Have fun and learn some math at the same time. Take a break from the drill and practice, and construct arithmetic expressions to navigate your cyclist to victory.
Great for ages 8 and up.
Move your cyclist through the race course. Be the first to cross the finish line and you win! Each turn you get three numbers and the tools for building a mathematical expression to move your cyclist forward. Play against a friend or against the computer. Land on a rest stop and you jump forward ten spaces. Use shortcuts to squeak ahead of your opponent. Bump your opponent and he will be moved back two rest stops. But watch out! Your opponent could bump you backwards, too.
Use your three numbers, two out of four operators (+, -, x, ÷) and, if needed, a pair of parentheses to build the best expression. The value of your expression will move you forward or, if negative, backward.
Tour De Math teaches basic math skills, especially something called operator precedence. Operator precedence explains things like why 3+2x4 = 11, while (3+2)x4 = 20.
Turn on the spotlight and your best move will be highlighted. Can you figure out how to use 7, 3, 1 in an expression to get 2? If not, click on the spotlight for hints.
Sometimes its fun just to see if you can figure out how to construct the optimal expression that the spotlight is showing.