It’s Husband’s birthday today. He’s 42. But instead of just saying, “Husband’s 42,” I can say he’s 13.37pi years old. (At that site you can also find an “exact” pi birthdays in case you want to celebrate at some other time.)
He’s also 15,340 days old! This site calculates months, hours and seconds too.
He’s years old. His age is also the second sphenic number. What’s that? I’m not sure – but if you click on your child’s age on this Wikipedia page, you’ll get some fun sounding words for their number that they can use all day! Here are some for your kids:
He can go here to find out that he was born in MCMLXIX. This nifty birthday math trick will result in the number 4.22 (April 22 – his birthday!). Or this one which will result in 42269 (also his birthday).
For some fun birthday math, he (and you) can check out The Birthday Problem – also known as the birthday paradox.
How will you celebrate a family member’s next birthday? Will you use birthday math? Share your thoughts in the comments.
I’ll bet the first answer you have is, “in school.”
In my recent research of different types of math teaching, including dancing, literature and gaming, it’s occurred to me that I didn’t learn math in school. I learned arithmetic, I learned algorithms, but math?
My dad is an engineer, and by nature not a teacher. But we did puzzles. Cryptograms from GAMES magazine, computer-based role-playing games and TV-based video games. He wasn’t one for shoot-em-up or beat-em-up games (although swords were essential). Everything we did had logical thinking.
My mother was an English major. She encouraged memorization of both prepositions and multiplication facts. And she played word games with me.
Puns have a special kind of logic to them. As she was punning around with me, I was learning a unique set of skills.
Of both of them, I was allowed to ask questions. Any questions. And I did. And they answered them.
Everyone learns math at home.
As a parent, your daily actions impact your child mathematically. It’s not your skills with pencil and paper that help you teach math, but who you are.
You connect with your children and understand them because of your similarities to them. Remember how you learned math. Not how you learned arithmetic and algorithms, but math. The art of math.
That’s your key to helping your kid learn math.
How did you learn math? Can you use this to help your children? Teachers – how can you help parents tap into this side? Share your thoughts in the comments.
This is a trick that everyone should learn in the 3rd grade. If not, then at least by the 9th grade.
If you’re in the dark on this one, no big deal. Now’s the time to learn. If you’re a parent – this trick will win you points like crazy. Especially if you get to it before the teacher does.
So here’s how it works. For both 3 and 9, start by adding up the digits in the number. If the result is divisible by 3, then so’s the original number. If the result’s divisible also by 9, then… you guessed it… so’s the original number.
If your result is way to big to tell, do it again. Check out the videos for both:
Questions or comments? Leave them in the comment section below.
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, this post is for you.
I’m not here to convince you to love math. I’m not even here to help you not hate it. But if you’ve got kids around, you gotta do something about your vocalization of this.
We want the next generation to be better than the previous generation – in everything. That’s our nature as parents and people.
In order to improve the next generation, the previous generations must either die or shut their traps. This is the case with racism, sexism, creed-ism and sexual orientation-ism. And it’s the case with anti-mathism, as well.
You certainly don’t want to die before your children finish their eduction, so you gotta learn to keep quiet.
Zip your lip for yourself.
Southwest Airlines tells you to put on your own oxygen mask before you help others put on theirs.
Your first step is to get yourself out of the habit of saying negative math things. This will make it easier when refraining from talking bad about math in front of kids.
If you’re math phobic, start doing this when you’re pregnant. If you will never have kids, do it anyway. Children are everywhere – you might’ve noticed.
The more you say it, the more you believe it. Which makes you say it even more.
Use this to your advantage, not your disadvantage. Every time you say, “I’m bad at math,” you get worse. You are the smartest person you know and you should believe whatever you say. Which means whatever your tell yourself will be true.
If your friends say they hate math in front of your children, correct them. Treat this behavior just as you would if your friend said the F-word.
Give them “the look.” Correct them with other words like, “Math has always been an interesting challenge for Aunt Sophie… right?”
Be an example.
Your children take to heart what you say. They want to be like you. If you hate math, they want to hate math too. Even if they really don’t.
So when you feel the words coming toward your lips, force something good to come out. If you can’t say, “Math is fun” without cringing, tell them something you are good at. Anything works. Even if it seems lame.
Instead of:
Kiddo: Awww! I have to do fraction homework today. I hate fractions. Grownup: I know, sweetheart. I never liked math either.
Try this instead:
Kiddo: Awww! I have to do fraction homework today. I hate fractions. Grownup: Well, I’m good at cooking chicken!
Kiddo will think you’re nuts, but won’t associate any negativity to math. And since he already thinks you’re nuts, you’re good to go.
Use distraction.
If finding something you’re good at doesn’t come quick enough, scream some random swearword and say, “Oh my goodness I can’t believe I forgot…” and run out of the room. Compose yourself, prepare a short sentence or two and go back into the room.
Some sentences to consider are:
Where were we Kiddo? Oh right, fractions. Well, fractions help us share things. If you, your dad and I want to share a pizza, we need fractions in order to divide it up. If you do your homework with fractions, I’ll let you divide up the pizza that we get at Chuck E Cheese’s on Saturday!
Fractions are interesting because they have two parts – a top and a bottom. You have a top and a bottom! Do your fractions and then we’ll wash your top and your bottom in the tub before dinner.
Avoid statements like, “Fractions are good for you.” Math shouldn’t be equated to vegetables. They’re good for you but you have to tolerate them. That may be your opinion, but remember were trying to improve the next generation.
So…
When negative math-speak comes to your tongue, say something else, anything else. Do it for you, do it for the children. Don’t die, but do shut your trap.
This was requested by Jake’s Mom. Since she was taught to borrow, she was dumfounded at what Jake brought home. Happily, Jake is young enough and unscathed enough to not balk at a “different” method than what his mom was taught. He got it right away.
But Jake’s mom, on the other hand, is struggling.
If your kiddo is being taught this, here’s a way to look at it that might help you understand what’s going on.
First, a brief review on the relationship of subtraction to addition:
Here’s what “reverse addition” looks like in relation to our old friend “borrowing,” using the same example:
And here’s an example:
Another example (along with a special tip for you):
And a final example, just to help you get the hang of it.
