Transum Maths Software

Roots

There are 366 different Starters of The Day, many to choose from. You will find in the left column below some starters on the topic of Roots. In the right column below are links to related online activities, videos and teacher resources.

A lesson starter does not have to be on the same topic as the main part of the lesson or the topic of the previous lesson. It is often very useful to revise or explore other concepts by using a starter based on a totally different area of Mathematics.

Main Page

Roots Starters:

Consecutive: Three consecutive numbers multiplied together give a given product. Pupils are asked to figure out what the numbers are.

Consecy Brothers: Which three consecutive numbers multiplied together give the given answer.

 

Small images of these Starters ::  Index of Starters


Roots Advanced Starters:

Paper Ratio: Calculate the ratio of the sides of an A4 sheet of paper without any measuring.

Paper Surprising Perimeter: Find the perimeter of a folded sheet of A4 paper as described in this short video.

Single Fraction: Simplify an expression involving fractions, exponents and a square root.

Smart Animals: Who is most likely to be able to work out the square root of 121?

Square Root of 1%: What is the square root of one percent?

Tan 22.5: Find an exact value for tan 22.5° without using a calculator.

Index of Advanced Starters


Suggested

Bidmaze

Bidmaze

Find your way through the maze encountering mathematical operations in the correct order to achieve the given total.

The short web address is:

Transum.org/go/?to=bidmaze

 

Curriculum for Roots:

Years 7 to 9

Pupils should be taught to use conventional notation for the priority of operations, including brackets, powers, roots and reciprocals more...

Pupils should be taught to use integer powers and associated real roots (square, cube and higher), recognise powers of 2, 3, 4, 5 and distinguish between exact representations of roots and their decimal approximations more...

Years 10 and 11

Pupils should be taught to {estimate powers and roots of any given positive number} more...

Pupils should be taught to calculate with roots, and with integer {and fractional} indices more...

Pupils should be taught to calculate exactly with fractions, {surds} and multiples of π ; {simplify surd expressions involving squares [for example √12 = √(4 × 3) = √4 × √3 = 2√3] and rationalise denominators} more...

Years 12 and 13

Pupils should be taught to use and manipulate surds, including rationalising the denominator. more...

Exam-Style Questions:

There are almost a thousand exam-style questions unique to the Transum website.

Feedback:

Comment recorded on the i asp?ID_Top 'Starter of the Day' page by Ros, Belize:

"A really awesome website! Teachers and students are learning in such a fun way! Keep it up..."

Comment recorded on the 14 October 'Starter of the Day' page by Inger Kisby, Herts and Essex High School:

"Just a quick note to say that we use a lot of your starters. It is lovely to have so many different ideas to start a lesson with. Thank you very much and keep up the good work."

Comment recorded on the 1 August 'Starter of the Day' page by Peter Wright, St Joseph's College:

"Love using the Starter of the Day activities to get the students into Maths mode at the beginning of a lesson. Lots of interesting discussions and questions have arisen out of the activities.
Thanks for such a great resource!"

Comment recorded on the 25 June 'Starter of the Day' page by Inger.kisby@herts and essex.herts.sch.uk, :

"We all love your starters. It is so good to have such a collection. We use them for all age groups and abilities. Have particularly enjoyed KIM's game, as we have not used that for Mathematics before. Keep up the good work and thank you very much
Best wishes from Inger Kisby"

Comment recorded on the 12 July 'Starter of the Day' page by Miss J Key, Farlingaye High School, Suffolk:

"Thanks very much for this one. We developed it into a whole lesson and I borrowed some hats from the drama department to add to the fun!"

Comment recorded on the 9 May 'Starter of the Day' page by Liz, Kuwait:

"I would like to thank you for the excellent resources which I used every day. My students would often turn up early to tackle the starter of the day as there were stamps for the first 5 finishers. We also had a lot of fun with the fun maths. All in all your resources provoked discussion and the students had a lot of fun."

Comment recorded on the 10 April 'Starter of the Day' page by Mike Sendrove, Salt Grammar School, UK.:

"A really useful set of resources - thanks. Is the collection available on CD? Are solutions available?"

Comment recorded on the s /Indice 'Starter of the Day' page by Busolla, Australia:

"Thank you very much for providing these resources for free for teachers and students. It has been engaging for the students - all trying to reach their highest level and competing with their peers while also learning. Thank you very much!"

Comment recorded on the 19 June 'Starter of the Day' page by Nikki Jordan, Braunton School, Devon:

"Excellent. Thank you very much for a fabulous set of starters. I use the 'weekenders' if the daily ones are not quite what I want. Brilliant and much appreciated."

Comment recorded on the 10 September 'Starter of the Day' page by Carol, Sheffield PArk Academy:

"3 NQTs in the department, I'm new subject leader in this new academy - Starters R Great!! Lovely resource for stimulating learning and getting eveyone off to a good start. Thank you!!"

Comment recorded on the 9 October 'Starter of the Day' page by Mr Jones, Wales:

"I think that having a starter of the day helps improve maths in general. My pupils say they love them!!!"

Comment recorded on the 1 February 'Starter of the Day' page by Terry Shaw, Beaulieu Convent School:

"Really good site. Lots of good ideas for starters. Use it most of the time in KS3."

