While at Dad 2.0 last weekend I intersected with Rob Rosenthal, the . His cook-off competition jersey had the number pi on the back. So you can imagine how I knocked everyone over to get to him.

I was instantly impressed with his “business card.” It was a Handy-Pal Pan Scraper. The perfect tool for any kitchen and a great way to make your mark if you write about kitchen things.

The Handy-Pal Pan Scraper is a square. Mostly.

When showing it to Husband, I noted that the Handy-Pal Pan Scraper’s corners were different.

My inner (comedic sidekick) voice said, “How different are they?”

(I ignored the  invitation to create a goofy math joke.)

I looked at the Handy-Pal Pan Scraper more closely. All four corners were different.

My inner (smart) voice said, “What’s the angle on each corner?”

I ripped the thing from its package and traced it. I ran for the protractor.

Immediately after slapping the protractor down on my sketch I thought, “Duh – all angles are 90°.”

I needed a better question.

Clearly the question, “what’s the angle,” was not going to help me differentiate between the corners. And that’s what I really wanted – the legitimate answer to the question, “How different are the corners?”

I tried a few questions out, to see what would work:

• How are the corners different? (too vague)
• What’s the rounding difference? (what does that mean?)
• What does it mean to be rounded differently? (attempting to clarify the previous question)
• Round means a piece of a curve – like maybe a circle. Is each corner a piece of a circle? (this is starting to feel better)
• Hey, it looks like each corner may be one fourth of a circle. So what’s the radius of each corner’s “quarter circle”? (gotcha!)

I had my question.

So it finally seemed, after all this internal conversation, that I had a question with a “non-duh” answer.

What is the radii of the corners?

I got out the ruler and started playing.

Turns out that each corner is indeed different than the others. My measurements are approximate. And close enough. 🙂

Say it out loud.

Do you have a Handy-Pal Pan Scraper in your kitchen? Take the opportunity next time you’re scrubbing a pan to point out that the corners have different radii.

Because, you know, just saying it helps!

Share thoughts in the comments, and don’t forget to visit .

You might also like:

• Pi Day 2012 – Yummy!
• Everyday Math Exposure: Just Saying It Helps
• How to be Part of the Education Conversation
• Area of a Circle vs. Area of a Triangle

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