Comments on: Explaining maths to kids

By: John Lascurettes

John Lascurettes — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 04:46:52 +0000

I guess 6 year olds aren’t on to negative numbers yet. But many of the explanations don’t hold water with negative numbers, but ultimately, the result is the same. Or stated another way, it doesn’t matter if you are adding or subtracting the second odd number, the result will be even.

By: Christian Sonne

Christian Sonne — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 14:50:17 +0000

Lie, well.. I remember from when I was a young kid, that exact question came to mind, but no one could offer an explanation – not even one I didn’t understand…

also stuff like why odd*even=even, even*even=even, odd*odd=odd, negative*positive=negative…

While I can easily figure out why this is now, even without having been taught, I remember being severely frustrated with not having explanations for these basic questions about the nature of integers…

I believe that had I been explained just a single of these, I could probably have figured out the others, resulting in much less frustration, and a better understanding of maths and logic…

By: Lie

Lie — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 09:33:28 +0000

That is a stupid workbook.

First, what is the significance of knowing that it is impossible to add up two odd numbers to get an odd numbers? Extremely small. It is not important to know that two odd numbers added together is even. You could do a high school level workbook without knowing that two odd numbers added together means even, couldn’t you?

Secondly, as the kids grows up, (s)he’ll realize about it in one way or another, even if the question is never raised. It’ll arise in his/her unconscious mind that two odd numbers added together is even.

Third, by raising this question, you’ll have to feed the kid an explanation, since sometimes concepts like this isn’t easy to be grasped by a kid, this hampers the kids ability to think by himself later in the future, (s)he got too much explanation of difficult concepts, and never allowed to think himself. This approach would better the kids ability to memorize, but severely damage their ability to think. A better approach would be to give the kid easier questions, and let him/her think about the solution.

By: Russ

Russ — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 06:04:30 +0000

Some good suggestions here, thank you all.

Ill post next time BEFORE I try to deal with any sticky maths questions!

By: coleman yee

coleman yee — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 02:22:55 +0000

I can’t resist a try:

Take ONE away from both the odd numbers, and they become even. The two ONEs taken away become a pair (2), which is EVEN. Add all those even numbers together and you’ll still have an even number.

By: Mikel Ward

Mikel Ward — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 05:51:42 +0000

I think the only answer that would fit is: “because two odds make an even”. It seems redundant, but it does reinforce what has been learned as an easy to remember rule.

By: (O_o) nickpan

(O_o) nickpan — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 16:50:13 +0000

ODD + ODD = OO DD DD

best illustrated with coloured paper, a thick marker, scissors, glue, snacks, apple juice and a promise to the playground after this odd lesson.

And done in the fashion like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRqUE6IHTEA

By: Charles Everett Decker

Charles Everett Decker — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 13:13:10 +0000

Even numbers of odd numbers added equal an even number, as paired odd remainders even out evenly.