A Number

Topics: Starter | Vocabulary

• Paul Boothroyd, Manor School and Sports College
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• Your answer for the smallest integer with the letter "a" in it is misleading or wrong.
  
  ☆☆☆ ...
• 8S3, Kettlethorpe High School
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• We also think that ☆☆☆ is smaller than one ☆☆☆
• Bradley Clark, bradclark10@hotmail.com
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• We believe that ☆☆☆ is the smallest number with an a in it.
• Mark, Manor School
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• I have always taught students that the and is only used for decimals. ☆☆☆ would be 100.1. ☆☆☆ would be One ☆☆☆ . This would make ☆☆☆ the correct answer.
• John and A2 maths, Milton Keynes
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• We think the answer is 8 because it has an "a" in it
• Debs, Bognor Regis CC
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• My year 9 group also said "ate" (as did my teaching assistant.)As for ☆☆☆ , the AND is a connective NOT a number. We had fun with this today and would like to see more literacy and maths starters especially since we have a lot of EAL students.
• Mr. Mauceri, Aylesford School - Sports College, Kent, UK
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• If "and" is not allowed in one hundred "and" one then it should not be allowed in thous"and" either!
• Mary, Qatar
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• How can you say the word ☆☆☆ , without the "and" at the end, it doesn't make sense...... its part of the word, I think that both can be correct in this instance, using and is perfectly acceptable, its used world wide
• Kirsty, 8B1
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• Kirsty says that it is a ☆☆☆ because "and" isn't a number.
• Paul Boothroyd, Whitehaven
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• Just returned to this problem, and noticed the "...a word...", I must have been persuaded by my class last year.
• M. Flint and 7H, Hagley Park Sports College
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• We think it's ☆☆☆ as 'and' is essential to the number when written down.
• Mr Macarthur,
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• How about one and ten tenths?
• Transum,
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• Here’s a variation on this theme:
  
  Teacher: “I challenge you all to see who can come up with the most words that don’t contain the letters A, B or C in 30 seconds. Go!”
  
  Students: “Sky… Pie … Moon … Lesson… etc” [They will typically come up with around 10 words in the 30 seconds]
  
