Back to School Refresher

Did you know your student could lose anywhere from two to two and a half months worth of math knowledge over the summer months? By enrolling your student at Mathnasium now, they can move ahead in their class and continue to learn new things.

Refresh their (and your) knowledge with key terms from the Mathnasium Glossary below.

addition counting “how many altogether.” The process of forming a whole.

complement “the rest of it.” the remaining part with respect to the whole.

counting the process of determining quantity (how many, how much).
denomination the collective name of a group of similar things (apples, dogs, inches).

division counting “how many of these are there inside of that.” The process of separating a whole into equal parts.

fraction the result of breaking a whole into equal parts; one or more of those equal

group one or more of the same thing (1 apple, 9 dogs, 5 inches, 8 things).

half the first fraction. A whole divided into two equal parts; one of those parts. “Two parts the same.”

interval the distance from one number (or unit) to another. The space between two numbers.

Law of SAMEness It is only possible to add and subtract things of the same kind, things with the same name, the same denomination (an apple plus a banana is not a “banapples”).

mathematics the study of wholes and parts, and the relationship between them.

matrix literally, “mother.” That which gives form, origin, or foundation to something enclosed or embedded in it. A place of origin and growth. Related words include environment, framework, womb, structure, model; enclosed, enveloping, surrounding.

measurement the determining of quantity.

multiplication counting “in equal groups.” The process of forming a whole from equal groups.

part a component of the whole. A fragment, fraction, section, portion, region; a piece broken off.

percent literally, “for each 100,” “parts per hundred,” “how many for each hundred.”

proportion literally, “according to amount.” The relation of one part to another or to the whole; relative size. Comparison, analogy, balance, symmetry.

ratio a comparsion of two numbers by division.

subtraction counting “how far apart two numbers are” and “how much is left.” The process of removing a part(s) from a whole.

whole undivided. The one composed of the many. That which can be broken–down into parts. All of the quantity under consideration.

zero the number that counts none. That which has no parts.   

- Larry Martinek

Back to Basics: The Essence of the Mathnasium Difference

Principles of Math can come across confusing to students, especially when they are bombarded with multiple rules and confusing practices. Mathnasium focuses on introducing new subject matter with a consistent and knowable approach, allowing students to build upon a foundation of knowledge while understanding and adding new principles.

To begin Early in a child’s learning, values are expressed in groups of 10s:

• 10 pennies make a dime.

• 10 dimes make a dollar.

•   10 “one-dollar” bills make 1 ten dollars, and 1 ten–dollar breaks down to 10 “one–dollar” bills

• 100 pennies make a dollar.

• 100 dimes make ten dollars.

• 10 hundreds make a thousand.

• 1,000 thousands make a million.

Some things ”make sense” to cut in half: a candy bar, a piece of wood, numbers... Other things don’t: people, pennies, cars... To diagnose the correct approach, assess the subject matter. Use the examples below as guidance.

• If twice as many people as you expected come on a picnic, then you will need twice as much food.

But, if you are baking bread, twice the regular heat will not get the job done twice as fast.

• When you double the number of pieces, the size of each piece is half as much as it was. (This is the inverse relationship: when one thing goes up, the other goes down.)

Contrary to its reputation, Math is not all numbers, in fact, word prefixes play a large role in setting the numerical value. Take these examples:

• “mono–”means 1: The monorail at Disneyland runs on 1 rail.

• “bi–” means 2: A bicycle has 2 wheels.

• “tri–” means 3: a Triceratops has 3 horns.

• “qua–” means 4: a quartet has 4 players

• “dec–” means 10: a decade is 10 years

• “cent–” means 100: percent means “for each 100”

• “mil–” means 1,000: a millennium is 1,000 years—a mile is “1,000 paces”


Finally, I touch on a few points of knowledge for your student (if this is for parents, “parents have kids… teachers have student) that will assist him or her build the base for understanding the previously dissected, whole and parts method.

• A quarter of an hour is 15 minutes (not 25).

• There are 4 quarts in one gallon. A “quart” is a quarter of a gallon.

• Whole basketball and football games have 4 quarters.

• Four quarters make a whole dollar.

• One half dollar is the same as 2 quarters.

