
Lecture Description
We start this course in elementary mathematics suited for a general audience by introducing geometry in the simplest possible way: by using a sheet of graph paper as the basic model, and then doing some simple arithmetic in a geometrical context.
We introduce the horizontal and vertical lines of the grid plane, grid points, segments and rectangles, along with the idea of measuring their sizes. This is a good place to start practicing counting: and we count a number of interesting things associated to a rectangle, including numbers of sub rectangles of a certain size, paths from one corner to another, and tilings by 1x2 or 2x1 dominoes.
Course Index
- Counting using the grid plane
- Arithmetic with rectangles
- Number systems throughout history
- The Hindu-Arabic number system
- Laws of arithmetic using geometry
- Fun with polyominoes
- Addition and the names of numbers
- Addition in practice
- Multiples, and more names of numbers
- Word problems using addition
- Elementary projective (line) geometry
- Pappus and Pascal
- Logical reasoning with tic-tac-toe
- The multiplication table
- More multiplication: The 10x10 table
- Some tricks to help with multiplication
- Area problems using multiplication
- The time scale of a human life
- An introduction to measuring
Course Description
Feel like learning mathematics from the ground up? Here is your chance: K-6 mathematics explained intuitively but accurately in a novel way by a professional pure mathematician.
The series is meant for those who are teaching public or high school, parents who have children in those years, and anyone who would like to strengthen their understanding of the subject.