Year 7: Goldbach Conjecture

Objectives

• ACMSP169 – Identify and investigate issues involving numerical data collected from primary and secondary sources.
• Apply STEM principles design – test – evaluate to improve coding efficiency by utilising some basic number facts.
• Conduct an investigation into the frequency of pairs of prime numbers that produce the same sum.

Vocabulary

About the Lesson

Students get a feel for the problem by first exploring a selection of even numbers ‘by-hand’.  Using the ‘isPrime’ commend on the calculator makes checking for solutions much quicker.  The by-hand exploration also helps students see the repetitive nature of the calculations and therefore the desire to code a solution.  The 10 Minutes of Code sessions cover all the prerequisite material.  Student hand-outs and teacher notes provide enough instructional content for most beginner level programmers to construct a basic program even if they have not completed the 10 minutes of code units.  Students can attempt the challenge questions that increase the level of coding expertise and encourage use of the STEM principles: Design – Test – Evaluate to improve the efficiency and functionality of their program.