First, I give my students this description: Spirograph Activity In this activity, we will explore an application of the greatest common

factor (GCF) and the least common multiple (LCM) using the Spirograph environment. The basic Spirograph set comes with a template with a circular hole with 48 teeth. It also comes with 7 wheels of various sizes, based on matching teeth. Those sizes are 17, 18, 22, 27, 29, 30, and 33 teeth. Using a wheel and the hole, the artist creates a flower design with a certain number of petals. 1. Using the Spirograph set, create a flower design with each of the wheels in the circular hole of 48 teeth. How many petals does each design make? 2. Explore these relationships and determine a way to figure out how many petals can be made with any size hole and any size wheel. Then I let them explore until they get something like the following table: Number of petals Number of Number of from the teeth for teeth for flower the hole the wheel design

Picture

48 hole

17 wheel

48 petals

48 hole

18 wheel

8 petals

48 hole

22 wheel

24 petals

48 hole

27 wheel

16 petals

48 hole

29 wheel

48 petals

48 hole

30 wheel

8 petals

48 hole

33 wheel

16 petals

Then I ask these questions as they proceed from their work like shown in the table: 1. Now that you have data for one size hole and seven sizes of wheels, can you answer the second question?

2. So, what is the relationship of the number of petals to the size of the hole and the size of the wheel? 3. (Hint question): Can the GCF (or LCM) help? 4. Once you know this relationship, explain how it generalizes to how we can determine the number of petals a flower design has made from any size hole and any size wheel. Any thoughts? Thanks!