  Teacher: “Now it’s my turn. Go! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen etc” [It will be very easy for the Teacher to beat the students]
• Mr Bannister, Garforth Community College
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• How about two halves ?
• Jonathan Stevens, UNBSJ
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• ☆☆☆ Is "One ☆☆☆ " There is no and... Common misconception... Therefore One ☆☆☆ is the correct answer.
• Irene, Harrow, Beijing
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• ☆☆☆ !
• class 1P5, Holyrood Sec School Glasgow
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• We at Holyrood (mrs O'hagan's class),think this is a bit of a 'scam'..in otherwords a bit of a trick question! We like 'ate' but are divided between one ☆☆☆ , and ☆☆☆ .
• Craigdhu Primary, P6/7
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• We believe that ☆☆☆ is the correct answer since you asked for the word with 'a' in it.
• 11n5, Sleaford
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• We've actually spent more time discussing everyone's comments rather than the answer. It was jolly good fun!
• Mr Smith + whole lot of clever students in set 5., Derby
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• It got my class thinking!
  All was sure that it was: ' ☆☆☆ '
  Very good starters to get you thinking and debate about!
• Year 7, Vale of Catmose College, Oakham
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• Four in French, Quatre
• Steve, Verdin High
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• The question says "word", not "words" therefore " ☆☆☆ " must be the answer as " ☆☆☆ " is three words.
• Mr Crawshaw, St George's College, Sleaford
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• What about -(-1)
  "Negative, negative one"
• Mr Mirza, Colne Park High School
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• Our answer was ' ☆☆☆ ' as we felt ☆☆☆ connects one hundred with one which is not a value. We read ☆☆☆ as one ☆☆☆ . Thanks
• Mr Crawshaw, St George's College of Technology, Sleaford
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• A young Polish student came up with the answer "dwa", which is "two" in Polish.
  This got me thinking about the cross-curricular possibilities for nthis starter.
  In French, the answer is "quatre" (4), in German "acht" (8) and in Spanish "cuatro" (4).
  Which languages give the smallest positive answer?
  Bosnian and Croatian each have "jedan" for "one". In Czech, it's "jedna"
  Slovenian (ena), Indonesian (satu), Portuguese (uma) and Basque (bat) also have words for "one" with an "a" in them.
  Finnish (kaksi) and Swedish (twa) are like Polish, having an "a" in their word for "two".
  English seems to be the only language I could find with no such number until " ☆☆☆ ". The next highest was Danish, which did not have a number with an "a" in it until "atten" (18)
  I have more, but fear most lost interest long ago!!
• St. Mary's Year 8, Cambridge
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• We think that it is ☆☆☆ . There were lots of posibilities like one ☆☆☆ ... we think And should be allowed because the number doesn't work without it!
• Milo, BSM Muscat Oman
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• we think it is most definitely 8/'ate' and so did the rest of year 15
• Class 6C, Tamworth
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• We think that a ☆☆☆ is the most sensible answer.
• Mr. Gauley, Gainesville Elementary School
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• One hundred and 0ne is not a correct statement. The "and" suggests a decimal point in the standard form of the number. At least that is what I have always taught my students.
• Kristin Bare, Woodhill Elementary
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• And is not a number
  the proper way to say ☆☆☆ is "one ☆☆☆ "
  the answer is a ☆☆☆ .
• Jordan Hollins, Uttoxeter
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• I think it is "A " because in algebra a stands for a number so A say it's A.
• A Guess, A School
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• It can't be ☆☆☆ , because on google type in " ☆☆☆ in words" and it comes up with one ☆☆☆ , therefore its one ☆☆☆ .
• 8MaP3, Park Community School
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• This has produced much discussion and has provided valuable literacy input.
• Mr Walker, Baxter College
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• SquAre root of one?
• Mr Ireland, 5I Maths, Balsall Common
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• We had a raging debate in our class about which one was correct - ☆☆☆ or ☆☆☆ . We'll need to put it to the vote tomorrow I think!
• Miss Look, 5th Grade Math Class
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• We believe the answer is one ☆☆☆ . It can't be one hundrend and one, because and is NOT a number.
• Chris Poole, SLSSC, Exeter
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• Googling " ☆☆☆ " gave me 3,260,000 hits. Googling " ☆☆☆ " gave 340,000 hits. Which may be why there's a book and film called "[The] ☆☆☆ Dalmations".
  You can argue the answer is ' ☆☆☆ ' because you asked for 'a word', not 'words', but it's a bit weird to say that AND isn't part of the number ' ☆☆☆ '. It just is.
• Mr Jones And 7V1, King Alfred's Wantage
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• We believe that it is 'One ☆☆☆ ' as, although ' ☆☆☆ ' has an 'a' in it, the 'and' is not part of the number.
  Also in French it would be 4, or quatre.
• 9g1, Priory School, Shrewsbury
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• We really don't think much of the question. We like more definite answers.
• 7Y2, St Edmund Arrowsmith (wigan)
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• Half of our class think it is ☆☆☆ and the other half think its ☆☆☆ .
• Emily,
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• It is a ☆☆☆ because ☆☆☆ is a decimal and and is not a number.
• Brenda, California
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• You can't count ☆☆☆ , because in math "and" represents a decimal and that would not be a whole number.
• Mr Besgrove, Little Ilford School
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• ☆☆☆ is the correct answer... Year 7 Little Ilford School, London.
• 1Q, Moffat Academy
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• We think 'quatre' is the answer!!
• 7T, Dover
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• We think that it is ☆☆☆ . All the class seem(!) to agree.
• 9A3, Honiton Devon
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• We think it has to be one ☆☆☆ because 'and' is not a number.
• Andrés, Colombia
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• Para mi que la respuseta es 4 (cuatro).
  for me the answer is 4.
  good by.
• Teresa, Kentucky
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• It is one ☆☆☆ because one ☆☆☆ does not have the word "and" in it. It is a math misconception to use the word "and".
• Maria, Indiana
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• The number ☆☆☆ , correctly written is 'one ☆☆☆ '. there is not an 'and' so one ☆☆☆ must be correct.
• Andrea, Tokyo
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• In the UK, we generally say ☆☆☆ .
• 9ma3, Attleborough High School
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• We had a vote and decided it should be ☆☆☆ because when you write ☆☆☆ in numbers you do not wrtite the and.
• Jon Chamberlain, Sty Peter And St Pauls Primary School
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• Would you write the letter 'A' when you write a ☆☆☆ in numbers then?!?
  I would allow one hundred and 1 or a ☆☆☆ I think! (Unless I tell my year 4 class that the word and doesn't count!).
• 7t3, MR. DRYDEN YEAR 7, HOMEWOOD
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• Cifra, zero in Italian
  shunya, zero in Hindi
  wahid , one for Arabic.
• Mr Sowler, 11-16
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• ☆☆☆ is a whole number, it just happens to require a few words to say it. In the UK it is correct to say and write it as ' ☆☆☆ ' and it would be incorrect to say or write it as 'one ☆☆☆ .' In the US it seems the opposite is true!
• Miss Robson And Mr Field's Year 7 Class, The Hazeley Academy
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• We think that if " ☆☆☆ " is a correct answer, " ☆☆☆ " should also be correct, and smaller, therefore the correct answer.
• Mr Shepherd, Chryston High School
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• We took a class vote and voted that one ☆☆☆ should be the correct answer. ☆☆☆ was too much of a trick! ( even though Mr Shepherd thought it was ☆☆☆ !).
• Charles Jennings, Year 5 International, SIS @ BDNC, Vietnam
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• We think it could be " ☆☆☆ ."
  This is smaller than ☆☆☆ .
• 9TK, Ramsden Hall School
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• It was tricky, but we say ☆☆☆ !!!
• Team 24, Rio Real School, California
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• Team 24 voted that "and" is not a number so the answer is one ☆☆☆ .
• Y8 Reepham High,
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• edna is bulgarian for one.
• Yr8, Quest Academy
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• We thought it might be ☆☆☆ but then we decided that because 'and' is a connector not a number is must be one ☆☆☆ .
• Diana Gillinder And Y6, Langton Green Y6
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• One Squared.
• Davis, England
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• Did you know twenty-one ☆☆☆ is the smallest number you can make using only three words.
• Christopher Allan, Twitter @CDAXY
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• ☆☆☆ after which they all contain 'a' up to X (but what is X ?).
• Transum,
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• 206 is the smallest number that when written in words contains all five vowels exactly once:
  
  TWO HUNDRED AND SIX
• , J
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• Shunya? (zero in hindi) or ☆☆☆ .
• CEDARS Short Stay School, Newcastle
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• We think the answer is One In Lithuanian (vienas).
• Alex Bellos, The Guardian
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• The words ‘zero’ and ‘one’ share letters (‘e’ and ‘o’). The words ‘one’ and ‘two’ share a letter (‘o’), and the words ‘two’ and ‘three’ also share a letter (‘t’). How far do you have to count in English to find two consecutive numbers which don’t share a letter in common?
• Peter McCabe, Dublin
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• Great topic to provoke a discussion. I work in an Irish-language school and one is 'aon'(pronounced ane as in plane).

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