Money Math - 200 Ways to Make $1

We love a good open-ended math problem, and this one challenged all of our students at just the right level, while honing skills ranging from coin recognition to addition, repeated addition, and multiplication.

The question: How many ways can you make $1 using different combinations of coins? We heard there were at least 200!

The solutions:

 At the most basic level, students used play money and wrote equations using representations of the coins.

 We talked about logical ways to work through different combinations, and it was interesting to see some students thinking very systematically, while others had a more random approach.

 Some of our more advanced math thinkers went right into using multiplication to solve the problem.

Some students got busy using a kind of "code"(abbreviations) to write their equations.

One student tried to "graph" the answers, until he realized he wasn't showing the separate amounts, just the final 100, so he went back tot he drawing board to try another way.

 Some students even turned this into an artistic endeavor!

Because, as we know well here at Seabury, MATH IS BEAUTIFUL!