Judy S.: Let's Shake hands at the Round Table

To start with the Round Table I thought of many ways to modernize the Knights of the Round table, but they just didn't flow. One evening at my Camp Gladiator workout I talked to my friend Melinda who is a math teacher. "Is there anything interesting to do with math that would use a Round table?" She thought a minute and said, "There is one where there are 10 people around a table and you have to figure out how many total handshakes there would be if everyone shook each others hands." She continued to tell me that there is a visual where you draw different colored lines for each person and then you just have to count the total lines to get the answer. Oh WOW! I wish she had been my teacher! (Oh and as I was walking away she said, "There is an equation for it too.") Lol

I went online and discovered one where they used the 9 Supreme Court Justices as an example. That seemed appropriate with what was going on at the time. Guess what. Nine is not an even number to make an easy shape, but I got it! The close up shows the different ribbons, yarns and fabric I used to give each one their own color.

 

I basically couch/quilted the ribbons and yarns on. The back is fun to look at too with all the small zig-zag stitching.

Now to find the answer the red ribbon Supreme Court 

Chief Justice shakes 8 hands, Dark Green yarn Justice 7 handshakes, Gold ribbon Justice 6 handshakes, Lavender braided yarn Justice 5 handshakes, Pink ribbon Justice 4 handshakes, Blue ribbon Justice 3 handshakes, Orange fuzzy yarn Justice 2 handshakes, Light Green ribbon Justice 1 handshake and Dark purple Justice already shook everyones hand. So the total is 36 handshakes to go around the table.