Thursday, March 24, 2016

Learning How to Use a Protractor

We've been learning how to use a protractor to measure angles.

Describe some of the challenges you faced when learning how to use a protractor.

What tips do you have for kids who are starting to learn how to use a protractor?

Why do you think a protractor is shaped the way it is?

Why does it have two rows of numbers at the top?


Check out this great video from YouTube to learn how to use a protractor:

18 comments:

  1. I had alot of struggles trying to mesure but and then i started to get better at it and i never new how to make a right angle and i didnt know what is a right angle and now i know everything.A right angle is a angle thats equil to 90 persaint just so people that dont know knows now.

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  2. The challenges I faced were how can you measure an obtuse angle without changing the angle?? Well my tip for you if you are a beginner is the little notch and the bottom of the protractor, that is all you need to know. I think the protractor is shaped the way it is shaped because you can use the bottom of the protractor to draw an angle and you can use the little notch to measure the angle.

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    1. Nadia#icecreamgirlMarch 26, 2016 at 4:58 PM

      When you say changing the angle do you mean like without extending it than I agree with you and if you mean something else than I don't think I would agree with you and next time please be a little more clear.

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  3. Orli Of The WolvesMarch 24, 2016 at 4:50 PM

    TIPS FOR KIDS WHO NEED HELP OR ARE STARTING TO WORK ON HOW TO USE A PROTRACTOR:
    1.Make sure you line up the vertex and a ray exactly,any mistake will get you the wrong answer.
    2.If your line is not long enough then use the protractor to make it longer.
    3.Double check, it is really hard to get the right answer the first time you do the problem .
    4.If the ray is not long enough, then make it bigger, don't guess.
    5.If your ray is in the middle of two degrees,you choose the answer that is closest to your ray.

    I think the protractor is shaped the way it is because:
    1.If it were a square , then it would be very hard to find the answer to the angles.
    2.The bottom is straight or else the protractor would not be able to help us make the rays longer or make an angle.
    It has 2 rows of numbers at the top because:
    1.If the angle is going to the left then you use the top.
    2.If the angle is going to the right then you use the bottom.
    3.The angle is made so that you can go 360 around in each direction.

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  4. Some challenges I faced when learning how to use a protractor were lining the protractor up with the right lines and learning to find out wether to use the higher number or the lower number depending on wether the angle is acute or obtuse. I also faced the challenge of learning which ray to me sure on if you put the protractor on the other ray. I think that kids who are just starting to use a protractor should know these things: 1. DON'T use the protractor upside down. 2. DON'T forget that smaller than a right angle is acute and larger that a right angle is obtuse, ( I'd recomend you write it down somewhere and keep it safe.) 3. DON'T be off by ballot when extending lines. 4. DO use the lager number for obtuse angles and the smaller number for acute angles. 5. DO be as exact as possible. And DO TRY YOUR HARDEST AND ASK QUESTIONS IF YOU NEED TO!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think a protractor is shaped the way it is because it needs to be a half circle to me sure angles. for example, if a protracted were mesureing a right angle it would have to make the angle point to the 90 degrees and a half circle, the protractors shape, will allow that. I think a protractor has numbers on top and bottom rows because you have to have different angles for acute and obtuse and it saves room as well as makes it less confusing if the numbers are on top of each other.

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  5. Bebe Bunny ☺☺☺March 24, 2016 at 6:09 PM

    One of the challenges I faced when learning how to use a protractor was setting the protractor up. If you start off the wrong way, your whole answer will be thrown off. When you set your protractor up, make sure that your notch or hole is right on the vertex and in line with the ray you are not measuring. Another tip is to keep in mind that the answer doesn’t need to be exact. It should just be around your answer. I think the protractor is shaped as a half circle is because, if it were different, a large obtuse or a small acute angle would not work.

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  6. One of the challenges i faced when leraning how to use a protractor was trying to figure out how to measure a obtuse angle without changeing the angle so that was one of the challenges i was facing when useing a protractor. Another one of the challenges i faced when useing a protractor was to figure which digree it was when i was mesuring the angle that were the challenges i faced when useing a protractor. ☺☺☺

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  7. Nadia#icecreamgirlMarch 26, 2016 at 4:54 PM

    One of the troubles that I had while using a protractor is that I couldn't figure out how to line up the vertex with the line and the 0 and still get the right answer. A tip that I have for people that are just learning how to use a protractor is that you have to make sure you line everything up like you have to line up the little line or the circle with the vertex of the shape and the 0 with the line. That is my tip for people who are just starting to learn how to use a protractor. I think that the protractor is shaped the way it is is because when you measure a angle they are going different ways so it has to be able to measure all angles if it is acute or obtuse or an right angle it can measure it. A protractor has two rows of numbers on the top because it has a right side and a left side so you can measure an angle on the right side and on the left side.

