This quiz looks at some of the shapes found in maths and science. Give it a go and see how you shape up!
#1. Which of the following square facts is untrue?
Squares are kites because you can fold it in half perfectly along a diagonal. They are rhombuses because all their sides are equal, and they are parallelograms because they have two pairs of parallel sides. Trapezoids have no parallel sides, so squares can’t be trapezoids.
In the USA, they call trapeziums trapezoids, and they call trapezoids trapeziums. Very confusing!
#2. Which of the following is the best description of Pluto’s orbit?
All orbits are ovals (ellipses), and the Sun sits at a focus at one end of the ellipse. Ellipses always have two foci (plural of focus) that are on either side of the centre. Longer ellipses have focuses that are further from the centre.
#3. What shape do table salt crystals typically grow into?
Salt is made of equal parts of Na and Cl ions, and they match up into a neat, cubic grid. This leads to nice, square crystals, like you might find in a box of table salt.
#4. How many 30-centimetre pizzas would you need to order to get the same area as one 60-centimetre pizza?
The 60 centimetre pizza is twice the width and twice the length of the 30 centimetre pizza, so it’s 2 x 2 = 4 times the area!
#5. There’s a way to tile space with no gaps, using regular octagons (stop sign shapes) and one other regular shape. What’s the other shape?
If you put four regular octagons together in a square shape, you’ll get a small, diagonal square gap in the middle. Repeat the pattern forever, fill all the gaps with little squares and you’re done.
Results
Congratulations! You are a real science whiz!
Oh dear! Better brush up before the next quiz!
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