Following from our work relating to the Number System we looked at Pascal’s Triangle, which contains all the Natural numbers and a wealth of numerical patterns. Students were introduced to this triangle via a path counting game and enjoyed the hunt for patterns. This however led us to the question of why it is called Pascal’s Triangle. Students were tasked with some research into the history of the triangle, which led to differing opinions as to whether Blaise Pascal deserves all the credit. Al-Karaji’s name was brought up but quickly ruled out and our final class debate was between Pascal, Jia Xian or nobody. After opening speeches, we took a vote and surprisingly no-one voted for Pascal, Jia Xian was the favourite. After the main debate Pascal recovered slightly, gaining 3 votes, but after closing speeches the class overwhelmingly voted for nobody. The students felt that the triangle should be named the Binomial Triangle or something else relating to the mathematics contained within, rather than a person. Throughout the debate the students remained respectful and brought up some excellent points that were well researched and referenced. It was great to hear them discuss possible bias and give space to the ideas of others. They’ve also been hard at work making connections between polynomial expressions and solving equations involving rational numbers and deserve a break. I hope you all have a restful spring break.