Apparatus and method of playing an educational card game

A method of teaching the fundamentals of dimensional analysis using a chip imprinted with an equal sign, and at least one set of cards, each set comprising a plurality of cards, each card having first and second faces, each face imprinted with a line bisecting the face to form generally rectangular top and bottom halves, denoted numerator and denominator, respectively, the numerator of the first face imprinted with a first symbol, the denominator of the first face imprinted with a second symbol, the numerator of the second face imprinted with the second symbol, the denominator of the second face imprinted with the first symbol so that the numerator of each face appears vertically above the denominator when the card is rotated about an axis parallel to the line bisecting the face, each symbol appearing on an even number of cards, which comprises:

• (a) lining up the cards of a set in a row in random order, with random faces exposed and the corresponding second faces hidden, and with the lines bisecting the card faces generally colinear;
• (b) interdisposing the chip between the last card from the right and the other cards to designate a target card on the right side of the chip and source cards on the left side of the chip;
• (c) flipping source cards about axes parallel to the lines bisecting the card faces to expose the hidden face as necessary until the symbol in the numerator of the target card is matched by the symbol in the numerator of one source card, and the symbol in the denominator of the target card is matched by the symbol in the denominator of one source card;
• and
• (d) flipping the remaining source cards until the symbol in the numerator of each source card is matched by the symbol in the denominator of another source card.

A method of teaching the fundamentals of dimensional analysis using a chip imprinted with an equal sign, and at least one set of cards, each set comprising a plurality of cards, each card having first and second faces, each face imprinted with a line bisecting the face to form generally rectangular top and bottom halves, denoted numerator and denominator, respectively, the numerator of the first face imprinted with a first symbol, the denominator of the first face imprinted with a second symbol, the numerator of the second face imprinted with the second symbol, the denominator of the second face imprinted with the first symbol so that the numerator of each face appears vertically above the denominator when the card is rotated about an axis parallel to the line bisecting the face, each symbol appearing on an even number of cards, which comprises:

• (a) lining up the cards of a set in a row in random order with random faces exposed and the corresponding second faces hidden, with the lines bisecting the card faces generally colinear;
• (b) randomly selecting one card of the set and placing it to the right of the chip on a different, generally parallel row, this card being denoted as the target card, and the remaining cards being denoted the source cards;
• (c) selecting a source card, if necessary flipping it about an axis parallel to the line bisecting the card face and placing the card immediately to the left of the chip, such that this source card's numerator symbol matches the numerator symbol of the target card;
• (d) selecting another source card, flipping it if necessary, and placing it immediately to the left of the last source card placed, so that this source card's numerator symbol matches the denominator symbol of the last source card selected and placed, until all source cards have been selected and placed.

A method of teaching the fundamentals of dimensional analysis using a chip imprinted with an equal sign, and at least one set of cards, each set comprising a plurality of cards, each card having first and second faces, each face imprinted with a line bisecting the face to form generally rectangular top and bottom halves, denoted numerator and denominator, respectively, the numerator of the first face imprinted with a first symbol, the denominator of the first face imprinted with a second symbol, the numerator of the second face imprinted with the second symbol, the denominator of the second face imprinted with the first symbol, each symbol appearing on an even number of cards, which comprises:

• (a) arranging two or more sets of cards on a surface in random fashion, with random faces exposed and the corresponding second faces hidden;
• (b) selecting one card and placing it on the surface to the right of the chip, this card being denoted the target card, the remaining cards being denoted the source cards;
• (c) selecting a source card, if necessary flipping it about an axis parallel to the line bisecting the face and placing it immediately to the left of the chip, such that this source card's numerator symbol matches the numerator symbol of the target card;
• (d) sequentially selecting the remaining source cards, flipping each if necessary, and placing the card to the left of the last source card selected so that this source card's numerator symbol matches the denominator symbol of the last source card selected and placed, until the denominator of the last source card placed matches the denominator of the target card.