Middle School Math Recommendation

I remember as a kid struggling with math. For some reason, I began improve when I studied to take the GRE. I actually enjoyed putting all those facts back in my head.

Recently, I ordered Mathematwist Number Tales From Around The World by T. V. Padma, and today, I spent the afternoon reading and working thorough the stories and the theories behind them. Each of the fourteen stories is a folktale from such places as Vietnam, India and Armenia. Some of the stories I was familiar with, but, even being familiar with the story, the author’s treatment and explanations afterwards were a pleasure. For example, after the story “Dividing A Goose”, a Jewish tale in which a peasant outwits a rich man and is able to give his own family a good dinner, Ms Padma talks a little about the ancient symbols for addition and subtraction. Did you know that Egyptian hieroglyphics show subtraction by depicting a man walking away? She also talks about the oldest Indian mathematical text. It was found in a field written on treebark.

Mathmatwist would be a great asset for a middle school math class (6th and 7th grades). The stories are engaging and the explanations are clear and never stuffy. There’s even a play to read out loud.

The book is only $8.50 and, even though it was published in India,can be easily ordered from her website www.cliofindia.com/padma/children.htm. The mailing address is in the U. S.