Math like music

Why Art Is Important by Kirsty Kelly

This story is a part of the ongoing conversation about children’s participation in math and the arts with Malke Rosenfeld of Math in Your Feet. Photo by Kirsty Kelly What if we could learn math like children learn music within a cultural tradition? What if we could learn math by being immersed in meaning and […]

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How to Make Multiplication Tables with Perler Beads

My child has been playing with Perler beads for a while now making all sorts of things, including a map of Minecraft. So when I suggested making a multiplication table, the kid was very interested. Except a) I didn’t have a clear idea of how to make multiplication tables out of multi-colored beads and b) […]

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Soroban abacus and finger math

Finger Soroban 824

  Have you ever wondered why the Oriental Soroban abacus has 4 separate beads? It is in base 10, not 4 or 5, so why organize it that way? In response to yesterday’s post Hand tricks! Alexander Bogomolny linked his page explaining finger math. As I looked at that neat way of counting to 99 […]

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Hand Tricks!

Using one’s hands is practically intuitive in the math world. Counting on one’s fingers is the most basic mathematical practice one could think of. But there is other more complex math you and your kid can do with your hands! Images from Wikipedia.org For example, you are hardly limited to counting to 10. If you […]

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