Group Activity Cards

Use groups of 3. Materials: Ribbon used in wrapping presents, tape measure, tape

Halving Ribbons

Cut any long length of ribbon. Tape one end of the ribbon to the floor and use the tape measure to find its length. Copy the table below and record the original ribbon length in the first row under the heading Length.

Next, fold and cut the ribbon in half. Measure to find the length of one of the halves. Record this in the next row. Take the half of the ribbon you measured and fold and cut it in half. Again, measure to find the length of one of the halves. Record this in the third row of the table. Continue folding, cutting, and measuring until you have completed the table.

Refer to your table of recorded data. Let x represent the number of cuts and y the length of one of the halves after the ribbon is cut. Do you think that the ribbon length is a function of the number of cuts? Explain.

On a coordinate grid, graph the ordered pairs formed by your data. What pattern do the points suggest? Compare our findings with that of other groups.