Math Musings
Math is truly everywhere! This page is filled with instances from my personal life when the magic of math manifested into phenomenal life lessons. Enjoy!
Math Starts Early
Since I am a math teacher, I try to incorporate everyday math lessons for my children: counting steps, counting items along the road, spotting patterns, identifying shapes, solving for unknowns. My children have been actively "doing" math since they were babies.
It amazes me how they make the most mathematically-relevant realizations (regardless if I have taught them or not). One day, when my son was 5 years old, we had a conversation that went like this:
"Momma, how do you write one thousand?"
"One. Zero. Zero. Zero." I replied.
"Oh! That's ten hundred."
"Yes, it is, son. Yes, it is."
Lesson for the day: Sometimes there are different ways to view the same thing.
Lucky Raffle Winner
I once attended a two-day seminar where each participant's name was put in a raffle drawing for the day. On Day #1, lucky "Lucy" won the raffle drawing. On Day #2, "Lucy" won again! Upon realizing that the same woman won twice, a participant at my table loudly said, "Wow! She won two days in a row! What are the odds of that?"
In response, I instantly thought, "1 out of 40,000."... Yes, I am a math geek. It can come in useful sometimes.
Did I answer her question out loud?... NOPE. I wasn't ready to show that I am a geek.
It's All About the Benjamins!
When my son was 6 years old, he started to understand the importance (and perks!) of money. He knew that if you saved your money in a bank account, it would grow. His dream was to eventually see what "infinity money" looked like.
One day, after receiving a quarter from a visiting uncle, he said to me, "Momma, I want to put my money in a bank so I can turn it into $300."
Wouldn't it be great if we could turn a quarter into $300?
Math Reader
As a parent, I enjoy reading stories to my young ones before going to bed. One night, my one-and-a-half-year-old daughter chose 5 books to read. The books covered counting, adding, shapes, and fractions. As she hands them over, she says, "Mom, I like to read the books about math."
That's my girl!
Preference Estimation
Every time I teach about perspective and scaling, I am reminded of a conversation I once had when my son was a 6-year-old. Back then, the first edition of the Nintendo Wii was all the rage. We were getting ready to take a long road trip to visit out-of-state relatives. I asked him if he would be bringing along his PSP (Sony's Playstation Portable game console). His matter of fact response was:
"No, because the PSP is like 10% boring, and the Wii is 0% boring."
His comparison sure did make his mathematician mama proud!
Above Average?
I once took my kids to a science block party hosted by a local children's hospital. The street was decked out in booths devoted to science wonder: liquid nitrogen ice cream, health checks, bike helmet safety, chemical reactions, buoyancy, CPR, etc. There was a station where kids had the chance to experience what it was like to be intoxicated by putting on "beer goggles," which caused visual distortion/impariment. The kids were then tasked with throwing a bean bag into a basket about 10 feet away. It was quite hilarious watching kids miss the target even after 20 tries.
My 6-year-old daughter proudly put on the beer googles, gave only two throws, and landed the bean bag in the basket. Spot on! The volunteers were impressed... I was impressed.
Afterwards, I asked her how she did it. She replied, "Well, I saw two baskets, so I just aimed in the middle."
Interesting way to think of averaging.