Ellen the Egg
It’s the day before Easter and all of the eggs are standing in line to
get decorated. Ellen is at the end of the line. But Ellen is an impatient
egg and every time the decorator takes an egg from the front of the
line, Ellen sneaks up in the line.
1. If Ellen sneaks up 2 places each time the person takes an egg to
get decorated, can you find a pattern that will let you predict
how many eggs get decorated before Ellen? Investigate with
different numbers of eggs to find a pattern.
2. Use you method to fill in the chart below:
Number of
eggs in front
of Ellen
Number of
eggs that get
a bowtie
before Ellen
20
37
61
100
296
1000
Ellen the Egg
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3. Explain your strategy for determining how many eggs get
decorated before Ellen.
4. Ellen gets more and more impatient.
a. Explore how your rule changes if Ellen sneaks past 3 eggs at
a time.
b. How about 4 eggs at a time?
c. 10 eggs at a time?
5. When someone tells you how many eggs there are in front of
Ellen and how many eggs at a time she can sneak past, describe
how you could predict the answer.
Ellen the Egg
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