• Half-time in a basketball game comes after 2 quarters.

These basic understandings set the cornerstone for laying the foundation of knowledge to continually build and evolve your student’s mind, the Mathnasium way.

The Whole Equals the Sum of its Parts

Word problems can be tough even for the math-minded. The challenge lies in correctly converting words to the numbers and symbols of an equation. One method that helps is the concept that “the whole is equal to the sum of its parts.” Start with these three questions:

• What is the whole in this question? Is its value known or unknown?

• What are the parts in this question? Are their values known or unknown?

• What is the relationship between the whole and its parts? Which remains constant in the question? Which changes? How does it change?

By figuring out what are the parts and what is the whole, we can decide whether we need to perform a synthesis (“building up”) or an analysis (“breaking down”) to solve the problem at hand.

Synthesis:
If the whole is unknown, then the task is to build it up from its known parts:

• If the parts are equal, we multiply.

• If the parts are not equal, we add.

In other words, affirming that “the whole is equal to the sum (total) of its parts.”

Analysis:
If the whole and one or more of its parts are known, then the task is to find the remaining part(s) by breaking down the whole, using the known part(s):

• If the known parts are not equal, we subtract.

• If the known parts are equal, we divide.

Basically, “Each individual part is equal to the whole minus all of the other parts.”

By identifying which category the problem falls under, we can designate a relationship and determine the plan of attack; this is called the whole-part method. Below are a few examples of the method in action.

Ex. #1:

A box contains some marbles. 6 of the marbles are red, 5 are green, and 14 are orange. How many marbles are in the box?

In this question, the whole (the total number of marbles) is unknown. Since the parts (the number of red, green and orange marbles) are known, we can use the Key Synthesis Concept to find the whole:

total # of marbles = (# of red) + (# of green)+ (# of orange) = 5 + 6 + 14

= 25 marbles.

Ex. #2:

A train traveled 200 miles at an average speed of 50 miles per hour. How long did the trip take?

In this question, the distance traveled is the whole and is known. In each hour the train traveled an average of 50 miles, so:

time of trip = (distance traveled) ÷ (average rate of speed)

= 200 miles ÷ 50 miles per hour = 4 hours.

Ex. #3:

Another sandbox contains 100 pounds of mixed sand, 15% of which is brown sand. The rest is white. How much white sand must be added to make the mixture only 5% brown.

In this question, there are 15 pounds (15% of 100) of brown sand. As we add white sand, the whole (the total amount of sand) changes, but the amount of brown sand remains constant (at 15 pounds).

What we want is “15 out of the (new) total” to equal “5 out of 100” (5%, the desired outcome).

We can ask the following equivalent questions,

“15 is to what number as 5 is to 100?” or
“5 out of 100 = 15 out of what number?” or “5/100 = 15/what number.”

All of these methods yield the same answer: 300 pounds. Since the box already has 100 pounds of sand, 200 pounds (300 – 100) must be added.

The whole-part method allows us to identify the first step of a word problem bringing us one step closer to the solution and making math make sense.

- Larry Martinek 

18,000 Students looking forward to a Summer of Algebra, Angles, and Arithmetic

For most kids, summertime means swimming, sports and sun. But for 18,000 students around the country, the summer months will also be filled with algebra, angles, and arithmetic.

Yes, math.

Mathnasium is anticipating its largest summer enrollment ever this year, with 18,000 students ranging from elementary level to high school expected to take math classes at its franchise locations across the country. The reason? Many students – and their parents – are looking to prevent the notorious summer slide, during which kids lose math concepts and skills developed during the prior school year.

“Much like the muscles athletes use in competition, a student’s math muscles have to be exercised to remain in top form. Research has shown that during the summer months, students literally lose up to 2½ months of computational math skills developed during the year. However, 18,000 students across the nation have decided to fight the summer slide this year and work out their math muscles at Mathnasium. When school starts again in the fall, they’ll be well ahead of the game,” said Larry Martinek, Chief Instructional Officer at Mathnasium.

Summer math students typically spend two to three hours a week at their local Mathnasium franchise locations, working from a customized curriculum designed to mesh with their skill levels and needs. The sessions include specially developed math workouts and math games sessions designed to both motivate and educate.

