Month: July 2018

What is Multiplication? How (Not) to Teach It

Last time we looked at the roles of multiplier and multiplicand from several perspectives. This time, I want to focus on one extended discussion about how children should be taught to think of multiplication.

What is Multiplication? Multiplicand and Multiplier

We have received many questions over the years about the meaning of multiplication. When we multiply , what are we really doing? This can confuse not only students and their parents, but also teachers. The next couple posts will deal with various aspects of this question.

Properties as Axioms or Theorems

To close out this series that started with postulates and theorems in geometry, let’s look at different kinds of facts elsewhere in math. What is commonly called a postulate in geometry is typically an axiom in other fields (or in more modern geometry); but what about those things we call properties (in, say, algebra)?

Who Moved My Postulate?

Last time we looked at the question of why we have to have postulates, which are not proved, rather than being able to prove everything. Often, this question is mixed together with a different question: Why do different texts give different lists of postulates, so that what one calls a postulate, another calls a theorem? …

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