The Challenge: Create a Mondrian artwork (maybe with a goal of getting the lowest score?) Here’s a Math Pickle article to get you started.
Materials Needed: Writing utensil and paper. (This would be fun with chalk on a sidewalk!)
Math concepts you could explore with this challenge: arithmetic, geometry, proportions/ratios
Above is my attempt at a 6×6 grid. I do not yet, I believe, have the best solution, but it’s okay. Stay tuned for a bonus twist to this one today!
Depending on how you use this activity, you may engage with different mathematical standards. I’ve listed possible connected math content above. Here are a few suggestions for how you might integrate the 8 mathematical practices. Feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments!
2.) Reason abstractly and quantitatively. What bounds are put on your possible rectangles? How does choosing one size eliminate or open your next choices?
8.) Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning. Through working first smaller grids and then increasingly larger grids, what generalized rules can we come up with for increasingly better “scores”?
arbitrarilyclose 
cool, I think it looks like my Nanas blanket’s that she make!
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I got a five by having a five (smallest), two sixes, a nine and a ten (largest).
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