Laughter in Maths, the best medicine
It’s a difficult time at the moment, and they say that ‘laughter is the best medicine’ so this week I thought I’d share with you some of my favourite maths jokes, and an explanation for those of you who can’t remember the maths:
I’ve also posted them on the Skills4Parents facebook page, so feel free to share them with your friends.
Joke #1
Surgeon: Nurse! I have so many patients! Who do I work on first?
Nurse: Simple. Use the order of operations
The order of operations, is the order that all maths should be calculated in. Some people use BODMAS, I prefer BIDMAS. Scientific calculators will calculate in this order, but be careful if your calculator is not scientific as it won’t use the order of operations.
The bit where people go wrong is when calculating either division and multiplication, or addition and subtraction. These happen at the same time, so you calculate them in the order that they are written in the calculation.
Joke #2
Did you hear about the mathematician who was afraid of negative numbers?
He’d stop at nothing to avoid them
When working with negative numbers I give the young person a number line. This can make addition and subtraction a lot easier to understand.
Joke #3
Never trust maths teachers who use graph paper.
They’re always plotting something.
Graph paper! A really useful thing to have at home for graph drawing. It’s more accurate than squared paper, and so good for solving equations by reading off of a graph. If you don’t have any, and you need it for homework search the internet and you’ll find printable versions.
Joke #4
Teacher: What is 2n plus 2n?
Student: I don’t know. It sounds 4n to me.
4n, foreign. Get it? Ha ha ha! Why is it 4n? Because you add the ‘coefficient of n’s so 2+2 is 4.
Joke #5
Q: What do you call friends who love maths?
A: algebros
Lots of people get scared of algebra, but there really is no need. If you practice problem solving it can begin to make sense.
Joke #6
Why don’t you do arithmetic in the jungle?
A: Because if you add 4+4 you get ate!
Joke #7
Dad, can you help me find the lowest common denominator in this problem please ?
Don’t tell me that they haven’t found it yet, I remember looking for it when I was a boy!
Lol! How much of the maths that your young person does do you remember doing? Do you remember how to do it? Fear not! That’s why Skills4Parents exists. Come and join us in Education Support 4 Parents, our free Facebook group, for a supportive environment where you can ask for help!