Feel like Hercules for a day. Individuals watch a video that describes how to defeat a mathematical Hydra that grows additional heads when one is cut off. The solution requires scholars to use ordinals and the well-ordering theorem.

Concepts

greek mythology, ordinal numbers, infinity, proofs

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Additional Tags

math

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Instructional Ideas

• Team up with an English or social studies teacher for a cross-curricular lesson
• Have groups come up with a strategy to kill the Hydra before watching the solution in video

Classroom Considerations

• References the "A Hierarchy of Infinities" video

• This video is hosted on YouTube

Pros

• Models mathematical practice by first starting with simpler cases
• Animations and graphics make the problem easy to grasp

Cons

• None