The Alliance of Indigenous Math Circles (AIMC) includes partnerships throughout the U.S. that build local opportunities for students, teachers, and families to enjoy mathematics and engage in problem solving together, while also celebrating their Indigenous cultural identity. Our Article of the Week focuses on how the AIMC brings the joy of math to Indigenous students, including continued off-line support for 3rd to 12th grade students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

You want to build towers of increasing height (starting from 1, then 2, and so on) using blocks of different colors, where each color represents a different fixed number. Can you find an expression for the fewest number of colors needed to create towers up to a given height? What patterns do you see?

In our Activity of the Week, “Color Counting,” discover how stacks of different colored towers make interesting patterns that connect to computer programming!