Mobile Math: Trapezoids & Circles

Look at the mobile below. What do you notice? What do you wonder? What do you know?

A mobile with 2 strings is balanced. The left string has 3 trapezoids. The right string has 4 circles. What values could the trapezoids and circles have?

What is one set of possible values for the shapes?

Getting Started

If a circle has a value of 38.25, what would the value of a trapezoid be? How do you know?
If the value of the entire mobile is 2, what would the value of each shape be? How do you know?

Follow-up 1

If the value of the entire mobile is 4,800, what would the value of each shape be? How do you know?

Follow-up 2

What are other possible values for the set of shapes? What patterns or rules do you notice?

Printable Version

Reference for Educators