Math Delights

From Family Math by Jean Kerr Stenmark, Virginia H. Thompson, Ruth Cossey and math.youngzones.org/palindrome.html and library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312134/palindromes.html.

A palindrome is a number that reads the same forwards and backwards, such as 4, 22, 575, 4884, and 52125.

34 is not a palindrome, but you can create a palindrome in 1 step by adding 34 to its reverse, i.e., 43. 34 + 43 = 77. We'll call 34 a 1-step palindrome. Check that 46 is a 2-step palindrome.

Explore the numbers from 1-100. A hundreds chart, like the one at the right, helps you keep track.

Print the printable hundreds chart (from the book Family Math by Jean Kerr Stenmark, et al., used by permission). Choose a color for each type of palindrome and fill those colors into the boxes at the top of the chart. Then use those colors to outline the squares with numbers that are palindromes, 1-step palindromes, 2-step palindromes, etc. Describe the patterns that you find.

Other questions to consider: How many palindromes are there between 1 and 300? How many palindrome numbers are there? Prove it.

The webpage letsplaymath.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/things-to-do-hundred-chart describes other things to do with a hundreds chart.