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reSolve: Geometry – lunch lap (Trial)

In this sequence of two lessons, students apply Pythagoras' theorem to explore a practical problem involving optimising paths to lunch carts. In the first lesson, students investigate the length of a path that touches three sides of a rectangle, starting and finishing at the same point. They model the problem, use Pythagoras' theorem to calculate the length of the path, then work with spreadsheets and GeoGebra models to find the shortest possible path. In the second lesson, students use geometric reasoning to find the positions of the carts and justify that the parallelogram is the shortest path. The lessons are outlined in detail including curriculum links, vocabulary, sample answers, spreadsheets of data, discussion points and student resources. This sequence is part of the reSolve: Mathematics by Inquiry program.

Additional details
Year level(s)	Year 9
Audience	Teacher
Purpose	Teaching resource
Format	Downloadable resources
Teaching strategies and pedagogical approaches	Mathematics investigation
Keywords	Pythagoras' theorem, right angled triangles, algorithm, modelling
Curriculum alignment
Curriculum connections	Numeracy
Strand and focus	Measurement, Space, Build understanding, Apply understanding
Topics	Pythagoras and trigonometry, Angles and geometric reasoning
AC: Mathematics (V9.0) content descriptions	AC9M8M06 Use Pythagoras' theorem to solve problems involving the side lengths of right-angled triangles
Numeracy progression	Understanding units of measurement (P10) Understanding geometric properties (P7) Multiplicative strategies (P9)
Copyright details
Organisation	reSolve Maths by Inquiry
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