Singapori Math

A kind of alien math from a rebel island that was once part of Malaysia, where they learn and teach math word problems in a local dialect called Singlish, using rectangles, lines, and dotted lines, which the people there call “bar models,” with most of them looking arguably ugly.

Local teachers told an Englishman that Singapori Math is a rojak or mélange of methodologies and pedagogies, with ingredients from both the East and the West—when the island was trying to solve its population’s high innumeracy rate in the seventies.

by Numerati March 15, 2024

Growth Mindset in Mathematics

The idea that math educators should focus on effort rather than on results—that failure is part of the success equation, because a set of false starts, failures, and frustrations are often necessary or unavoidable before someone could experience some degree of mathematical progress or achievement.

To fail is no shame, but failure to try again often is. A growth mindset in mathematics is to try or fail again, while failing better or faster each time.

by Numerati December 14, 2024

Silver Bar Modeling

When mathepreneurs see a multi-million dollar business opportunity to provide both resources and training for tens of thousands of seniors who are eager to learn about the “bar model method”—the heart of the Singapore elementary math curriculum—in order to connect and engage with their grandchildren’s and godchildren’s math education.

Publishers and vocational training centers have been pretty slow at taking advantage of the untapped source of revenue offered by the silver bar modeling industry, especially when more seniors are enjoying a longer lifespan in fast-greying Singapore.

by Numerati October 05, 2024

Pi’s Block

The math constant’s equivalent of writer’s block. When the number π frustratingly finds herself facing a blank page with zero output on her part, often spewing out a string of four-letter words.

Unlike her constant counterparts like e and 𝜙, rain or shine, π doesn’t give the excuse of pi’s block to rationalize why she’s semi-productive or unproductive on certain days.

by Numerati August 11, 2024

The Singapore Mathematics Calendar

A math calendar à la Singapour, which is designed in such a way that the answer to the problem on each day is the date on which the question appears, aims to develop in children a positive attitude towards the world’s most disliked school subject—when they are exposed to the beauty and joy of math rather than seeing it as a mere drill-and-kill subject.

The Singapore Mathematics Calendar—which takes three or four times longer to write than a typical assessment (or supplementary) math title, and costs a few folds more in publishing it—is a first in Singapore math publishing, as it offers students a creative and fun way to learning math, while honing their problem-solving skills.

by Numerati November 25, 2024

Pilanthropy

Short for “Pi Philanthropy.” A showy donation by a geeky or vanity billionaire to fund pi research, which could inexplicably or allegedly help save planet Earth from extinction, or which would increase the chances of earthlings communicating with extraterrestrials in order to avoid any mishap that could lead into a galactic war.

Bezos and Branson are donating close to half a billion bucks to the Center of Pi Research—doesn’t their pilanthropy sound like some kind of insincere telescopic philanthropy to distract the skeptical public from questioning why both are paying so little tax on the billions they’d amassed during the pandemic?

by Numerati August 10, 2023

Boy Math

The dummy or silly logic used by half-geeky males or semi-innumerates, who think that they are getting a good deal or making a smart move from their decision or action—their faux or fuzzy logic, or bigly calculations or guesstimations, often makes them a figure of fun.

Boy math is using a dollar bill as a bookmark that costs two bucks.
Boy math is driving two hours to and fro to save twenty bucks.
Boy math is buying indexed-funds hoping to retire prematurely.

by Numerati December 18, 2024