I attended a County Primary school in the 1960s and as a result I have a good general background in numeracy and literacy. We were taught times tables, (of course there was no use of calculators back then), and I remember very well, being encouraged to learn and recite my times tables from 2 to 12 off by heart. Post decimalization generations may ask why up to 12. Well there were twelve pennies in a shilling and many products were sold in dozens. A gross was twelve dozen - 144.
That basic training and practice has always stood me in good stead and I am still able to recall a calculation instantly - no effort required. I am frequently amazed by younger people on TV quiz shows who cannot do simple multiplication in their heads. Of course, I am in awe of Carol Vorderman and Rachael Riley who perform mathematical gymnastics with incredible speed. Long live Countdown, a true test of numeracy and literacy.
We were also taught the principles of linear maths and volume using wooden blocks. The sets provided were made up of longs: strips comprising between three and twelve small cubes; flats comprising joined up longs and blocks: made up of stacked flats. They were both fascinating and useful, giving young students an appreciation of the actual dimensions of volume. Sheer genius.
At senior school, I developed a love of Algebra. From my introduction to quadratic equations, I was hooked and would seek out books of them to practice. What a swat! I really loved them. Someone should develop them as a quiz in newspapers. Much better than Sudoku.
I never really got to grips with Logarithms. I just couldn't see the point and was far happier when moving into further education that the calculator was in common use. My dad's much leafed Ready Reckoner, always on his desk, was always a source of intrigue. My older brother used a slide ruler at college and although it interested me, he never let me use it, so it's application still eludes me.
If called to add up columns of figures, I still work it manually. I suppose that as a child of the sixties, I am fortunate to have more strings to my bow than later generations, who are so reliant on technology to do the working out for them. I hope that this mental exercise will help keep Alzheimer's Disease at bay. I still delight in the eloquence of the nine times table, one side up, the other down, maths at its simple best.
4 comments:
Your blog may not be 'on topic' 😲 but it was entertaining to read and I enjoyed the Multiplication poem. We used to learn our times tables by rote and last activity every day was saying one round the class (always starting at a different desk). We didn't stop at 12 times either (there were twenty of us in the class) and we couldn't go until we'd recited it through faultlessly. If someone made a mistake we'd have to start again! To this day I can still rattle off e.g. my 7 times table up to 140.
Maths as a language (second or not) is an interesting idea. It's got syntax and rules but maybe suffers from being non-verbal? Nevertheless, thought provoking. I liked the poem.
I fell in love with maths when I discovered its patterns: like if you add up the digits of each multiple of 9, you get 9, even when it goes into the hundreds (where the one side up, one side down pattern doesn't strictly apply). I used to watch Countdown and sometimes solved the numbers challenge in the time. I can still do those mental arithmetic problems, only it takes me longer these days.
I'd never come across those wooden blocks before even though I went to primary school at about the same time. Fascinating.
I used to use a slide rule but wouldn't have a clue as to how to use one now.
My Dad never went to a proper school but he was able to work the odds on a horse race in milliseconds.
Congrats on the poem.
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