The Fly on the Ceiling:
A Math Myth

Author: Julie Glass

Publisher/Date: Random House; 1998

ISBN: 0-679-88607-9

Grade Levels Recommended for Use: 5-9

Brief Summary: Rene Descartes is in the hospital, recovering from a fall into the Seine River. He notices a fly on his ceiling, and devises a coordinate system to plot the position of the fly. This is the Cartesian coordinate system we use today.

Topics: coordinate grid

Suggested Activities:

Have the class draw up a grid with an X and Y axis. Then have them draw any pattern (like a fish, star, etc.) and find the coordinates where the drawing intersects the grid. Have students mark the coordinate points and develop a list of directions for others to "draw" the pattern.

Given a piece of graph paper, have students plot where in the room their desk is and the desks of their group members. Label the coordinate points.

Play Battleship on graph paper using coordinate pairs for "shots".

Try the online game websites listed below.

Websites:

Fly Tic-tac-toe and directions
Swat the Flies playing board and directions
Maze game and directions
Mountain Rescue Mission
Hide and Seek and directions
Planet Hop
What's the Point?
Graph Mole