The Math of Dominoes

Sep 4, 2020 | Hinsdale

Dominoes. What are they good for? Besides lining them up and knocking them down, what else can we do with them? The answer is actually a lot!

First, when were dominoes invented? Pagat.com gives us some history: "Tile games have been found in China as early as 1120 CE. Some historical accounts have traced evidence of the existence of the pieces, way back to a soldier-hero named Hung Ming (181-234 CE). Other historians believe that Keung T'ai Kung, in the twelfth century BCE had created them."

Dominoes have quite a longevity to boast about! That's potentially over 4,000 years of domino history!

Pagat gives an ever deeper look into dominoes, their types of sets, games to play, and their many, many combinations.

So how can we apply mathematics to these dotted tiles? Luckily, there are many different ways we can use dominoes in educational ways: fractions, grouping, length, weight, and even multiplication. NZ Maths provides us with helpful PDFs for using dominoes in the classroom or at home.

There are also many different games you can play with dominoes, too. Wikipedia provides us with a list of 19 different games you can try out!