Math Tips and More from Mathnasium of Mill Valley

Marin Mommies presents a guest post by Scott Rubin of Mill Valley Mathnasium, featuring a great math tip for parents, a math joke, and a math question.

Math Tip

Why do parents read to their children, but not do "math" with their children?  Many parents feel uncomfortable with speaking "math" and lack confidence in their own math aptitude. Simple number counting goes a long way, especially at a very impressionable young age. You can start at any age, even as early as one year old.  Count from 1 to 10 by ones and twos. Also, count up to 20, 30, etc. and count by threes, fours, etc.

Count by ones while handing a ball to your child then subtract one while taking a ball back. Be creative, because you can make a difference in your child's "math" life with these simple techniques.

Math Question

Today, Jenny picked 8 flowers. Yesterday, she picked 3 more flowers than she picked today. How many total flowers did Jenny pick yesterday and today combined?

Math Joke

What do you get if you divide the circumference of a jack-o-lantern by its diameter?

Answer to question: Today Jenny picked 8 flowers and yesterday she picked 3 more than today. So Jenny picked 11 flowers yesterday (8 + 3 = 11). Because we want to know how many total flowers she picked for the two days, we add the flowers picked today and yesterday together: 8 + 11 = 19 flowers.

Answer to joke: Pumpkin Pi!

Side note: The number π (or pi or 3.14159...) is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.

Scott Rubin and his wife Christine Bonaccolta moved to Marin County (from New York City) in 2012 to open up Mathnasium, a math learning center in Mill Valley. Prior to that, Scott worked as a financial analyst and Christine worked in sales for a jewelry manufacturer. Mathnasium is a franchise with over 330 locations and over 35 years of experience. We teach math in a way that makes sense to kids. Children don't really hate math, what they hate is being confused, intimidated and embarrassed by math.

To learn more about Mathnasium at www.mathnasium.com/millvalley or by calling (415) 384-8272.