January 15, 2017
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Comments Off on Why use Nursery Rhymes
5 currant buns in a baker’s shop Round and fat with a cherry on the top Along came (choose a child) With a penny one day Bought a currant bun and took it away 4 currant buns in a baker’s shop And so on There is a large amount of mathematical language used in this […] Continue reading
December 4, 2016
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Comments Off on Supply chains and Demand planning
Going into the lecture on supply chains and demand planning I was quite excited as I study economics and thought this would be very relatable to previous work I had done. We started by looking at global food supply chains, this is how raw materials get to the end product and ready for consumption. There are … Continue reading Supply chains and Demand planning Continue reading
December 4, 2016
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Comments Off on Number Systems
A numeral system is a writing system used for expressing numbers using digits or symbols. In everyday life we use a base 10 system which is also know as the decimal system and has 10 digits which represents all numbers, these are 0-9.The placing of the number is based on powers of 10. Below is an example … Continue reading Number Systems Continue reading
December 4, 2016
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Comments Off on Maths in Art
Maths is everywhere, including in Art. When I started thinking about art I could see some simple links with maths, for example the use of shape, tessellation and size. After my lecture on the topic I realised that there is so much more maths that artists consider in order to make what they believe to be … Continue reading Maths in Art Continue reading
December 4, 2016
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Comments Off on Maths in Baking
By taking Discovering Mathematics as a module I have began to notice the use of maths in everyday life. I love to bake and never realised just how much maths is used whilst doing so. Maths is used at every step of baking from weighing out ingredients to setting temperatures. We also need to have … Continue reading Maths in Baking Continue reading
December 2, 2016
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Comments Off on Why I chose Discovering Mathematics
When I was little I was always very confident with maths and rarely struggled at primary school. In High School I was in set 3/7 for GCSE and got an A at the end. When it came to choosing my A levels I thought it would be a good idea to pick maths as it … Continue reading Why I chose Discovering Mathematics Continue reading
November 16, 2016
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Comments Off on Maps, Maths and More Maps
We recently received a workshop from Richard which looked at the aspect of mathematics involved in reading a map. We completed the task on google maps, because sadly we were not allowed to complete the task in the middle of the Highlands due to health and safety. We were placed in an area which we […] Continue reading
November 16, 2016
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Comments Off on Where has the penny gone?
This summer, I went on holiday to Canada to visit family. I stayed in Markham, Ontario which is about half an hour from the centre of Toronto (which is not the capital of Canada). On my first full day in Canada, my cousin and I ended to Downtown Toronto to do some shopping. We went […] Continue reading
November 14, 2016
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Comments Off on Nature of time
Time is something that I hadn’t really thought about as it just something that we have come to learn and know. It is probably one of the most important aspects of mathematics that directs our lives. Everything we do is according to a time and schedule. It was a bit of a surprise to me […] Continue reading
November 14, 2016
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Comments Off on Number systems and Connectedness
Richard said to us that in order to look at some of what we would look at in Discovering mathematics, we would have to forget everything we know. And he was right. One of our lectures we looked a place value and binary and my mind boggled. So much so that Richard went over binary […] Continue reading
November 12, 2016
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Comments Off on Myths of Mathematics
Using tools is cheating Fingers are there to help us! We have 10 fingers and a base system of 10. There must be some type of connection? Still to this day, I use my fingers to keep track of which number I am on. As a dancer and choreographer, I am constantly counting to 8. […] Continue reading
November 10, 2016
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Comments Off on The Land Before Time
During one of our most recent inputs with Richard we discussed a bit about time which eventually led us into a discussion about timetables and how they work. We began talking a bit about the study of time- also known as Horology, and it’s importance to humans. The more I thought about it the more […] Continue reading
October 31, 2016
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Comments Off on Maths in Art
Throughout the Discovering Mathematics module we have learned that there is a lot more to maths than just timetables and textbooks, maths is all around us! It’s in space, nature and even in art. Who would’ve thought? In our recent lecture about maths in art all I could think was wow, in a subject once […] Continue reading
October 30, 2016
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Comments Off on How Many Socks Make a Pair?
During one of our workshops Richard presented us with the question “In the dark, how many socks do we need to take out of a drawer to make a pair?” Not to my surprise, the group’s first answer was “two” because who really has the time to rummage through their sock drawer to find a […] Continue reading
October 23, 2016
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Comments Off on Place Value
At first, I was completely confused during the workshop as to what we were doing but suddenly it all made sense. We do everything to the base value of 10, this is called the decimal system. Why is that? Some believe it is because we have 10 fingers but is this the only reason we […] Continue reading
October 15, 2016
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Comments Off on Confidence, Competence and Understanding
When we were given the opportunity to choose our elective for second year, I instantly knew that “Discovering Mathematics” would be my first choice. I have always enjoyed maths, through both primary and secondary school and I wanted to learn more about it. As comfortable as I am in my ability to do mathematics, I […] Continue reading
October 10, 2016
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Comments Off on Maths is More Than Meets the Eye
Since starting the Discovering Mathematics module I have been completely shocked and amazed at how interesting and relevant to real life the subject actually is! For one of our tutor directed tasks we were asked to take a look at Liping Ma’s Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics chapter 5. This chapter really made it clear […] Continue reading
October 10, 2016
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Comments Off on Why Choose Maths?
When we were given the opportunity to pick our elective for MA2 I can easily say it was a tough decision for me. Throughout my time at high school I never really excelled in one particular subject, I feel as though this was mainly due to a general lack of enthusiasm, people are always saying […] Continue reading
October 8, 2016
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Comments Off on Can horses count?
Having been around horses most of my life, it never occurred to me that they may or may not be able to count. During a recent workshop, we were asked if animals could count and it got me thinking about my horses. When I was younger, I had a pony who would knock his leg […] Continue reading
October 2, 2016
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Comments Off on Discovering Mathematics – Maths and Play
During our Discovering Mathematics lecture, recently, with Wendee, we looked at how maths and play are connected. We were encouraged to think about the profound understanding of fundamental mathematics (PUFM), as described by Ma (2010, p. 122). Ma explains that the reason that a PUFM is possible is that elementary mathematics is a field of depth, breadth and […] Continue reading
