Ratios & Percentages:

Doubletree

 

Today's Snack: Eat something that comes from a tree: an apple, a peach, a pear, a banana, some cherries . . . or maybe walnuts, almonds, pecans or other nuts. Wash down with fruit juice that comes from a tree, such as apple juice or orange juice.

 

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Supplies:

A roll of brown butcher paper | scissors | tape | black marker pen

 

 

            Here's an activity to show you how quickly things can add up when you're doubling. A 100% increase is plenty big . . . but when you increase by 100% time after time after time, pretty soon, you're talking about a gigantic impact.

 

            First, cut a tall piece of paper from your roll - maybe five feet tall? Keep it as wide as your roll so that it is very wide and tall.

 

Tape it to the wall. Draw "bark" and maybe a knothole with the black pen to make it look like a tree trunk.

 

            Now let's start doubling. First, cut two major "branches" out of more butcher paper that will extend maybe five more feet to the left and right of your trunk. It's OK if they have straight edges; more branches are coming.

 

Make the two major branches look natural, like a real tree, but make them very thick - half the thickness of your thick trunk.

 

You may have to stand on a chair to tape these two major branches to the wall. Add some lines for "bark" to make them look like real tree branches.

 

            Now let's double again. Cut four fairly big "branches" out of butcher paper, and tape two to the left major branch, and two to the right major branch. Again, make them look fairly natural in shape and markings.

 

            Do you see how this works? Now cut eight medium-size "branches" out of butcher paper, and tape four to the left-hand branch, and four to the right-hand branch. Or you can tape one or two at random to the main trunk so that your tree is not so uniform. Again, draw "bark" lines or whatever you need to make it look natural.

 

            Now cut 16 smaller-size branches and add them wherever you'd like to, to keep your tree looking real.

 

            Then cut 32 even smaller-size branches, and add.

 

            Now cut and add 64.

 

            Now cut and add 128. By now, your "branches" should look more like twigs.

 

            You can keep going if your hands aren't too tired to cut. But do you see how quickly the quantity increased from 2 to 128? That's the power of doubling.

 

            It's . . . TREE-mendous.