JosephLoo

11/4/14
LockerProblemReflection

Problem
Isaacdecidedtoinstallschoollockersforeveryone.So,ourschoolgot552lockersfor
studentstouse.Afterthat,therewasageneralpattern:

Onestudentopenseverylocker.
Onestudentcloseseveryotherlocker.
Anotherstudentchangeseverythirdlocker.
Anotherstudentchangesthestateofeveryfourthlocker.
Anotherstudentchangesthestateofeveryfifthlocker.
Anotherstudentchangesthestateofeverysixthlocker.

Thispatterncontinuesuntilthe552ndlocker.Someoftheproblemsourgrouphadto
solveincludewhichofthefirsttenlockersremainedopenandidentifyinghowmanyopenand
closedlockerswerethereafterthe552ndlocker.

Process
Thewaysthatmygroupapproachedthefirstpartoftheproblemincludesketchingthe
first10lockersandfollowingthepattern.First,wehadoneofourgroupmatessketchedoutthe
first10lockersandanotherpersonsketchedthefirsttenlockerpatterns.Onethingthatwe
noticedwasthataftereachlocker,thelockerwillnothavetheirstatechangedfortherestofthe
problem.Forexample,afterthefirstlocker,thefirstlockerwontchangeitsstateanymore.
Thenextthingwedidwasanalyzingthenext20lockers.Aswesketchedthelockers,we
continuedtousethepatternuptothe30thlockerandwecontinuedtolookforanypatterns.One
thingInoticedwasthatfromdoingthepatternsforthenext20lockers,therewerelockersthat
wereequaltoaperfectsquarenumber.

Solution
Thesolutiontothefirstpartofthesolutionwasthatthefirst,fourth,andninthwillstill
beopenedafterthe10thlocker.Oursolutiontothesecondpartisthat23lockerswouldbeopen
and529lockerswouldbeclosed.Aswewereworkingontheproblem,someofusnoticedthat
thelockersthatwereopenarealsothevaluesofperfectsquares(1,4,9,etc.).So,welistedallof
theperfectsquarefactorsuptoavaluethatwascloseto552.Theclosestperfectsquarevaluewe
gotwas23.Finally,wefoundthenumberofclosedlockersbysubtractingthenumberofopen
lockersfrom552,whichturnedouttobe529.Ialsonoticedthatthenumberofclosedlockers
betweeneachopenlockerisafactorof2.Forexample,betweenthefirstandfourthlockers,

thereweretwoclosedlockers.Thefourthandninthlockershadfourclosedlockersbetweeneach
other.So,ourfinalsolutionwasthattherewere23lockersopenand529lockersclosed.

SelfAssessmentandReflection
OnethingIlearnedfromthisproblemistodrawoutpartsoftheproblem.WhileIwas
workingwithmygroup,Isketchedoutthefirst10lockersinmynotebooksoIcandosome
observationsonmyown.Iwasabletohelpoutwithfindinganyinterestingobservationsofthe
lockerpatternsbysketchingsomeoftheworkinmynotebook.IfIhadtoassignmyselfagrade,
Iwouldgivemyselfaten.IwouldgivemyselfatenbecauseIwasabletocontributeallofmy
workinordertomoveforwardwithourprogress.Iwasabletoexplainmyideaswell.One
MathematicalPracticeandExpectationthatIcanrelatetoisModelwithMathematics.My
groupandIcanrelateourworktoModelwithMathematicsbecauseweusedalotofsketches
inordertomoveforwardinourwork.Forexample,sketchingoutthefirst30lockershelpedus
haveaneasiertimefollowingthepatternthatwasgiventous.Jake,Tyler,andHankwereableto
sketchoutsomeofourobservationsalongwithsomeofmyideas.Forexample,identifyingthat
theperfectsquaresarepartofthesolution.
Comparingmygroupsworktoothergroups,weallbasicallycametothesamefinal
answers.Oneofthegroupsdidasimilarsketchingprocesstofindtheirsolutiontothisproblem.
Onethingthatmygroupdiddifferentlyfromothergroupswasfindingthenumberofclosed
lockers.Noneoftheothergroupsthoughtaboutsubtractingthenumberofopenlockersfrom
552.AsIwaslisteningtotheothergroups,oneofthegroupsdidthisproblemusingaMicrosoft
spreadsheetprogramcalledExcel.Itdidtakeawhileforthatgrouptogettothesame
conclusions,butIthoughttheirgroupworkwasprettyuniquefromtherest.