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No no no!!! Not multiply as in procreate ... multiply as in mathematics!! Okay, I probably just lost half the audience but for those still remaining, this is interesting! I'm no whiz at math by any stretch of the imagination and it was my least favorite subject in school but this would have been fun to try and may have made what seemed boring slightly more intriguing.

I don't think there is any sound so don't bother fiddling with the volume!

That may be fun as an alternative way to approach mathematics for children but I don't see this technique being faster than the way it's taught in our schools now. It also would take up alot of space on the paper and I also cannot see how this would help convey what mathematics is truly about which is NOT finding the answer IT IS about understanding the fundamental steps that ultimately help us understand how to apply them in many different ways.

What I am interested in is the Chinese approach to counting numbers which does seem to help kids get a head start in mathematics(I don't think it's much of a conscious approach as much as it is just how their numbers translate into their language. Perhaps someone else is more familiar with this subject)...

This link explains it well... How Language And Math Intersect: Chinese v. English « Thinking About Thinking

What is an absolute certainty is that the Chinese come over here to our schools and blow American kids out of the water in mathematics. Perhaps more of an open mind is necessary...Yeah right who am I kidding...

It's probably easier to teach because it saves having to learn the times tables (to know 8x7 you add 8 rows of 7 dots to get 56) but for that very reason it is slow, error prone and prevents the student from moving on to doing the mental arithmetic that is essential to sanity checking results and estimates.

A fellow I met from China recently actually explained a bit about the difference. Number systems that don't do the odd "teens" thing are able to retain groups of numbers in their heads much longer and manipulate them easier. I can't remember exactly how he explained it but it was quite convincing that our "teens" slow us down mathematically in comparison. He does math in Cantonese as it proved more efficient than English.

koan;1382446 wrote: A fellow I met from China recently actually explained a bit about the difference. Number systems that don't do the odd "teens" thing are able to retain groups of numbers in their heads much longer and manipulate them easier. I can't remember exactly how he explained it but it was quite convincing that our "teens" slow us down mathematically in comparison. He does math in Cantonese as it proved more efficient than English.


I often wonder how the French cope - they extend the "teens thing" to the ridiculous.

koan;1382446 wrote: A fellow I met from China recently actually explained a bit about the difference. Number systems that don't do the odd "teens" thing are able to retain groups of numbers in their heads much longer and manipulate them easier. I can't remember exactly how he explained it but it was quite convincing that our "teens" slow us down mathematically in comparison. He does math in Cantonese as it proved more efficient than English. They cut the uneccessary suffix out and then when looked at from outside the perspective of "the teens" it's easy to see they're actually multiplying at the same time they're counting. Good good stuff and I hope we adopt it.

It even looks easier to remember...

1 - 9 is easy

11 - 19 seems easy too but when all you have to do is add 1 - 9 to the established 1 - 9 along with 0's that follow we see them already speculating what 123,456,789 looks like in they're thought process before our poor kid is at 100.