Pop quiz – what’s one half divided by one quarter?
No, you’re not allowed to use a calculator, or or phone a friend…
Stuck? OK, it’s 2.
“What?” I hear you cry, “But that doesn’t make sense. We’ve divided something small by another small thing, that should make an even smaller thing, surely.”
And, of course, you’d be wrong. If you already knew the answer, or you’ve already seen this February’s Channel 4 documentary The Kids Don’t Count, then read on with a smug smile. If you were genuinely stuck by the question, let us demystify division for you.
The GoW came across the Gresham College YouTube channel earlier today, featuring some interesting clips from a lecture by cosmologist and Gresham College Geometry professor, John Barrow, on everyday maths.
The Gresham College is a venerable London institution devoted to providing free lectures and events for the public, in the best of traditions.
The venerable Gresham College
In the clip below, Barrow shows the maths behind bank numbers and what’s known as the ‘Luhn Test’.
As comedy maths puzzlers go, this one is a little forced, but nevertheless fun to share. I confess it took The God of Whizz a few goes to figure out that Pi = ‘pie’ (look at the scribbly reflected numbers).
Despite this neat coincidence, I somehow suspect that sharing this fancy formula in an exam or test won’t get you extra credit…
Tim Muffett of BBC Breakfast interviewed students and teachers at north London’s Anson Primary School, which has a novel solution to the problem – teach the parents!
Teachers at Anson School have produced short video snippets outlining key principles that parents can watch with their offspring and so become a constructive part of the homework process.
The idea that Anson Primary School is teaching the wrong people is wide of the mark. As we know well at Maths-Whizz – the most engaged and motivated students have engaged and motivated parents.
A child whose mother enjoys a subject, or is confidently able to assist him with homework, will be more inclined to see value in the subject, to do well at school, and to ask for constructive help.
This is something we’ve been fostering with Maths-Whizz for some time.
The circle of learning with Maths-Whizz
Our home and schools maths tutoring services promote communication between parents, teachers, and students – parents experience our animated tutor with their children, teachers discuss student reports with parents, and kids tend to talk to one another about toys, pets, and our Challenge feature.
