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gerard mcn

@germinalmaths.bsky.social

I teach maths in a Scottish state-sector secondary school.

251 Followers  |  286 Following  |  226 Posts  |  Joined: 17.11.2024
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Posts by gerard mcn (@germinalmaths.bsky.social)

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Here’s my interpretation, discounting the Italiano β€œheading”.

03.03.2026 18:42 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Test anxiety?

02.03.2026 17:50 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Need to think about this, but my initial response is it’s like a composite version of both forms of the cosine rule that has somehow dispensed with the need for information about the angle formed by line segments t and d.

26.02.2026 17:16 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

You might want to quote from the John Cooper Clarke poem Salome Maloney:

β€œI was walking down the road
Dressed in what they call the mode”

25.02.2026 20:05 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Another wee linguistic strategy I have for distinguishing between mean (β€œmiser” - see yesterday’s reply), median and mode.

β€œLa mode” is the French for fashion. So the mode is the most β€œfashionable” member of the data set.

By the way, I would reword the question as β€œWhat is the modal colour?”

25.02.2026 20:04 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

I speak about a β€œmean” or β€œmiserly” person, like Ebeneezer Scrooge.
I try to evoke an image of them taking coins from various stashes and stacking them up in equally high columns.

24.02.2026 17:25 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Replenished this classroom display yesterday.
Lasted less than an hour.

04.02.2026 16:50 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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An eleven-item β€œwhich one doesn’t belongβ€œ #WODB

In what way is each of the Celtic starting line-up squad-numbers unique (apart, of course, from its actual numerical value)?

29.01.2026 20:20 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Add the expression
2x - 20
to both sides?

10.01.2026 13:24 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

How about 10 - 20 = 2x
Would you consider that to be a single step?

10.01.2026 13:13 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I’m interested to know what your two steps would be.

10.01.2026 12:45 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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🚨 Giveaway! πŸŽ‰ 5 copies of my new book Questioning for Teaching & Learning. πŸ’‘ To enter repost this post! πŸ—“ Winners announced Monday 5th January 2026 at 6 pm UK time. Happy new year all. Here's to a healthy & happy 2026!

03.01.2026 13:37 β€” πŸ‘ 21    πŸ” 46    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 2
Post image 01.01.2026 21:35 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Fourths or quarters?

17.12.2025 21:18 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I’d guess there’s a strategy mark for obtaining and using the length of the common side. Whats obvious to us experts won’t be obvious to exam candidates many of whom, I suspect, wouldn’t know where to start. Possibly a couple of marks for finding any side length at all.

13.12.2025 20:10 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

1/3 is 7 times 1/21
So
(1/21)/(1/3)=1/7=1/(21/3)
1/3 will go into 8/21 8 times as often as it goes into 1/21
So
(8/21)/(1/3)=8(1/7) = 8(1/(21/3)
4/3 will go into 8/21 4 times fewer than 1/3 will
So
(8/21)/(4/3)=(8/4)(1/7)=(8/4)(1/(21/3))=(8/4)/(21/3)

12.12.2025 21:00 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I’ve been mis-pronouncing your name (in my head) - sorry, and I now know better.

I’ll wager you get some wrong versions of your surname, too.

People commonly get both my first name and surname wrong; some persist in doing so even after I’ve enlightened them.

08.12.2025 17:38 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

From no clue to, wait … , I get this; this makes a lot of sense
in jig time.

05.12.2025 20:38 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Thinking about variables, coefficients and constants in #MathsToday with Advanced Higher pupils, particularly with respect to differentiation (pun intended).

05.12.2025 19:45 β€” πŸ‘ 14    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

Noticing that both have the same answer, we can conclude that
2/3 x 2&1/2 = 1&2/3
since 44 is 2/3 of 66.

05.12.2025 18:17 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Answer 110
First instinct: 5 x 1/3 of 66
Next: 66 + 2x 1/3 of 66
Further thought: 2 x 66 - 1/3 of 66.
Further further thought: 3 x 5/3 = 5; 22 x 5

05.12.2025 18:14 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

My diagram does include the four letters A-S-T-C. I call it the quadrant diagram and use the words/abbreviations All, sin, tan, cos. I don’t see any value in replacing these with other words (eg the All Students Take Calculus example). I avoid CAST as, sequentially, it starts with the wrong letter.

03.12.2025 21:03 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Completely agree. Thanks for that reminder.

03.12.2025 20:28 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

It may, of course, be the teaching that’s at fault, so the β€œdepending on how it’s taught” qualifier could apply regardless of which approach is used.

03.12.2025 20:26 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Some pupils, including some of the stronger ones, have struggled to understand the graphical approach, causing me to doubt my choice. One pupil sought help elsewhere and was shown the CAST method (her words), which she said she finds more useful.

03.12.2025 20:25 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I taught solving trig equations graphically for the first time very recently. I’ve previously always used the quadrants diagram (CAST, but I avoid that, or any other, acronym). I felt it this change was the right thing to do at the time.

03.12.2025 20:25 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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From β€œSciencia”, published by Wooden Books. Or the shorter QED, by the same publisher.

30.11.2025 12:22 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Great work!

30.11.2025 12:20 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

Beautiful!

28.11.2025 22:01 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

This is developing into a very interesting thread with a range of creative and diverse insights on show.

Thanks to all who have contributed so far.

Any more thoughts?

28.11.2025 21:22 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0