Solving maths problems magically
WE face the horror of the removal of mathematics as an accreditation subject from our schooling system. It is the equivalent of declaring all mankind members of the Flat Earth Society.
The decision seems to be based on poor performance levels. The question is: does it reflect poor performance from pupils, or poor performance from the teachers?
Didactics aims at awakening interest in a subject. It should entice the learner into wanting to know more about the skill. The same trick is often employed by magicians. We ask: how did he do that?
Mothers use the same strategy, producing aromas in the kitchen that trigger the question: What’s for dinner? There is some involvement triggered by a display of some sort of skill.
I am suggesting that our initial failure is our inability to lure the learner. There are ways to enthral. For instance, show a child that the sum of his age plus the year he was born provides the year that he is in. Try it. Magic? No. Maths? Yes!
We show the magic in numbers. We discuss why 3x4 is not the same as 4x3. The answer 12 seems the same. But can we say that three dogs with four legs each is the same as four dogs with three legs each?
In my time, we were required to learn the “times tables”. We recited it daily. It reinforced memory and cognition. Admittedly, there was reckoning of another kind if we got the tables wrong. But that is a debate for another day.
We learnt that any number multiplied by nine has a strange property. All the answers could reduce to the number 9. For example, 9 68x9 = 8712. The 8+7+1+2=18, and 1+8 =9. Also, the product of the 9 times table does a mirror-trick. As in 9, 18, 27, 36, 45 which suddenly “turn around” and continue as 54, 63, 72, 81 and 90.
And multiplying by 11 is easy. 45x11 = 495 at a glance. Add the 4 and 5 of 45, stick the resulting 9 in between, and you can say the answer instantly.
And if the number is larger? As in 87x11 = 957? Again, add 8+7 = 15. Write the answer as 875 but add the 1 to the 8 for 975. Easy-peazy.
Admittedly, life if not all play. But as difficulty increments, we develop skills and enthusiasms that keep us going. We demystify the fear and resultant anxiety. It can be done.
Only when a proven inability at the subject evinces itself, should a change be made. A change in subject choice, not a negation of maths as an essential subject. We must want to. Then we can. – actabisher@gmail.com
• Alex Tabisher wrote this column despite the passing of his wife Ruth. They were married for 57 years. The funeral will be held at the All Saints Church, Belhar at 11am on Saturday.