This help page contains information to assist you in navigating and using the site, as well as tutorials for various programs. If you still cannot find the information you need, please contact us.
Tarsia information and software
These puzzles are a type of jigsaw, which require students to match pairs of like expressions on different pieces. A Tarsia has only one solution, and will form a particular shape (specified in each Tarsia's description) on completion. Tarsia work best when two or three students are working on them, so multiple copies of a tarsia will be needed. The puzzle also needs to be cut out before it can be used; the pieces are printed in a random order, however, so it is possible to have your students do this preparation.
To open the Tarsia file, you will need to download and install the Formulator Tarsia program; which will also allow you to edit the files or make your own. The installer for the program can be downloaded by clicking the following link. Tarsia requires Windows 2000, XP, 2003 Server or Vista to run.
Formulator Tarsia installation package, version 3.9.1483.9051 (7.37 mb)
License agreement (Tarsia is free for non-commercial purposes)
For further information and other products, see the Hermitech Laboratory website.
Thanks to M Ladak (Mathed Up!) for collating and contributing the collection that forms the majority of the Tarsia resources on this website.
Video help
To preserve bandwidth and server space, all videos on OpenMaths are stored indirectly on YouTube (where they can be seen together on the OpenMaths channel). Unfortunately, this means that if your school has blocked YouTube, these videos will not work.
To circumvent this issue, it is possible to download the videos you want using KeepVid. To do this, find the video that you want, and click on the YouTube icon in the bottom right corner to open the video in YouTube. Copy the URL from the address bar in your browser, then go to KeepVid, paste the URL into the box at the top of the page, and click 'Download'. Then simply select the file that you want to download and save to your computer.