There are a couple of books out for young teen girls to jump start math. "Math Doesn't Suck" and "Kiss My Math". I don't' recall the author at this point and I'm too lazy to walk across the house to look, but the title should find them for you. The author had much of them published in Teen magazine. My wife says they are great, and 10 year old granddaughter seem to like them. Lots of 'silly' quizzes and 'practical' applications that appeal to young teens. Worth a look. You might have heard the interview on NPR a week or so ago. Her current project is a similar book on Algebra. BillR Jacksonville FL 1981 300SD 1997 LWB S320 [Now I need to decide if my darling wife is a diplomat or a gangster]
-----Original Message----- From: mercedes-boun...@okiebenz.com [mailto:mercedes-boun...@okiebenz.com] On Behalf Of OK Don Sent: Wednesday, June 17, 2009 12:12 AM To: Mercedes Discussion List Subject: Re: [MBZ] one reason it's bad to have a girl Only if the boy has been told that he's good at math, and your girl has been told that she's bad at math. If the reverse were true, so would your experience (given that the natural abilities were equal to start with). One of my daughters was told by her third grade teacher that she was bad at math. Despite being #2 in her HS class, and got an A in honors math, she, to this day (she's 32), believes that she's bad at math, and shy's away from it. Her sister, who was never told that crap, was about the same in school, but does believe that she can do math, and she can. You are right, the math is the minor part of that problem - it's more logic. On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 10:57 PM, Gary Hurst <jabbahur...@gmail.com> wrote: > My kid comes to me with the following problem and says she doesn't know how > to do that "math." > > ten years ago A was three times as old as C this year A is 50 years older > than C. how old is A > > i go to explain to her that this isn't as much a "math" mystery as it is a > problem of defining terms and applying logic. The problem asks us to solve > for: > > the current age of A > > there are two statements, the subject of which are: > > 1. the ages of A and C ten years ago > 2. the ages of A and C today > > the problem with solving this question is that people who look at it as a > math problem might only see two variables, A and C. there are, however, 4 > variables: > > A(age 10 years ago) or Asub10 > C (age 10 years ago) or Csub10 > A(age today) or let's just call this A > C (age today) or let's just call this C > > The two statements are saying the following: > > Asub10=3*Csub10 > A-50=C > > however, as we know by definition the relationship between these variables > and can therefore reduce them to two. > > A-10=Asub10 > C-10=Csub10 > > so the first statement can be expressed > > A-10=3(C-10) > > therefore: > > A-10=3C-30 > > therefore: > > A=3C-20 > > and We also know that: > > A-50=C > > therefore: > > A=C+50 > > Now we have defined A in terms of two statement about C, that A is both: > > C+50 and 3C-20 > > since both of those are the same as A and A is the same as A it follows > that > > C+50=3C-20 > > therefore > > 50=2C-20 > > therefore > > 2C=70 > > So we know that C is 35 > > based the statement > > A-50=C > > then > > A-50=35 > > which means > > A=85 > > if we plug it into our other statement, we can check that A=85 if and only > if C=35, so we can be confident that A=85 > > > My kid looks at me like I'm mad and says "ok, so you are sure that A is 85 > years old, right". i explain that it seems to be a logical certainty and > she should see that from the demonstration. to which she replies "well, > ok, > if you are sure, then i'll use that" > > I somehow think a boy might have done better with this > > -- > OK Don > Pair of W124 300D 2.5 Turbos > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://okiebenz.com/pipermail/mercedes_okiebenz.com/attachments/20090616/ba b14289/attachment.html> _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
