Mr. McKeague's Math TV

Charles P. "Pat" McKeague is owner of MathTV.com. He's a mathematician (with a B.A. and M.S. in the field), college instructor, published author of math textbooks (covering everything from basic mathematics to trigonometry) and a speaker at mathematics conferences in California and nationwide.

He's also an excellent teacher who provides clear instructions on how to solve math problems as well as bits of life philosophy, like: Do something for the person you will be 5 years from now.

His website, MathTV.com, doesn't even require you to register -- you can start viewing the instructional videos (given by Mr. McKeague and student instructors) right away, or print out textbooks and practice tests.

Take a moment to explore the site in order to reap full benefits. If you need help with long division, for example, you click on Basic Mathematics, then Whole Numbers, then Dividing. Once you get there, you can choose which long division problem you'd like to see solved: if you want to start with a one-digit divisor, try 595/7; for a two-digit divisor, there's 9,380/35. You may prefer one instructor's style to another: I found Katrina a much more thorough teacher than Aaron, although Aaron is fine for a quick review.

If you wish to factor rational expressions to their simplest forms, look under the Algebra topic heading. Radians and degrees are found under Trigonometry, with perimeters, parallelograms and congruent triangles all found under Geometry.

Tip: full screen view makes the videos easier to see and you just press your ESC key to return to Normal Screen.






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Geometry Homework -- Reflection and Symmetry

A reflection isn't just what looks back at you in the mirror in the morning. Reflections are also mathematical problems to be drawn, groaned over, erased and drawn again.

Back to MathIsFun.com for geometry help, where they give two underlying principles of reflections:

1. Every point is the same distance from the central line;

2. The reflection is the same size as the original image.

There's also a definition to work with: a reflection is the image flipped over the mirror (or center) line.

If all that is clear as mud, go on and play around with the shapes on their interactive graph, then scroll down for explanations and tricks.

There's also a wonderful tutorial on Line Symmetry at LinksLearning.org that's sure to help clear up concepts behind lines of symmetry (a snowflake has 6!). After the explanations are given in each part, there's an activity to see if you understand what you've watched before you progress.

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Do You Know Your Triangles?

Which triangle has NO equal sides or angles: the isosceles triangle; the equilateral triangle or the scalene triangle? If you don't know, don't feel bad. No one does--except the people at MathIsFun.com of course.

At MathIsFun, you'll learn (or refresh your failing memory!) that the triangle with 3 equal sides and angles is the equilateral triangle, the one with two equal sides and angles is the hard-to-spell isosceles and the triangle with NO equal sides or angles is called a scalene.

There's more too -- it seems that triangle names can actually indicate what type of angle is inside (who knew?) and that some triangles have two names! Curiouser and curiouser...

OK, that's it for today's Sunday night homework.

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Mom, what's a perimeter?

Need a little refresher? Think of a fence or even a border when you need to explain what a perimeter is. Talking about it in those terms might be easier to understand than saying that a perimeter is the boundary line or the area immediately inside the boundary or defining it as a circumference.

Then go to Mrs. Glosser's Math Goodies to get diagrammed examples of how to find perimeters for all sorts of different shapes, complete with commonly used formulas. Scroll down the page, and you'll find exercises to try.

Here's one: can you find the perimeter of a triangle with sides measuring 10 inches, 14 inches and 15 inches? Type your answer in the Answer Box on Mrs. Glosser's Math Goodies page and press ENTER.

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More on Math and Multiplication

Math bingo is a fun method of reviewing times tables.

All you need is bingo cards that have numbers on them (the numbers of course being the correct answers to the times table you're working on), then call out the calculations that make up those number.

For example, let's say you're working on your 9 times table. You call out 9 times 7; your kids need to figure out the answer and see if that number (63) is on their card.

Having trouble with the 9 times? Use the 9-method!

Let's say you want to see how much 9X7 is.

Just hold out all 10 fingers, and lower the 7th finger. There are 6 fingers to the left and 3 fingers on the right.

The answer is 63!

Go ahead: practice building your speed with Underwater Times Tables, at a great site called What2Learn.com.

For more suggestions on how to help kids (Grades 2 - 6) memorize their times tables, see this page.

Okay, now who can tell me what 8 X 9 is? Come on!

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Math is Mental - Really!

The article below, adapted from Kenneth Williams' original, gives pointers on how to help your children develop an interest in math -- so that math becomes a fun subject (and even one they can get good mark in) rather than a subject to fear or dread. You don't even have to be a math teacher to help!

Here are 5 ways to get your kids excited about math and get them actually looking forward to the next math class:

Inspire them

Because they just don't see the point of math, many children don't enjoy the subject. Unlike art or reading, all those symbols and numbers don't seem to mean anything. What you need to do is show them how important math is in the real world.

For example, tell them stories about the great engineering feats throughout history. Without mathematics and mathematicians, the Great Pyramids of Egypt would have long ago crumbled into dust and the Hoover Dam (as thick as two footballs fields lying end-to-end, and on top of which 20,000 cars a day drive) would never have been built. As for space travel? Please! We'd still asking: Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me.

Get practical

Get the kids involved in some real world math away from the classroom. Find something your child is interested in and relate it to math in some way.

For example, do they like baseball? Terrific. During a game, ask them how many points the losing team has to score to beat the other one. And how many games do they need to win before they have enough points to win the league?

If they enjoy helping around the home then let them do the "clever stuff". Ask them to work out the sizes for pieces of wood (or construction paper) you're going to cut. Get them to measure out the ingredients whenever you're about to bake something.

When you're in a store, ask your kids to add up the prices and keep a running total while you shop. See if they can calculate how much change you should expect at the checkout -- and if they get the answer right, maybe a small reward would be in order here!

Take life "step-by-step"

Success in math -- as in life -- is largely about breaking big projects down into manageable, bite-sized pieces.

Many kids feel overwhelmed when they see a list of math questions, and it's at this point they may decide that math is "boring" or "hard". Show them the magic of taking one question at a time, and breaking it into tiny steps that make it easy.

Remind them that they didn't always know that 2 + 2 = 4. Back in the "old days", when the kids were just babies, 2 + 2 seemed like higher mathematics!

Encourage creativity

Kids sometimes become mentally "stuck" on a topic because they're only looking at it in one way. Perhaps they need to step outside the box and see it from a different angle. This isn't only a math-related skill, of course. Showing them the beauty of alternative viewpoints and helping them to see situations from other people's perspectives are skills that will help your children throughout their lives.

Get them into the habit of exploring different ways of solving any problem. Even something simple tasks like tidying up a room can have several possible "solutions" or ways of approaching it. Crosswords and lateral thinking puzzles are good for this kind of flexible thinking.

Certainly when it comes to math, use drawings and/or manipulatives to present concepts in ways that are literally hands on.

Be positive

Eliminate negative statements like "math is hard" (even if you think so yourself). Explain that everyone has the innate ability to do math and that solving math problems isn't so different from solving other kinds of problems in life -- math is just a skill learned over time, one "block" of learning on top of the last.

By encouraging your children to accomplish even in areas they find difficult, you will give them the gift of confidence when they do succeed. By teaching them persistence and the belief that there's always a solution to every problem (as long as they keep trying and don't give up), you'll give them hope together with concrete strategies for accomplishing life goals.

And keep it light! Remember, we all perform better when we enjoy what we do, and getting kids interested in math is the real key to success.

Now who said your kids couldn't do math?

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I recommend the ebook Fun With Figures as a great math resource. It shows anyone -- whatever their math ability or grade level -- the easy way to do mental math.

Visit the site today and find out what you didn't learn in the math class.

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