#mathcrunch

Halloween is quickly approaching; it’s time to break out the silly ghost ornaments, maybe carve a pumpkin or two, and pick the scariest (or cutest!) costume for a night full of fun and candy eating. For many families, this is the month every kid is allowed to indulge in the fine delicacy of candy and other fall flavored tasty treats (Let’s face it; we allow them this privilege because we enjoy helping ourselves to some of the spoils!). Finding ways to sneak learning into all the fun is no picnic, but it is possible. Addition, subtraction, fractions, and even estimation can all be learned in this fun filled month. Read on and find out how!

How Much Did You Get?

As you are looking over the candy your child received to make sure it’s safe, why not seize the moment to work in a little math? Ask your child how much candy they think is in front of them, get them to guess, and then count it out with them. Sort the candy in to groups or types and figure out what percentage or fraction equivalent that particular group is of the whole.

Word Problems

Help them see how math is applied to real life by making math problems about an evening of ‘Trick or Treats’. Have your child keep track of how many houses they have visited, and at the end of the night, divide the total number of candy pieces gotten by houses visited to give an example of ‘averages’.  They can check their answers with the Math Crunch App with a quick snap shot of the problem from your smart phone.

What time is it?

If your kids are learning about how to tell time, you can quiz them by giving them their own watch before you go out for the evening. Throughout the evening, ask your child what time it is. You can ask how long it’s been since you started or how much longer it is going to be until it’s time to go home for subtraction practice. Be sure you have a pencil and paper ready to make the math process easier and when you work through the problem, let them have a piece of their candy on the way to the next house.

Back in the early days of my math education when I first learned basic arithmetic, my teacher taught me that 1 + 1 = 2. So easy, right? I know. But then I went to college, and the professor of my first Math Logic class told me that 1 + 1 can also equal 1. This thought really confused me, as you can imagine, as my immediate reaction was “How can the sum suddenly be 1?” It was then that I learned that according to the principals of Mathematical Logic, 1 + 1 = 1 is a logic conjunction, which translates to ‘if 1 is TRUE or 1 is TRUE, then 1 is TRUE’. The following year at university I went on to take a class in abstract algebra, where my professor then showed me that 1 + 1 could also equal 0, but don't worry too much about this, it’s only the case in the field of Z2 under the operation +2.

Today we are excited to announce a new version of the MathCrunch Android app. In this push the app was redeveloped as a native Android app, to give users a native experience on their phones and tablets. To download the new version:

go to MathCrunch.com and click on the Google Play Store button

uninstall your previous version

From meeting many of you at Stanford Splash, we quickly learned that many of you have Android phones, so we went and made an Android app. This is our first iteration and there are more improvements to be expected, but we thought it is important to give students with Android phones some #MathCrunchLove too.

There you have it. MathCrunch for Android. Get help on Pre-algebra, Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Statistics and Probability, and Basic Calculus on both iPhone and Android.

Tell all your friends with Android phones that MathCrunch has come to Android now. Download it from the Google Play store.

From working with many of you over the past month, we come to learn that many of you have already worked out the problems and are looking to check your answer. We know you are busy, so to more quickly expedite this process, MathCrunch is introducing Answer Check and Tutor Chat.

Answer Check works like how it normally works, except you won't be put into a chat session with a tutor - an answer will just be returned.

If you haven't already download the new updates and let us know what you think.

At MathCrunch everyday is Earth Day.

When we are solving your problems we use the blank back of scrap papers to work out your problems. Many of us at MathCrunch have been doing this since our algebra, geometry and pre-calculus classes in middle school. Teachers sometimes found this odd, but really what's the difference between one sided blank paper oppose to two. If you do the math, you could reduce your paper consumption by 50%.

Happy Earth Day :)