Form 8 Arrange an Airfield

Date: Tuesday 7 October 2008

Mr Austen’s maths set undertook a problem-solving exercise after looking at photographs of World War II airfields. They saw how planes were lined up at the side of runways and how they were at great risk, should an enemy plane have the chance to shoot along the entire line.

The mathematical problem was therefore to arrange aircraft in a more advantageous way to minimize potential damage. The problem was simplified to begin with. Could they arrange 4 aircraft on a 4x4 grid, 5 aircraft on a 5x5 grid, etc, so that no two planes were in the same row, column, or diagonal?

Using chess boards to help they set about solving the problem, the results being ready for Open Day.

As an extension they will see if they can use their skills to help construct a Sudoku puzzle.

All photographs: copyright Thomas Hooley 2008