Foundation to Year 2: The Man
The Man is much smaller than you and me.
Here is a picture of him standing next to a mug.
A little man next to a big mug
Can you estimate how tall he is?
Can you think of something that you have at school or home that is approximately twice as tall as the Man?
What about something that is about half as tall as the Man?
How tall do you think the Man’s mug might be?
Can you estimate how many “Man mugs” of tea might fill one of our mugs?
Estimation of how tall he is : – It is not possible to say an exact number or measurement for his height. There could only be some estimations. However, I can make an estimation using the ratio of the man’s height to the mug’s height.
Something at school or at home which is approximately twice as tall as the Man : – It depends on the mug’s height; for example according to my milk mug’s height when I checked, my big dictionary and my cd box is approximately twice as tall as the Man.
Something which is about half as tall? And again, as I have written above, according to my milk mug’s height, my post-it papers and small address note book are about half as tall as the Man.
How tall the Man’s mug might be? My mug’s height is 10 cm and I am 150 cm tall. The ratio between me and my mug is 10/150, that is to say 1/15. The Man’s mug might be 15 times smaller than his height.
How many “Man Mugs” of tea might fill one of my mug? There is a way to answer this question, if we take into consideration the “ratio principles”. Above, I identified that I’m 15 times as tall as my mug. So, let’s assume the Little Man is as tall as my mug, so he is 10 cm tall. If we consider the same ratio between the Little Man and his mug, the Man Mug is 15 times smaller than him. 15 “Man Mugs” of tea might fill my mug.