Percentages – Its all in the name: Per as in ‘out of’ and cent as in ‘century’ ‘dollars (or Euros) and cents’ ‘Centurion’ and ‘hundred’ in French. Percent means: ‘out of 100’ So to turn a percentage into a fraction, just shove it over one hundred: 58% = 58⁄100 … … but don’t forget to […]
Pick up any dictionary and you will find ‘Vulgar’ defined along the lines of: Lacking sophistication or good taste; unrefined indecent; obscene; lewd … and I’ve often wondered what the poor old fraction has done to deserve such a reputation. I have visions of unruly fractions, burping and belching and generally terrorising the more gentle […]
The Number 1 – is it a prime number? So – we normally say, a prime number is a number that can only be divided by itself and 1. A good working definition that most children know, understand and readily accept. But … … but 1 is not a prime number. Why? Well, the true […]
You will, no doubt, have read in the press and seen in the media much talk about the proposed changes to GCSEs and exams taken at age 16. Why are the changes being made? Basically the GCSE ‘brand’ has become toxic. Grade inflation has become rampant and confidence in the exam has fallen. It […]
Adding and subtraction practice is important, but, if we’re honest, a page of ‘sums’ is not the most exciting prospect for your pupil brought up on a diet of X-Box and X-Factor. The solution – trick ’em into doing sums using ‘The Dice Game’ I get the children to draw some lines in the form […]