Someone asked me about the interpretation or meaning of the two numbers in multiplication, such as 4 × 2. Do you view it as four groups of 2 , or as four, taken two times ? Here's their question: "...I noticed that your explanation about how to interpret a math phrase, such as 4 × 2, is different from how I have understood it and taught it to my older daughter who was using RightStart Math at this level. Let me explain: I see that you are using the first factor to denote number of groups and the second factor tells how many are in each group (4 × 2 would be interpreted 4 groups of 2). On the other hand, I have taught and thought of it reversed, with the first factor telling how many are in each group and the second factor telling you how many groups (4 × 2 would be 4 taken 2 times). I know that the difference in explanations does not ultimately change the product, but I am wondering what you thoughts are. When I conceptually picture what I'm doing I see i...
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Thanks for the cool Escher/Lego link. Just wanted to let you know and give everyone a heads-up that a link in one of the responses from others included in this piece - ("the brick testament.com") is something we would not want our little ones to look at - although it is Bible stories depicted in Legos, there are some very sexually explicit images which would definitely be inappropriate for children to see. The site even states that there are such stories in tbe Bible (which, of course, there are) and rates the depicted stories by " S, V " etc. etc.
We thought it would be cool for our little person to look at because it illustrated Bible stories with Legos - fortunately, we looked it over before our homeschooler had a chance to see and quickly changed our minds.
Thanks for your wonderful blog and your awesome math. newsletters and website. You help make our homeschool "math department"'s job so much easier and more fun!
You are appreciated!