
• "Number 5 is wrong since multiplying a value by 1 which is a whole number gives an answer the same value as before neither smaller or bigger."
• Meilyr Wyn, Ysgol Syr Thomas Jones
• Wednesday, May 06, 2009
• "Excellent Starter - Thank you very much
  There has been some debate amongst the department about whether a square is a rectangle. A square is not a rectangle if the definition of a rectangle includes "top and bottom same length as each other, right and left same length as each other but different length to top"."

 

• The Best Maths Class Ever (7cd/m2), King Alfred's Oxfordshire
• Wednesday, May 06, 2009
• "It was a silly starter but it made us all think! Students: We thought that it was not very logical because the statement was true and false at the same time. We found that when it was false it became true."
• Tony Graham, Stevenage, Hertfordshire
• Thursday, May 07, 2009
• "Sorry, Rhonda, it is possible to have a negative integer."
• Nick Ball, Enoree, South Carolina
• Thursday, May 06, 2010
• "The definition we use in the USA for whole numbers are numbers 0 and greater. So you can't have a negative whole number. But the value you start with could be negative or a fraction...and one of our social studies teachers says that zero is a concept, not a number. So this was a dumb question."
• Simon, Hampshire
• Thursday, May 06, 2010
• "Whole number means an integer (from the Latin 'integer'), so whole numbers can be negative. Natural numbers can only be positive - as to whether zero is a natural numbers depends on your view as a mathematician.
  A rectangle is defined as a quadrilateral with two pairs of parallel sides at right angles, so a square is a rectangle. Equally, a rectangle and a square are both parallelograms."
• Chas, New York
• Monday, June 21, 2010
• "The person who said that there is no such thing as a negative integer is dead wrong!
  The answer key's reasoning for statement 5 is wrong, because there is no such thing as a negative whole number.
  Statement 5 IS false though, because 0 is a whole number."
• Grace Harrison, West Kirby Grammar
• Tuesday, May 03, 2011
• "I loved this starter it really made me think and involved some good classroom discussions.
  Thanks."
• Kiwi, New Zealand
• Wednesday, May 04, 2011
• "Here whole numbers cannot be negative, so multiplying by a negative integer would not be allowed. You are allowed to multiply by one, though, giving an equal but not larger answer so the statement is incorrect."
• RB, UK
• Friday, May 06, 2011
• "Multiplying by 1 would also be a counter example for question 5 - so even if you don't want to include 0 and negatives as 'whole numbers' the statement is still false. I hope no one will debate whether or not 1 is a 'whole number'!"
• Paula, Gillingham School
• Friday, May 06, 2011
• "Unfortunately, the answer sections gives a different statement for number 5 in that the word 'negative' is missing in the question. Will try it on the kids anyway and see if they spot the mistake. Thanks."

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