Have you ever wondered how many steps you – or your pets – take in a day? Well, a guy named Pearce strapped a Fitbit onto his cat, Java, to count the kitty’s steps. This picture has a yellow line for each 15-minute chunk of the day, showing how many steps were taken. What do you think your step picture would look like?
Wee ones: Point to the 2 tallest bars, showing the times when Java walked the most.
Little kids: What gray number is below the tallest bar on the left? At about what time was Java really moving? (Hint: The 00 is midnight!) Bonus: Java also ran around from 6:00 in the morning till about 10:00 in the morning. About how many hours long was that stretch?
Big kids: If Java takes 200 steps every 15 minutes, how many steps does he take in 1 hour? Bonus: Java takes about 6,000 steps a day. If you take 2 1/2 times as many , how many steps does that make for you?
Answers:
Wee ones: Point to the 2 tallest bars! One is over on the left, and one closer to the middle.
Little kids: 04, which is 4:00 in the morning. Not sleepy! Bonus: About 4 hours.
Big kids: 800 steps in an hour. Bonus: 15,000 steps.
Laura Bilodeau Overdeck is founder and president of Bedtime Math Foundation. Her goal is to make math as playful for kids as it was for her when she was a child. Her mom had Laura baking before she could walk, and her dad had her using power tools at a very unsafe age, measuring lengths, widths and angles in the process. Armed with this early love of numbers, Laura went on to get a BA in astrophysics from Princeton University, and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business; she continues to star-gaze today. Laura’s other interests include her three lively children, chocolate, extreme vehicles, and Lego Mindstorms.