Math and Fun

I strongly believe math can be quite fun in some aspects of it; yet I also believe that not all of it has to be all fun.

It's good for students to learn to work through problems that are just that: work and no fun. That's what real life and real jobs will involve too.

Of course most of us try to get an occupation that we are interested in and can enjoy for the most part, but even then, we probably won't like all parts of our "dream job".

So in math, as in all education, we need to let our students learn to work, struggle, prowl through it.

But we can also let our students have some fun every once in a while. This can make them enjoy math, like math, appreciate it, like learning, and so on. I'm sure it's easy to agree with that.

In lower grades you might have more play than work, and then later on it's more work than play. For example, maybe you're studying coins and their values. Your child can play with real coins, do paper-and-pencil problems, and maybe play an online game about money or coins.

When studying algebra, it is going to be more on the work side, since algebra is similar to learning the "alphabet" and "basic grammar" of a new language. The "fun" topics tend to come after you've learned your basic language and can go off exploring (such as in calculus).

So I feel there is a balance between these two.

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Along these lines, I've recently turned my attention to a math website Called Googol Learning whose founder Susan Jarema is making math to be googols of fun (googol is the number 10¹⁰⁰, or 1 followed by 100 zeros).

For example, she encourages you to, and gives ideas and resources for starting your own math club! This could be a family math night, or a monthly gathering of a few kids and adults together.

Susan uses a lot of music to make things more fun. She's produced audio CDs that combine math, music, and story telling for better learning.

Susan also gives interactive workshops in schools and homes.

One of these workshops is also now recorded on a CD (Crazy 4 Math), and for another one there is a family and teacher's kit (Discovery Multiplication Math Program).

The site also features a list of virtual field trips about volcanoes, tsunamis, earthquakes, or how many everyday things are made.

And what would be math fun without games? On her site you'll also find a list of best online math games.

Price change ahead...

It just so happens that due to something 'in the works' behind the scenes (to be announced soon!) concerning the Math Mammoth books, I am forced to raise the price on the "blue series" package for 16 ebooks.

I wasn't really planning on it myself, but like I said, it's a situation that cannot be helped, due to something I'm not disclosing as of yet...

This price has always been a tremendous deal. Currently, with the $32, it is a 48% discount as compared to buying the 16 books individually, and $36 on CD.

Now, I will be having the package download for $40, and the CD for $45. This price ($40) is then almost exactly 35% off of the price of buying the ebooks individually.

I have of course been adding a little material to the books even in the last few weeks, and keep doing so, little by little, so its value has increased even in that sense.

The latest calculations are that my 16 books package for $40 delivers you 810 pages of math materials. (That count is NOT including answer keys or copyright pages but just text & problems.)

This price change only applies to the package and CD, and not to any of the individual books. I am not planning to raise the price on those.

So if you are thinking about buying the package for the lower price, please do so before next week.

More info on the BLUE SERIES books

Buy Math Mammoth package deal at Kagi

Some humor

They say laughter is the best medicine - and it has been proven in scientific studies that laughing does help our health. Keeps stress at bay!

So here's a joke for the computer oriented...

and for those frustrated by exams... I especially liked the last picture! You get so deep into your calculations that you feel you get lost or so...

And there's lots more in the internet, some good some bad, some worse etc. Here are two more for you quoted from a certain page (see link at the bottom):

A physicist and a mathematician are sitting in a faculty lounge. Suddenly, the coffee machine catches on fire. The physicist grabs a bucket and leap towards the sink, filled the bucket with water and puts out the fire. Second day, the same two sit in the same lounge. Again, the coffee machine catches on fire. This time, the mathematician stands up, got a bucket, hands the bucket to the physicist, thus reducing the problem to a previously solved one.

An chemist, a physicist, and a mathematician are stranded on an island when a can of food rolls ashore. The chemist and the physicist comes up with many ingenious ways to open the can. Then suddenly the mathematician gets a bright idea: "Assume we have a can opener ..."

Click here to read more of these physicist, mathematician, engineer jokes.