Math Inquiry Question - My Wife and Her Love of School

Pattering Inquiry Question - My Wife and the Love of School

My wife LOVES school! I think she’s a little bit wacky. I on the other hand didn’t love school, it was really hard for me. My wife loves school so much she is still in school and she’s 30 years old. WOW!

Problem

When my wife finishes university, how many days of school will she have completed? 
What do we need to know? 
As a class we asked Mr. Martyn questions, and came up with these answers:

There are 195 days of school a year on average
My wife has gone when to elementary school from grade 1-8
She went to highschool from grade 9-13
After completing university she will have been there for 8 years.

Part A

How many years of school will my wife complete by the time she’s done school. 

Part B 

If my wife decides to continue her schooling, is it possible for her to complete exactly 4236 or 5127 days after any year? Why or why not. Explain your thinking. 

Part C

Find as many patterns as you can between the two columns and down the two columns. 


We worked very hard on this questions and learned a lot about using T-tables, calculators and place value patterns when solving real-life math problems. 

We decided that there were many patterns within the 'Total Number of Days' column. One being in the ones column of each number. 

We quickly discovered that there was an alternating pattern that alternated between 5 and 0. This helped us answer Part B, as each number (4236 and 5127) did not have a 0 or 5 in the ones column.