VO: Ambrose is an apprentice at the world famous Grecian Pizza Parlour. He's learning all aspects of the profession, and is now able to roll out a perfect circle of dough. This is how professional pizza makers make their pizza bases. They throw them in the air like that, and the dough gradually stretches out to become perfectly thin and round. Not quite like that.
Pizza Boss: Ambrose my boy don't worry it take me years to perfect the perfect pizza circle. Never mind.
VO: Luckily, Ambrose has got a nice boss.
Ambrose: Hello Grecian Pizza.
VO: The customer is a maths teacher who’s having a birthday party. He’s ordering pizzas for his guests, but he wants something quite unusual.
Customer: I'd like to order 50 pizzas please.
Ambrose: 50 pizzas?
Customer: But I don't want round ones, too boring. I want equilateral triangles.
Ambrose: Equal whately twangles? What?
Customer: Equilateral triangles. It's a triangle where all three sides are the same length and all the angles are the same size too. So whichever way you look at it, always looks the same!
Oh, and I want triangular toppings as well please, 50 of 'em. Cheers mate.
Ambrose: Bye.
Pizza Boss: It's impossible. I spent my whole life making round pizza, triangular pizza? No possible.
Ambrose: I think I can do it.
Pizza Boss: You're the man for me Ambrose, you go ahead.
VO:
'Equilateral Triangles Have equal length sides and equal angles'] First Ambrose makes an equilateral triangle out of dough. An equilateral triangle is one in which the three sides are equal and all the angles are equal too.
Then he cuts little equilateral triangles out of food. He’s getting the hang of this isn’t he? Triangles are lots of fun to play around with.
Look at all the patterns he’s making. That looks like tessellation to me.
What does it look like cooked? Nice!
Pizza Boss: Oh Ambrose, this is incredible, the triangular pizza. Equilateral triangular pizza. Next time I get you to make dodecahedron.
Ambrose: Gulp!
VO: The angles in any triangle always add up to 180 degrees. What does each angle in an equilateral triangle measure?
Using your protractor draw an equilateral triangle.
Investigate ways to make pizza triangles that would fit exactly into a 30cm sq pizza box.
Video summary
At the Grecian Pizza Parlour, apprentice Ambrose receives an order for 50 equilateral triangle shaped pizzas with equilateral triangle shaped toppings.
Ambrose uses the circular base and cuts to form the equilateral triangle base explaining about the properties of the shape.
He makes tessellating toppings to cover the pizza.
Three differentiated questions then reinforce understanding of angles in a triangle, use of a protractor and introduce an investigation about fitting different triangles into a 30cm square pizza box.
This is from the series: Let's Do Maths.
Teacher Notes
Show the children three different triangles and get them to explain which is the odd one out and why.
This will assess their knowledge of triangles currently.
Discuss why it is easier to make pizzas round and not triangular.
Write down the words: sides, angles, lines of symmetry, tessellation.
Can the children use any of these words in a description about an equilateral triangle?
Watch the clip as inspiration for how triangles can be used in different designs.
Look at work artists have done using equilateral triangles and get the children to generate their own artwork using these.
To further the children, you could get them to use a protractor to measure the angles of the shapes.
This clip will be relevant for teaching Maths at KS2 in England and Wales, Second Level in Scotland and KS1 and KS2 in Northern Ireland.
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