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Solving nonroutine problems with multiple approaches is one of the goals promoted by the NCTM's Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (1989). I present two problems that seem to fit the bill, since my seventh-grade students worked on them in various ways.

Mathematical games are a popular element in any teacher's repertoire of motivational activities. This game promotes learning and fun at the same time by combining two unlikely allies: a deck of ordinary playing cards and a calculator. The material presented here uses a simple fourfunction calculator with a square-root key. With minor adjustments, the more powerful scientific models can be used.

IN OUR EARNEST DESIRE TO EDUCATE OUR students about the great importance and significance of the number p by celebrating with special mathematical activities on March 14, we just may be teaching a concept that we had not intended or that we are overlooking altogether. I am referring here to the fundamental concept of the place-value structure of our decimal number system.