Famous Shipwrecks
13 September 2024
Sunken treasure – the oldest shipwreck in the world Sailing around the Mediterranean in the
Do you have a kid who hates maths, but loves Harry Potter? Then these magical maths hacks are for you; send your kid to potions class and let’s inspire some spellbinding mathematical learning!
First stop, let’s head to the Hogwarts dungeon!
Our first class is potions; get out a copy of Advanced Potion Making (*a muggle cookbook will do) and get brewing! Use maths to measure and mix ingredients using standard and non-standard units of measurement, figure out the ratios and fractions used in your potion or recipe. Use this as an opportunity to learn about variables such as temperature and time, and to master conversions.
Introduce the Time-Turner concept. Create some time-related problems, such as calculating how many hours Hermione used the Time-Turner to attend multiple classes during her third year. How many times would you have to turn the time-turner to go back to the day you were born?
In the Hogwarts kitchens the houses elves are working flat out, and tonight is the Hogwarts Hallowe’en feast. Someone call S.P.E.W! Can you help them calculate how much food they are going to need to feed the entire school?
Practice real life divination with probability. Collect data of which Hogwarts houses have won the house cup over the years, and review sequences and patterns to look for correlations. Use your data to predict which house is most likely to receive the most house points this year.
It’s Care of Magical Creatures class and you are seriously considering persuading your mum to let you get a pet unicorn. Budget and figure out all costs involved – how much does it cost to maintain a unicorn’s horn, and mane? What do they eat, and how much does that cost weekly? What square meterage of land would they need to roam? Can you derive income from selling the occasional unicorn hair to wand makers like Ollivander?
Talking of money, let’s get stuck into conversion rates! One Galleon is worth £4.93. There are 17 Sickles in a Galleon, and 29 Knuts in a Sickle, meaning there were 493 Knuts in a Galleon. How many Sickles would it cost you to buy yourself a muggle Mr Whippy? And does this cost vary from town to town?
Did these Harry Potter-inspired maths hacks do the trick? Then why not check out this month’s Money Maths edition of AQUILA magazine? Click here to subscribe today!
Words: Sophie Bryant-Funnell
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