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Kimberly of Elgin, SC
To make a triangle out of toothpicks, you'd need three toothpicks. To make three triangles, you'd need nine toothpicks. Or would you?
- Make three triangles of the same size using only seven toothpicks.
- To solve this puzzle, you have to put the toothpicks together in different ways. You might try one way, decide whether or not it works, and then try something different. Did you notice that when you tried something that didn't work, it still gave you ideas for other ways to try? Mathematicians and scientists do this all the time. In fact, sometimes they are wrong more often than they are right, and that's how they learn. Don't be afraid to try different ways to solve a problem -- you can learn something even if your solution is wrong.
Now it's time for you to experiment. Try using ten toothpicks to make six triangles of different sizes. Or, try using ten toothpicks to make twelve triangles. What other patterns can you make? Try it out, then share your results with the world in our fabulous ZOOMsci feedback area.
Mckenzie, age 14 of Church Point, LA wrote:
I got the first one the first time I tried it! The 2nd and 3rd one took me some time but I got those too.
Olivia, age 10 of Woonsocket, RI wrote:
If you can overlap toothpicks then I got 13 all diferent shaped triangles with 10 toothpicks! I got the first one the first time!
Kakleigha, age 11 of Lenoir, NC wrote:
It looks like the bottom and arms of a stick star with a line conecting each.
Pauline of Wellend, ON wrote:
need six tothpicks to make six triangles try it
Kelly, age 9 of Steubenville, OH wrote:
I got it on the first try who knew I was that smart!
Marie, age 16 of Ocala, FL wrote:
i figured it out the first time. You make a zig zag pattern and just add a top to every drop.
Kobey, age 7 of Norwalk, IA wrote:
I figured out that when you do the Toothpick Challenge you're actually creating a trapezoid.
Charlie & Anne, age 7 of Birmingham wrote:
I made a triangle then i put two on one side to make two triangles and then the same on the other side and i worked it out in just one go and it took me one second
Hannah & Rebecca of Markham, ON wrote:
we got to make 5 or 6 shapes.
Gabrielle, age 10 of New York wrote:
I made one, then I connected two toothpicks to that, therefore creating a second, then I repeated that a second time, creating the third and final triangle
Charlotte, age 11 of Richmond, VA wrote:
I made 5 triangles with 9 toothpicks! You have to really think about this to do it.
Colleen, age 9 of Littleton, CO wrote:
I made a triangle and put two thoothpicks under it and two next to it = 3 triangles made out of 7 toothpicks.
Olivia, age 10 of TN wrote:
I made two triangles. The two sides just put one more at the bottem.
Michelle, age 7 of Maui, HI wrote:
It was so easy, all you had to do, was make one, and then right next to it add two others, and then connected again, two more.
Margaret, age 11 of Blackville, SC wrote:
What happened when I did it was I tried to build a tower out of 200 tooth picks. When I got to the last tooth pick it all callapsed, (feel down.) I thought it was really fun too make because it was very, very challenging.
Marina, age 14 of Bellflower, CA wrote:
I made one triangle, and I put both sticks on one side to make another triangle. And the last two on the other side! so basicly. I used one triangle's sides to make others. They are noe comnbined into three.
Kristen, age 10 of Oklahoma wrote:
It took 9 toothpicks its so easy.
Baylie, age 12 of Murrieta, CA wrote:
I made a triangle and put a "v" under it and then I put two on the side which was three.
Makenna, age 9 of Wauwatosa, WI wrote:
1: I made a square. 2: I made 1 triangle inside the sqaure and there was 3 triangles!
Jessica, age 12 of Williamston, SC wrote:
This experment was way kool! It was so easy!!! All I did was make a trapozoid!!!
Dalis, age 12 of WV wrote:
I made 3 triangles without a base. That took 6 toothpicks. Then I took the last toothpick and put it under the 3 triangles with no base and that made the base for every triangle. It didn't take me that long. I just thought of it instantly in my head and tried it. It worked!
Allison, age 10 of New Allbany, IN wrote:
I made one triangle and then shared the sides to make another triangle then I shared sides again and I used all seven toothpicks and made 3 triangles!
Ashley, age 12 of Lucedale, MS wrote:
It took me less than a minute to figure it out but when I did all I made was a trapozoid. Im still trying to figure out another way to make three triangels with seven toothpicks.
Andrea, age 15 of San Jose, CA wrote:
Oh it was real easy I figured it out on the 1st try! It was a trapezoid wid a"V" in the middol!
Sam, age 9 of Hamilton, ON wrote:
I was sitting in the kitchen for ten minutes trying to figure it out and then I found out that all you had to do was make 1 trapizoid!
Zahra, age 9 of Plainfield, IL wrote:
I did it in. 8 seconds! I just made a trapizoid!
Emma, age 8 of Pittsburgh, PA wrote:
I figured out if you make a triangle and you hook two more onto the side of triangle and you use the side of the other triangle and you have two triangles, but you still need one more triangle, so you do the same thing on the oter side, when your done it will look like a trapezoid with a V in it. But, you have three triangles in it.
Nathan, age 6 of Ramondville, TX wrote:
It worked really good. I just made a trapazoid.
Brooke, age 11 of Burrillville, RI wrote:
I keep trying until I got it at first I was so confused then I found it was not that hard if you just though about it.
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