1.2 Activity

Go to

Pan Balance (Open in new window)

Follow the instructions given and record your work as follows.

• Record your table results below.

• Use your table results to try to determine the weight of each shape. Clearly show your work below .

• Click on “Guess Weights” to see if you are correct. If your answers are not all correct, go back to do more weighings and/or check your work from step 2 and try to guess again.
  If you are having trouble, try the strategy in the Exploration to help.

Later in this chapter, we will explore a different type of scale balancing problem that relies more on the use of variables and equations; first, we address the concepts and use of notation and variables in algebra.