I launched this Mag to demonstrate to my then-5-year-old son that math can be a fun and fascinating subject, rather than boring and mundane. As a child, I became drawn to math and science through reading intriguing stories, and I felt that there was a lack of similar materials available for young kids. So I decided to create a Mag to showcase the wonder of math to my son. The primary goal is not to provide children with specific math knowledge, but to immerse them in the enjoyment of math. If we can connect math with the word "fun" in our kids' minds, then we will have accomplished our objective. After all, interest is the most effective teacher.
“Have you heard about the Butterfly Effect?” I asked my son. “What is it?” “You know weather is highly unpredictable, especially in the longer term, right? Weather forecast is reasonably accurate for the next few days, but it is not accurate at all to predict the weather a month later.” “Right, that’s why the weather…
I was jogging outside with my son on the street and we saw a manhole. I recalled this famous interview question first popularized by Microsoft in the early days and then adopted by other companies: Why are manhole covers round? So I asked my son. “Because it looks nice?” “It’s more than that. There is…
“How many sides does a paper have?” I asked my son, who was watching TV. “2” “What if I tell you I can make a paper have ONLY one side?” “No Way!” “Come and I will show you how to make a Mobius Band.” Well we are in the year 2021, so there is a…
This is the second episode of the Greek mathematicians series. Today’s mathematician’s name is Thales. He is also a philosopher and astronomer. He is considered “the first” Greek philosopher and is sometimes referred to as the Father of Science. After the introduction, I started to tell my son the story of Thales. “Thales loved travelling.…
Son is very interested in ancient Greece and its famous people. So I decided to give him a mini-series on Greek Mathematicians. Archimedes was the first. Archimedes was one of the greatest scientists of ancient Greece, from the city state of Syracuse in Sicily, then a Greek colony. His achievements spanned mathematics, physics and astronomy.…
Son loves stories. So this episode is a story. Tian (last name) Ji (first name), a prominent Chinese general 2000 years ago in the Kingdom of Qi, loved horse racing. One day, he raced with the King of Qi. They each had three horses, ranked as “fastest”, “faster” and ”fast”. They held three matches. Whoever…
“Can you explain how computers work?” Son was using an ipad and asked me all of a sudden. “That’s going to be a long lesson. How about I start with the basics: the binary numbers. Everything on your computers are represented in binary numbers.” “Oh, really? What are binary numbers?” I moved to a floor…
Continuing the topic of binary numbers, I asked my son, “Do you know Morse code?” “Ah, I do! It’s used in telegraph.” “Right, telegraph is no longer used in regular communications these days, but the story about Morse code is still interesting. I explained, “Electrical telegraph was invented in the nineteenth century and was the…
“Have you heard of the Riddle of the Sphinx?” I asked my son. “No, can you tell me!” “In ancient Egyptian and Greek myths, Sphinx is a monster creature with a lion’s body and a human’s head. The most famous statue of Sphinx is the one you often see next to the Great Pyramid. “Legend…
Son is turning 7. It’s time for an investment class. OK, not really. But it doesn’t hurt to try, right? So I gave him a 100 dollar bill. “Let’s say if you put this bill in a bank, the next year you will have 110 dollars in your bank account.” (Well, this is very hypothetical,…
Year 1784, Town of Braunschweig, Germany. It was a hot day. In the town’s elementary school, a hundred or so 7-year-olds were studying in the first grade classroom. It was a typical-sized class of that age. When I say studying, they were reading, talking and mostly making noises. The teacher became impatient while trying to…
Previous episode on 24 Game. After some practice runs of the card game 24, son became very interested and played more. He noticed sometimes the solution is simply adding the values of the 4 cards to get the number 24. “I can tell if the total of the 4 cards is not 24, in 1…
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