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I know this statement is shocking. Some of you may feel that I have heralded the end of civilization as we know it. How on earth are people supposed to learn math without the latest and greatest math textbook. The answer is simple. Likewise, before the modern education system, people always learned math by doing math in everyday life. You may ask, “Is this possible?” “Would it work?” I think so. That’s why I made that statement when I was asked if my new book, Math is Child’s Play, would become a math textbook. But in all fairness, let’s look at both sides, school math versus everyday math.

Let’s look at school math first. I’ve been researching Math Anxiety lately. More and more people are admitting to hating math, “not being good at math,” and being afraid to do basic math. The same people were taught math in our public schools. When did this situation of math anxiety begin? Who knows exactly? But what is important is that it increases, not decreases. It’s growing despite the modern education system, despite New Math and the latest teaching methods, despite all the money and energy that has been put into the problem. Just for the record, I have a 1970 copyrighted book Mathematics; A Human Endeavor” by Harold R. Jacobs, in whose foreword the author mentions the failure of New Mathematics in schools. A 1964 book called “Mathematics for Elementary Teachers” by Ralph Crouch and George Baldwin written to teach math to elementary school teachers who were expected to teach math despite having no formal education in math.

Marilyn Burns, a well-known math expert, has worked from her first book, I Hate Mathematics, in the 1970s through her more recent book, Math; Facing an American Phobia” (1998) with mathematics anxiety. The latter book addresses mathematics fear as a growing phenomenon. And more recently, “Math for the Anxious” by Rosanne Proga, copyrighted 2005, also deals very clearly with math anxiety and its causes. Of course, all that math anxiety is good; at least it is for the math textbook industry. Math Fear sells math textbooks. Parents are concerned that their children will learn math better than they do. Teachers are demanding a better way of teaching math. This is great news for the math textbook companies. This is bad news for you and me.

So let’s look at the other side. Is it possible to learn mathematics in everyday life? run their business or household, carry out projects, etc.? Is that possible? I believe it is and it is already happening without anyone being aware of it. My daughter has professed to hate math, but she does math on Neopets every day. When I asked her about it, she said it wasn’t real math. So what was that math? I think she meant it wasn’t “school math”. I met an airline pilot who went into great detail about the calculations she was doing in her head to fly the plane. She later confessed that she hated math at school. She wasn’t ‘good at it’. She wasn’t even able to balance her own checkbook. When I pointed out that the calculation she did to fly the plane was math, she insisted it wasn’t because she wasn’t good at math in school. She said, “It’s just a formula I put numbers in.” Marilyn Burn tells a similar story about an interior designer who could calculate the cost of an entire room but also felt like she wasn’t good at math. These are people who can’t do “school math” but do the math that everyday life demands of them. They probably learned this math at work; so they don’t relate it to school math.

Math is best learned in the real world, with real situations. It can start with counting the cookies your mom gives you. Later you start comparing the number you got with your brother’s number. You’ll quickly learn how to calculate how much more he got than you so your complaint can be correct. Next, watch mom cut open the cake or pie. You quickly calculate how many pieces each person can have, until Mom steps in and tells you how many you can really have. Then calculate how many you can have tomorrow when all those guests are gone. This is a simple real world scenario, but how many mathematical concepts have I covered here. These skills grow with your children. How many of you have seen your older kids go through their Halloween candy? My child sorts and counts to assess how they did. Halloween is also a great time to teach about taxes. Parents must take their share of the sweet earnings, and not just the sweets that the child doesn’t like. Remember Uncle Sam takes his cut off the bodice before you ever see a dime.

Playing is a great way to learn math. I like mini golf and billiards to learn about angles and power. Of course that sounds like physics, Newton’s law of relativity. And it is, but there’s also no better way to learn geometry and algebra than with a hands-on application. What could be more practical than learning while playing? Wow, here’s another real-world example of learning math. I like to play. They call it; Board games, card games, strategy games. If it challenges me and tests my intellect and problem-solving skills, I like it. Games like Nim, Checkers, Chess, Mancala, Stratego, Battleship, Risk, etc. help develop logical sequences and strategies. Games like Uno, Skip-bo, Set, Rummikub help children develop their ability to see patterns. Games like Cribbage, Gin Rummy, and Scrabble actually help kids practice addition and multiplication.

But enough with the games, let’s talk serious stuff. If you want to learn math, do a project like decorating a room. Do everything from estimating the paint or wallpaper, estimating the material and sewing the curtains to ordering and positioning the furniture. Design a new cabinet layout for your kitchen, including calculation of cabinet dimensions, appliance placement, and project cost. Try building something like a drop desk, or a playground swing, or a go-kart. How about a baking or sewing/quilting project? Do all the preparations for a dinner party, including planning, shopping, seating arrangements, cooking, etc. Try trading some stocks on paper and track them for a year. Start an eBay business. Wow! Wouldn’t that be something if your kid’s math project turned into a home business that pays for your kid’s college education? It’s possible and it’s real life.

When it comes to learning math, everyday life offers many opportunities and learning is natural, not forced. On the other hand, the problem of math anxiety is rooted in our modern educational system. The problem is that non-math experts teach math as if they were experts. The problem is having math textbooks that present math in an artificial and rigid way. As much as I liked Marilyn Burn’s book Math; Facing an American Phobia, I think she missed the right conclusion of the situation. Ms. Burns is still trying to “fix” the system. It seems obvious to me that it’s time to ditch the system and go back to learning math in everyday life. So I stand by my statement, “The last thing the world needs is another math textbook.”

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