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  8. One of the challenges I faced when I learned how to use a protractor is that the line in the bottom middle always points to 90 degrees, so I thought that some angles that were obtuse or acute were actually right angles. Another challenge I faced is that I got confused if it pointed to 80 or 100. But if it is obtuse it is higher and if it is acute it is lower. Some tips that I learned from using a protractor is you have to line up the bottom middle line with the vertex. Another tip is that you have to line up the bottom of the protractor with one of the rays. Another tip is that, at first sight of a protractor, you probably are really confused at what you are looking at. I think that the protractor is shaped the way it is is because if the protractor is a straight line then it will look like a ruler and it will not be able to have two sides. Also if the protractor is straight then it won't be able to measure angles because if you try to measure at the end point of one of the rays then you will not get even close to the real answer. I think a protractor has two rows of numbers on the top because if you measure an angle that is obtuse and your protractor only has one row then the angle would maybe be on the other side of the row and then you wouldn't know what degrees the angle is.

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  9. L+E+I+L+A = LEILA!!!!March 27, 2016 at 12:22 PM

    At first, I had some struggles getting started with the protractor. Instead of lining up the vertex with the middle line, I lined the middle line up with the ray and that gave me the wrong answer.
    Only the bottom edge of the 0 degree line should line up with a ray.
    I think some protractors are shaped like a half circle because it makes it easier to measure a 90-degree angle, or right angle. Instead of getting a 360-degree angle, which is bigger, you can get a smaller protractor that helps you measure a right angle AND gives you s straight line to extend rays.
    A 360-degree protractor is a complete circle. I think this is more convenient because you can measure even more obtuse angle or acute angles
    Either way. I still think that full circle protractors are more convenient.
    Something interesting that I noticed is that when you measure something that is more than 170 degrees, you get an acute angle and an obtuse angle. If you take an acute angle, lets say, 60 degrees, and measure the space outside the angle, you would get a completely different angle, but it is still the correct answer. But to measure that, you would need a protractor of 360 degrees, which I think is more useful.
    A protractor has two rows of numbers so you can measure an angle in any way; left or right. The human eye can identify if something is a right angle, obtuse angle or acute angle. A right angle will always be on the 90. When you see an acute angle, choose the smaller number. When measuring an obtuse angle, always choose the greater number.
    My tips for beginning using a protractor are:
    .1: make sure to match up the 0-degree line with the ray
    .2: Extend the lines if you need to
    .3: DON’T GUESS

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  11. atticus martin radwellMarch 27, 2016 at 5:35 PM

    The reason that a protractor has two rows of numbers is because if the angle is acute you have to use the lower numbers. So for example, if your line measures 140 degrees but it is acute you use the small number 40 degrees and 40 degrees .
    The reason that a protractor is shaped the way it is is because when measuring angles they make an arc on top and if you're using a ruler to measure it, it won't make an arc only top of a protractor will. A tip that i would give to someone is to get your measurement as accurate as possible. One challenge that i faced was getting the angle degree exact.

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  12. i helped with this post

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  13. A challenge I had wile using a protractor is I had trouble lining the angle up with the protractor and then I got the wrong answer. A tip I have is when you are mishearing a angle always pick the number on the top or bottom row that looks most what you would expect it to be like a right angle is 90 degrees. An acute angle is smaller than 90 degrees so it could be 28 degrees or 56 degrees. And an obtuse angle is more then 90 degrees so it could be 107 degrees or it could even be 91 degrees it just has to be bigger than 90 degrees. I think a protractor is shaped like a half of a circle because a half of one has a striate bottom and angles are always striate so you can mishearing it and if the protractor was a whole circle you would not be able to mishearing the angle. The proctactor has to rows of numbers because if the angle is acute and you are mishearing and the top row said45 and the bottom says 103 than you would pick 45 because that us less than 90. And if you wear mishering a obtuse angle and the top row said 120 and the bottom row said 68 you would pick 120 because that is bigger then 90.

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  14. Why protractors have two sets of numbers. Is because you need one side to be a acute because acute means less than a 90 degree. A 90 degree is a right angle. You need another set of numbers to make it obtuse because because obtuse means it's more than a 90 degree angle. The numbers that make a obtuse angle are 100, 110, 120 ,130 ,140 ,150 ,160 ,170,180.

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    1. I like how wrote examples of degrees for obtuse and I also like how you wrote how a 90 degree angle is a right angle.

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  15. At first I struggled with knowing were to put the protracter. Also had trouble with knowing which row of numbers to use to find the answer on the protractor. For starters I would use the circle on the protractor called a vertex and put at the angle. And for knowing which row in an example of an obtuse angle the degree would have to be over 90 degrees so if the 1row said120degrees and the 2row said 80 degrees you would know the answer is the first row.I think the protractor is shaped the way it is,is because the shape makes it really easy to use because if it was a square it would be way harder.

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  16. One challenge i faced using a protractor is where to line up one side with the zero i kept putting it not lined up with the zero and so i got the answers wrong till i figured out how to line it up with the zero. one tip i have is to always watch where you are lining the angles up to and just say oh thats close enough if you want to get the right answer you have to try your best to find the correct point you are looking to line up the angle. a protractor is shaped like that roundish shape is because you can not measure angles with a normal ruler because it is straight and a protractor is roundish so that it can measure angles. it has 2 rows of numbers because there is Acute angles which are smaller then a right angles and there are Obtuse angles which are larger then a right angle.

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