Step back and reflect! This article reviews techniques such as
substitution and change of coordinates which enable us to
exploit underlying structures to crack problems. 95% of people
in Britain should live within 10 miles of the route of the
Olympic Torch tour. Is this true? How does the time of dawn and
dusk vary? What about the Moon, how does that change from night
to night? Is the Sun always the same? Gather data to help you
explore these questions. In this article we explore the concept
of making and testing a hypothesis. There is no particular
explicit mathematical content, as the ideas can be explored at
any level of mathematical sophistication. Links to possible
mathematical activities are provided at the end of the article.
Human beings are naturally curious. This curiosity makes young
children want to interact with the world. What happens if they
push this? What happens if they stick their finger in that? What
happens if they make various noises, gestures and expressions?
From this experimentation,