Posts

Mathematics And Football: What's The Connection?

 With tonight's Hall Of Fame Game getting ready to kick off the 2023 NFL Pre-Season schedule, I wanted to offer some ways of using football (or any sport) to enrich the learning of mathematics and watch for its application on the field of play.  Feel free to use these tips in moderation.  Don't take away from the enjoyment of the game.  Just find some ways to make mathematics come alive and seem to be equally fun. Let's start with the simple things that can be done with elementary students.  As the game is being played, ask them if either team is winning and by how much.  This will activate their knowledge of subtraction without them even thinking about it.  Older elementary kids could be asked how many touchdowns or field goals would be needed to reach a certain score.  This uses division.  Simple shape recognition also comes into play by asking what shape the field or ball is.  Middle school/Junior High students may find these exercise...
Post a Comment
Read more

Order Of Operations

Let's start this off with one that I see cause many debates on Facebook no matter how many different problems I have seen put up for people to answer. Here is the proper way to think about any arithmetic problem whether variables are involved or not. 1. Work all parenthesis or other grouping symbols before proceeding with any other operations. A grouping symbol can be a set of braces {}, brackets [], parenthesis (), the radical sign √, or the division bar also known as the fraction bar (expression)/(expression). Sometimes, there will be grouping symbols inside another set of grouping symbols. Always work from the inside out in this case. 2. Compute all exponents including roots or radicals from left to right. 3. Perform all multiplication and division from left to right. This is a single step. You do not do all multiplication followed by all division. 4. Perform all addition and subtraction from left to right. As above, this is a single step. Now, let's see how this works with ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Introduction

I've been debating about the best way to bring math to the masses for a while now and I decided that blogging about it would be a better approach than YouTube. I may add that component later. I have a BS degree in Secondary Mathematics Education from Indiana University. I completed the education program at the campus in Richmond, IN while most of my math and distributive education courses were on the main Bloomington, IN campus. I'm doing this because I care about math and I want to make sure people know how to use it when they need it. If you have a specific topic you would like me to write about, please place it in the comment section of this post. I will reply to your comment with a link to the post I create for that topic. Thank you for visiting.
Post a Comment
Location: Bloomington, IN, USA
Read more