Comment recorded on the 3 October 'Starter of the Day' page by Fiona Bray, Cams Hill School:

"This is an excellent website. We all often use the starters as the pupils come in the door and get settled as we take the register."

Comment recorded on the 24 May 'Starter of the Day' page by Ruth Seward, Hagley Park Sports College:

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Comment recorded on the 19 October 'Starter of the Day' page by E Pollard, Huddersfield:

"I used this with my bottom set in year 9. To engage them I used their name and favorite football team (or pop group) instead of the school name. For homework, I asked each student to find a definition for the key words they had been given (once they had fun trying to guess the answer) and they presented their findings to the rest of the class the following day. They felt really special because the key words came from their own personal information."

Comment recorded on the 19 November 'Starter of the Day' page by Lesley Sewell, Ysgol Aberconwy, Wales:

"A Maths colleague introduced me to your web site and I love to use it. The questions are so varied I can use them with all of my classes, I even let year 13 have a go at some of them. I like being able to access Starters for the whole month so I can use favourites with classes I see at different times of the week. Thanks."

Comment recorded on the 26 March 'Starter of the Day' page by Julie Reakes, The English College, Dubai:

"It's great to have a starter that's timed and focuses the attention of everyone fully. I told them in advance I would do 10 then record their percentages."

Comment recorded on the 11 January 'Starter of the Day' page by S Johnson, The King John School:

"We recently had an afternoon on accelerated learning.This linked really well and prompted a discussion about learning styles and short term memory."

Comment recorded on the 7 December 'Starter of the Day' page by Cathryn Aldridge, Pells Primary:

"I use Starter of the Day as a registration and warm-up activity for my Year 6 class. The range of questioning provided is excellent as are some of the images.
I rate this site as a 5!"

Comment recorded on the 16 March 'Starter of the Day' page by Mrs A Milton, Ysgol Ardudwy:

"I have used your starters for 3 years now and would not have a lesson without one! Fantastic way to engage the pupils at the start of a lesson."

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"This website was brilliant. My class and I really enjoy doing the activites."

Comment recorded on the 6 May 'Starter of the Day' page by Natalie, London:

"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."

Comment recorded on the 1 May 'Starter of the Day' page by Phil Anthony, Head of Maths, Stourport High School:

"What a brilliant website. We have just started to use the 'starter-of-the-day' in our yr9 lessons to try them out before we change from a high school to a secondary school in September. This is one of the best resources on-line we have found. The kids and staff love it. Well done an thank you very much for making my maths lessons more interesting and fun."

Comment recorded on the 1 February 'Starter of the Day' page by M Chant, Chase Lane School Harwich:

"My year five children look forward to their daily challenge and enjoy the problems as much as I do. A great resource - thanks a million."

Comment recorded on the 17 November 'Starter of the Day' page by Amy Thay, Coventry:

"Thank you so much for your wonderful site. I have so much material to use in class and inspire me to try something a little different more often. I am going to show my maths department your website and encourage them to use it too. How lovely that you have compiled such a great resource to help teachers and pupils.
Thanks again"

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Could we have some on angles too please?"

Comment recorded on the 8 May 'Starter of the Day' page by Mr Smith, West Sussex, UK:

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To the creator of this website and all of those teachers who have contributed to it, I would like to say a big THANK YOU!!! :)."

Comment recorded on the 17 June 'Starter of the Day' page by Mr Hall, Light Hall School, Solihull:

"Dear Transum,

I love you website I use it every maths lesson I have with every year group! I don't know were I would turn to with out you!"

Comment recorded on the 5 April 'Starter of the Day' page by Mr Stoner, St George's College of Technology:

"This resource has made a great deal of difference to the standard of starters for all of our lessons. Thank you for being so creative and imaginative."

Notes:

Pupils should learn how to find real roots associated with integer powers (square root, cube root and higher). They should also learn to distinguish between exact representations of roots and their decimal approximations. Just how do you find the cube root of a number? By trial and improvement, iterative calculations or by learning to use a calculator efficiently?

Roots Teacher Resources:

Estimate Powers and Roots: Estimate the powers and roots of the given positive numbers.

Roots Activities:

Bidmaze: Find your way through the maze encountering mathematical operations in the correct order to achieve the given total.

Estimate Powers and Roots: Estimate the powers and roots of the given positive numbers.

Square and Cube Roots: Find square roots and cube roots by first calculating the prime factorisation of a number.

Surds: A self-marking exercise on calculating, simplifying and manipulating surds (also known as radicals).

Roots Videos:

Roots video
Transum's Roots Video


Cube Root: This video from Corbettmaths explains what the term cube root means and shows how to cube root a number.

Cube Roots in 2 seconds!: Mentally calculate the cube root of any perfect cube of a number between 1 and 1000.

Surds: Learn that a surd is an irrational number and how to simplify expressions including surds. This video is to help you do the online exercise.

Roots External Links:

Links to other websites containing resources for Roots are provided for those logged into 'Transum Mathematics'. Subscribing also opens up the opportunity for you to add your own links to this panel. You can sign up using one of the buttons below:

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Suggested

Surds

Surds

A self-marking exercise on calculating, simplifying and manipulating surds (also known as radicals).

The short web address is:

Transum.org/go/?to=surds

 

Teaching Notes:

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