Maths

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__New Zealand Census__
Every five years, the New Zealand government statistics department conducts a nation-wide census of dwellings and population. The census officially occurs at midnight on a Tuesday in March. Statistically this is the weekday in the month people in New Zealand are least likely to be traveling. A census is simply an official count. In The New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings they count how many people and dwellings, such as houses, apartments and flats, there are in New Zealand. The census covers everyone who is in New Zealand on the night it is held. The information is used to form a view of who we are as a country. The census asks questions about how New Zealand families are changing, what type of houses New Zealanders are living in, how much money we are earning, what schooling we have, and what industries we are working for.It was in 1851 when New Zealand’s first full census occured. The census would come about every three years until 1881, where they began to do it every five years. Due to the effects of the Great Depression and World War II, the census was cancelled in 1931 and 1941. The last census took place on the 7th of March, 2006. New Zealand’s next census will be in 2011.

__My Survey__
We conducted our on survey I our classrooms. I asked 18 of my peers, 9 boys and 9 girls, which of the following they have at home:

Cellphone Internet Access iPod MP3 or MP4 player Gaming Console Digital Camera

My conclusion is that internet access is the most popular object to have at home, and a MP3 or MP4 player is the least popular.

__Gifted and Talented__
This term (term two) I am part of two gifted and talented groups for maths. In one group we are learning problem solving strategies, based around a small test conducted by Otago University. In the other group we have a number af activites to complete, each one involving different kinds of maths. Here is a brief on the one I am currently doing:

//My challenge is to plan and carry out an investigation that compares an identical list of essential items, in two different supermarkets. Analyze your data, and present your findings.//

I am really enjoying the sessions.

__One Trillion__
But what comes after a trillion? 12 zeroes may seem like a lot, but that’s really quite insignificant compared to say a vigintillion, which has a total of 63 zeroes. 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 - this is definitely my new favourite number. But that makes me wonder, what comes after a vigintillion?

__Us And The Ants__
168,000 ants for every person? That’s a lot of ant farms. And I don’t even like ants. For my family there would be 840,000 ants, for my class the would be 4,032,000 ants, and for New Zealand there would be 724,515,960,000! New Zealand’s population is estimated to increase by one person every 17 minutes and 55 seconds, so soon there will a lot more ants! But even with a head count this big, ants are not the most abundant life form on Earth. That would have to single-celled microorganisms, or bacteria. There are over a quadrillion (1,000,000,000,000,000) bacteria living in your body right now. But don’t freak - most of these are harmless.