Its not new to me that my moods are tied to the weather. This winter has been a real beaut, with few sunny days and an excess of cold windy ones. Cabin fever has long since set in and I cant tell you how many days we avoid going out or even getting dressed in real clothing.
If I could figure out where to live to maximize my sun exposure and minimize housing expenditures I'd head there tomorrow.
Today's math is going to be multiplication squares, aka magic squares. These are probably sort of like Suduku, which I hate. I hate it because I'm terrible at it. But magic squares are simple and do-able even for me, the math dunce. No, I dont talk like that in front of the kids. And actually I'm not all that duncy having pulled out an A in finite math a couple yrs ago when I went back to college part time (but still didnt finish.)
We are heading into magic squares armed with new information gleaned from a book by the Human Calculator, Scott Flansburg- Math Magic For Your Kids. Here's the dirt:
when multiplying by 4 you say "double double" and that is what you do
300x4= 300 doubled, or 600. and 600 doubles to 1200.
300x8= 300 double double double- so 300, 600, 1200, 2400.
division is as easy- by 4? halve it. and halve it again. by 8? halve halve halve.
There is a neat trick with 6 too but it eludes me this morning.
Also, in other news, today I eschew the apostrophe.
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1 comment:
wow. i really like that math. i might even be able to do that math!! in our house we have two camps - me the math dunce (with no exceptions i can barely add!) and then there is the dh who is a math wizard. so the poor kids are caught between mum who can help minimally with math and dad who has no patience or understanding for people who can't think in numbers. at least i can spell!!! lol
so i must get this math magic book because sadly the children in this house got their mother's math genes and not their father's...
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