Math demystified

Part 1 Mental math with basic concepts

Most of the mathematics that we learn in school is taught to us on paper with the expectation that we will solve problems on paper. But there is joy and lifelong value in being able to do mathematics in your head. In school, learning how to do math in your head quickly and accurately can be empowering. In this course, children will learn to solve many problems using multiple strategies that reinforce number sense, which can be helpful in all mathematics courses. Success at doing mental calculation and estimation can also lead to improvement on several standardized tests. We encounter numbers on a daily basis outside of school, including many situations in which it is just not practical to pull out a calculator, from buying groceries to reading the newspaper to negotiating a car payment. Not only does mental math sharpen the mind, but it can also be a lot of fun. Our workshops will focus on the nuts and bolts of mental math: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Often, we will see that there is more than one way to solve a problem, and we will motivate many of the problems with real-world applications. Once we have mastery of the basics of mental math, we will branch out in interesting directions.

  • Techniques for easily finding approximate answers when we don’t need complete accuracy. Pencil-and-paper mathematics but done in ways that are seldom taught in school
  • How to imply write down the answer to a multiplication, division, or square root problem without any intermediate results.
  • Interesting ways to verify an answer’s correctness.
  • Advanced multiplication techniques that allow many large multiplication problems to be dramatically simplified.
  • Explore long division, short division, and Vedic division, a fascinating technique that can be used to generate answers faster than any method you may have seen before.
  • Memory improvement for numbers using a phonetic code.
  • The ability to determine the day of the week of any date in history.

    • Part 2 Math visualization

    Too many children believe that they simply aren’t good at math. But what if they could learn to see mathematical problems in new and helpful ways? The art of thinking visually is a key component to mathematical success. They say that a picture can speak a thousand words. In mathematics, a picture can spawn a thousand ideas. A picture can provide deep understanding. It can prompt that aha moment to cause an idea or process to suddenly make sense and thus lead the way to finally understanding a tricky piece of mathematics. Our course provides an alternate but natural way to think about ideas and truly see what they are about and how to make them work for students. And it isn’t a skill merely for the mathematically inclined. Everyone can acquire the tools necessary to think brilliantly in mathematics, experience tremendous success in learning and analyzing mathematical ideas, and achieve effective and commanding understanding of the mathematical concepts encountered in school

  • Learn how to add all the numbers from 1 up to 1,000 and back down again in less than a second!
  • Make sense of negative numbers once and for all and tackle some age old word problems from school, all with the ease of pictures to help.
  • Answer this troublesome question: Why is negative times negative positive?
  • Explore the mathematics of fractions and decimals in a new and utterly intuitive manner.
  • Explore the mathematics of probability, probe Pascal’s triangle, and discover its connection to random motion.
  • Examine the mathematics of the Fibonacci numbers, fixed points, and folding patterns.