How many miles do you drive a month?

I had a brilliant math idea! It is possible that in my case, the pronoun "I" with brilliant and math should not occur in the same sentence. But this seems like a fun, real-life application of subtraction!

My almost 8yo son, whom I call by his Latin name Tullius here, loves to "check the milage" on our mini van whenever we arrive someplace. At the end of each month, I'm going to have him write the number down on a piece of paper and then he can subtract to see how much we've driven that month! I really don't think I drive too much. We've had the van about 10 1/2 years and haven't reached 70,000 miles yet.

So, how much do you drive a month? No calculators allowed!

Mathmagical Monday: Multiplying by 11

Tullius, who is using MUS Gamma, learned a neat trick for multiplying by 11 last week. Any two digit number (that adds up to 9 or less) multiplied by 11 is that number...okay, I'm not going to be able to explain this. But I think I can show it.
Take 34 x 11, for example. The answer is 374 -- you split the digits 34, like this: 3___4. Then add them together (3+4) and that number goes in the middle: 374. Try it, it really works!

In this same lesson (23), double digit times double digit multiplication was introduced. Tullius does not really "get it" -- this is the first mathematical concept that he hasn't instantly understood. Anyone have any special tips or tricks for this? I'm planning to watch the video with him and do some more block building this week, instead of moving on to the next lesson.

Mathmagical Monday: How many seconds old are you?

I got a book at the library yesterday called Men of Mathematics: The Lives and Achievements of the Great Mathematicians from Zeno to Poincare, by E.T. Bell. I doubt I'll finish all 580 pages of it. However, I did start it...which is more than I can say for some books I spontaneously pick off the library shelf!

Here are some quotes I liked from the beginning of the book:

A mathematical truth is neither simple nor complicated in itself, it is. -- Emile Lemoine

It is easier to square the circle than to get round a mathematician. -- Augustus de Morgan

It is a safe rule to apply that, when a mathematical or philosophical author writes with a misty profundity, he is talking nonsense. -- A.N. Whitehead (1911)

I didn't understand all the quotes, and I probably should have looked up profundity before saying I liked the quote!

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Now for a fun challenge for those learning to multiply large numbers: How many seconds old are you?
This is VERY approximate!

The formula is:
Age in years x 365 days x 24 hours x 60 minutes x 60 seconds

If you want to be a little more accuate, you can use a decimal after your age (for example 10.75) and 365.25 for the days in a year.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, I'm approximately 1,072,224,000 seconds old. To me, that is a meaningless number. However, when I look at days and hours (12,410 and 297,840 respectively), I feel like I could
a) DO something in an hour...I have so many! and b) like I've wasted a lot of time!

Mathmagical Monday: Random 5 from our shelves

We have lots of children's books about math. Well, lots is a relative term.
To put it mathematically here are two equations:

Math books > Poetry books

Math books < Dragon books

And since it is actually already Tuesday morning, I will simply give you 5 math-related books I grabbed this morning. The first two will appeal to the younger ones and the rest to older kids. Check your library! Oh, and if you have any fun math books to recommend, please share!

*More M&M's Math, Barbara Barbieri McGrath
*Millions to Measure, David M. Schwartz, pictures by Steven Kellogg
*The Adventures of Penrose the Mathematical Cat, Theoni Pappas
*Mathematicians are People, Too: Stories from the Lives of Great Mathematicians, by Luetta Reimer
*Math Trek 2: A Mathematical Space Odyssey, by Ivars Peterson

Mathmagical Monday: Make 10!

First a funny from my 10 yo, Momo--

Math-U-See Zeta, Lesson 7:
Casey had a piece of string one meter long. Because she was very bored, she cut it into 1,000 pieces. If the pieces were of equal length, how long was each piece?

Momo's answer? Very small and then she had to vacuum.

Pyramid or Make Ten
This is a simple (despite the length it took me to explain) and fun math card game that we've been playing for years. It helps children learn to "make 10" which is a useful skill when adding.

Using a regular card deck, take out the face cards and jokers.

Lay out a pyramid shape with the cards face down. One card at the top, two on the next row, slightly overlapping the first on the bottom corners. Repeat this until you have five cards face down at the bottom of your pyramid. Finally, lay a sixth row, face up.

Can you make any tens? If your child is just learning their addition math facts, it is helpful to have a little chart with 1+9, 2+8, etc on it for reference. Oh, 10s count as ten too. Remove any 10s and any pairs that make ten. Put them aside in a discard pile.

Now turn over any face down cards that have both lower corners empty (no cards on the row below covering them). Can you make any tens? If yes, set those cards aside in the discard pile. Check the next face up card in your hand. Also, turn over any card that has been uncovered in your pyramid.

Once you can't make anymore tens, turn over another set of three from your draw pile. Once you've gone through your draw pile, you can do it again, turning over three cards each time. At the very end we go through it one card at a time.

The game ends when you can no longer make ten. You actually "win" if you no cards left in the pyramid.

We would've played this today, in Latin, but I can't find a deck of regular cards! Yesterday we played Uno (Unus!) and Phase 10 -- in Latin, of course. It naturally led to talking about color words...but that is a post for another day!

Mathmagical Monday: Count to Ten in Latin

Math is magical to me. Not the "catching fireflies by the river in the moonlight" sort of magical. Rather, the "HOW did he do that" feeling you get when watching a magician perform the same trick again and again and you never see how he does it. I never have understood math...at all.

Still, I'd like for my children to love and appreciate all good things in life, math included. Actually, I'd like to appreciate math!

So here is a little math:

1/5 of my children think math is a horrid invention
2/5 of my children can add, subtract & multiply faster in their heads than I can (they can probably divide faster as well, however this theory can not be tested because I need paper & pencil for division)
2/5 of my children have not shown a positive or negative reaction to the subject

I'd like to continue tipping the scale in favor of math at our house. But I prefer alliteration to addition. I love blogs like La Scuola d’Argento with "Photo Friday" and Sea Star Academy with "Top Ten Tuesday." Therefore, I give you: Mathmagical Monday.

I wanted to take a picture of all the wonderful math related books we have at our house, but I have to gather them up...certain children like to take them and read them and not return them to their proper shelf.

Instead, I give you my Count to 10 in Latin chart. Which I'm not entirely certain is correct...if you know Latin, can you point out any errors? And why isn't there a feminine form of 3? Is it tres? Those colored objects are eggs...one egg -- unum ovum, two eggs - duo ova? The word egg is neuter...which makes sense since you don't know if the chick inside is male or female!

Anyway, this is part of my new attempt to make Latin a living language at our house. I decided we'd start by learning to count to 10. Because of gender, this wasn't as fun & easy as learn as I had expected.

I hope that I will be making Mondays more magical and more mathematical for all my children, and myself, from now on...after all, docendo discitur -- We learn by teaching ~ Seneca.