The four posters in this mathematics-enrichment series address the Fibonacci sequence, scientific notation, probability, and polygonal numbers. The posters are all colorful with interesting pictures related to the poster's mathematical topic. Each poster has a corresponding key box that describes how each picture is related to the mathematical topic.

The poster The Galaxy of Numbers relates English and metric measurements to objects in our galaxy using scientific notation. The numbers and examples range from 10 to the 289 power as the number of combinations obtained when tossing a six-sided die 500 items to 10 to the negative 40,000 power as the probability that a monkey can randomly type Shakespeare's Hamlet. As the title of the poster suggests, the majority of the numbers expressed in scientific notation are related to planets and stars in our galaxy. The pictures presented are the planet Jupiter, a hydrogen atom, Rub's Cube, the Statue of Liberty, a shrew, the sun, the George Washington Bridge, and a cell.

The second poster, The Fibonacci Files, relates the Fibonacci sequence to nature, music, and the golden ratio. The rabbit problem is also presented to illustrate how the reproduction of a pair of rabbits could follow the Fibonacci sequence. The Fibonacci sequence is also related to the following pictures: a pine cone, the scales of a pineapple, the petals of a sunflower, and the keys that form an octave on a piano. The rectangle is related to architecture by showing the Parthenon in Greece and the formation of the nautilus shell using the golden rectangle as a means for a geometric construction. The poster also discusses divisibility plus sum and product properties for the sequence.

The poster Chances Are examines the probability of events that range from 1 to 1.01 as the odds of inhaling a molecule exhaled by Julius Caesar to 1 in 2,1000,000,000 as the odds of living to 115. The colorful pictures relate probability to games, sports, and science. The poster presents along with their corresponding probabilities the following situations: being dealt a royal flush in poker, landing on Boardwalk when playing Monopoly ten times, winning at bingo, finding a carnivorous dinosaur when excavating, and tossing heads and tails with two pennies. The poster's key presents forty-one probabilities related to such areas as blood type, rolling a 7 with a die, being colorblind, sports, and genetics.

The poster The Shape of Numbers lists polygonal numbers and their corresponding formula to compute the polygonal number. The polygonal numbers presented are for the square, triangular, pentagonal, hexagonal, and cubic numbers. The poster shows a blue profile of a head without distinguishing facial features. Around the top of the head is a circle that goes through the triangle, hexagon, square, pentagon, and cube. To the left of the head are drawn everyday objects that are designed on the basis of the aforementioned figures. Several of the objects are a pool rack, a Rub's Cube, a hexagonal bolt, a floppy diskette, a cross section of a beehive, the Stealth bomber, a cracker, alphabet blocks, and a camera.

The posters are used as a catalyst to generate discussion and to create class lessons. However, the posters do not come with a teacher guide or student lessons. Therefore the teacher must be creative in generating lessons corresponding to the topics presented and the complexity of the topic the teacher wishes to explore.

Albert Alba Jr., Rhode Island State Training School, Cranston, RI 02920

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