The sizable enrollment in the Mathnasium summer classes demonstrates the importance of math skills to many areas of academic achievement at all educational levels, as standardized math testing is often used to determine advancement, class selection, and placement. Importantly, summer math at Mathnasium is equally applicable to students who need to address deficiencies in their math repertoire as well as those who wish to progress further than their normal classwork allows.

“I’m expecting about 70 students to sign up for summer math this year, which equals nearly half of our enrollment during the academic year. These students are committed to math for a variety of reasons, with some looking to fill gaps and others wanting to take advantage of the summertime to move ahead. One thing they all have in common is the desire to have a little fun but at the same time be challenged, and that’s something I hope all our students come to understand. Math can be both fun and exciting – and it’s something that everyone can learn,” said Alan Flyer, Owner of the Mathnasium franchise in Roslyn, N.Y.

Mathnasium’s summer math programs are being offered at Mathnasium’s more than 400 franchise locations across the U.S. and abroad.

Making Math Make Sense

Utilizing the Mathnasium Method, our franchisees and tutors take pride in teaching our students with a different approach, one that makes sense to them.

The Truth about Parallel Lines

Parallel lines are lines that are on the same plane and never intersect.  The distance between the two lines remain the same and do not change, no matter the length of each line.

Numbers add up for Hooksett Mathnasium franchise owner

Math is sometimes seen as a subject students either love or hate, something they simply get or don't get.

Not necessarily so, says Mathnasium, which brought its franchise and its motto, "children don't hate math," to Hooksett earlier this year.

"A lot of students over the years come to feel like math is something that's just torture, and they kind of hide in the back of the classroom. They hope the teacher doesn't call on them," said Martha Gagnon, center director. "They might be embarrassed, frustrated, so by the time they come to us, they just hate math."

Mathnasium aims to help them get over their anxiety.

"Once they see that we can help them make sense of math, they start to overcome their frustration, and they end up wanting to come to Mathnasium," she said. "Maybe no one ever explained it to them that way, and a lot of students end up having all of their grades improving, not just math, because they have a better outlook, more confidence."

Mathnasium, a franchise tutoring center for students in grades 2-12, opened in January. The center's memberships function like those with a gym: once a member, students may come to gymnasium as often as they like, even every day. The programs are tailor-made to student needs.

Students take an oral diagnostic-test, followed by a written test based on the oral's results, which is used to create a customized learning plan for the child.

A third of the time is spent with this customized lesson plan. The other two thirds are given to something called "number sense" and working on homework.

"A lot of the students have a real hard time with their homework, and their parents don't feel comfortable helping them because they didn't learn things necessarily the same way that students are learning them now, and it ends up being a frustration in the family," Gagnon said.

Number sense is the intuitive grasp of numbers and patterns which is as innate in the mind as language. Mathnasium attempts to reintroduce that concept to students, freeing them from the frustrating mire of rote memorization.

Jillian Roster, left, and Bailey Caulfield study at Mathnasium, which recently opened in Hooksett. (COURTESY)

The center also works to instill this number sense in students who struggle with it, using exercises to get children off of counting on their hands or get them to think in doubles, for instance.

"Number sense is something that comes naturally to some kids and not to others," she said. "What we do is we try to work with them on things like counting and grouping, proportional thinking so that when they get older, they're not coming up with an answer to a math problem and not even know when their answer is completely off the wall, and the earlier we can start working with them, the better."

Gagnon's background is in computers, and she once served as the youngest programmer at New Hampshire Insurance. After returning home from a three-year stay in Alaska, she began thinking about the next step, which she found after she heard a radio advertisement for Mathnasium.

"I've always loved math, and I was kind of at a crossroads, so I decided to pursue the opportunity," Gagnon said. "I went out and met with Mathnasium in Los Angeles, and I guess you could say the rest is history."

Mathnasium is open Monday through Thursday, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The cost varies between programs, but according to Gagnon, parents generally end up paying something in the range of $20 to $25 per hour of instruction. The center also has an SAT prep program, which is offered to regular high school members at no extra charge.

-- Brendan Clogston
New Hampshire Union Leader
Sunday, May 5, 2013