I don't think I could ever recite such a bold face lie such as saying "maths is fun". No, I can clearly remember detesting each and every class I ever attended. But what I can say is that I eventually did find out it is actually important, and extremely useful. So this idea is to provide a free to use mathematics resource for children, teachers and parents to make leaning the stuff just a little bit more bearable.
In this experiment I am testing whether I could develop a game that could bring at least some excitement to the subject. Although, Still early in development, the idea is that, ultimately, you will be able to learn all the algebraic functions by overcoming them, one by one, starting with the straight line.
HOW IT WORKS:
Clicking 'NEW' will drop two
randomly generated circles into the playing field. The green circle represents the 'hero' who is a scout and the orange one is the
'Goon'.
If you click anywhere on the playing field, the x and y co-ordinates of that point will be made known.
You can record co-ordinates by checking the box next to the character whose location you are interested in,
and then clicking on the corresponding circle. Try and click as close to the centre as possible.
PS Don't aim for the spaceships, they are just there for decoration - you will lose if you get co-ordiantes from spaceships.
Then, as quickly as you can, work out 'm' and 'c'. First by using m=(y2-y1)/(x2-x1) which you can then use to find 'c' by substitution and using any of the two
co-ordinate pairs into the formula y = mx + c, or expressed differently: c = y – mx. You may need a good maths teacher to get you started.
Once you have calculated values for 'm' and 'c', enter them into input boxes of the formula and click 'FIRE', your Mother Ship will
then fire its mega maths stun ray, and if it passes through both circles, the ‘Goon’ is defeated and you win.
Perhaps with stunning backgrounds, epic explosions and a clever story line, the idea may take off, but will still be a hard sell, given the subject.