Singapore Math Envy

The desire and hope among a number of developing countries that their own students could do well in math, if they were to adopt a math curriculum similar to the one used in Singapore.

A few local publishers are laughing all the way to the bank, as the result of the Singapore math envy of some African countries, which have started importing Singapore math books for their schools.

by MathPlus October 9, 2016

Singapore Math Books

Math titles that marry decent quality with affordability—authors must be racially, religiously, and sexually sensitive, while the Ministry of Education (MOE) controls the price of the books.

Because Singapore math books cost a fraction of their American counterparts, US distributors have been importing them for homeschoolers, who think they're getting value-for-money textbooks—a number of them might even mistake Singapore for a city in China.

by MathPlus August 11, 2016

Singapore Math

A form of “mathematical acupuncture” that could relieve non-Singapore teachers and students of math anxiety, if they experiment with problem-solving heuristics like the bar model method and stack model method, while experiencing the pain of brain-unfriendly questions.

Although a number of countries that embraced Singapore math have seen significant improvement in their students’ math scores, however, without parental and societal pressures for a nation to become numerate, at best cosmetic changes would result even with the best math curriculum in place.

by MathPlus July 14, 2018

Singapore Math

The mathematical equivalent of having brown rice rather than white biryani rice. An unsexy, wholesome math curriculum that is healthy to the mind, but brain-unfriendly for most students, who need to force themselves to mastering the concepts confidently.

Like taking cod liver oil, which is good for the body immune system, Singapore math may look unappetizing, but after spending a few hundred hours practicing thousands of nonroutine, impractical or sterile questions, your brain can only get mathematically stronger and healthier.

by MathPlus June 7, 2018

Singapore Math Variants

Math titles plagued with brain-unfriendly questions to bedevil or challenge those who find that school textbooks in Singapore ill-prepare them to solve nonroutine or tricky questions—kiasu parents and tutors want to expose their children and students to fiendish or deadlier word problems to protect themselves against olympiad math questions, which have infected school exam papers in recent years.

Publishers are maniacally looking for Singapore math variants writers to meet the mathematical needs and wants of kiasu parents, who want their kids to have an unfair competitive edge over their peers.

by MathPlus May 19, 2021

singapore swap

to put your wristwatch and wedding ring on a girls hand while she gives you a hand job therefore looking like you are doing it; a way to get around cheating on your spouse.

wife: you promise you didn't cheat on me on your business trip?
husband: yes, I promise.
(next day at work, after story is told around the office)
husband: no I don't feel bad, thank God for the singapore swap!

by goatcheese June 12, 2004

Singapore Math

When math-smart yes-members of Parliament and cabinet ministers in Singapore—who are versed with all the big numbers of their million-dollar salaries and bonuses and the nation’s trillion-dollar economy—appear quasi-clueless on how to deal with the alphas, betas, and deltas, which has resulted in a daily unhealthy number of corona infections in recent weeks—could these half-street-smart politicians outwit these Greek viruses and variants?

Although the government has provided a safe haven for thousands of tax fugitives from both rich and rogue nations, and created a materialistic milieu that motivates both locals and aliens to deify the money god, however, Singapore math ministers’ social living-with-Covid experiment looks like they’re indulging in some trial-and-error political calculus with the lives and livelihoods of the people.

by Covido February 5, 2022