The One Where Algebra Starts Making Sense
How to Not Suck at Math, part 10
This is my series on how to get better at math.
Previous posts in the series:
Part 1: Addition and Subtraction
Part 2: Multiplication, Division, and Fractions
Part 3: The Major Key of Mathematical Fluency
Part 4: A Proof for this Approach to Numeracy
Part 5: “I’m Just Not A Math Person!”
Part 6: How the Sign Rules Work, and Why
Part 7: The Box Method of Multiplication
Part 8: Elite Mathematical Training
Part 9: An Extremely Cool Math Trick
Posts 1-5 are not behind the paywall. Parts 6 and beyond are, but this link will give you 10% off. If you’d like to get them but can’t afford a paid subscription, email me at hollymathnerd at gmail dot com and I’ll give you a free one.
This issue has a lot of pictures so your email client may not handle it well. You can read it at the Substack website. Look for “The One Where Algebra Starts to Make Sense” with a posting date of February 20, 2024.
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Life is About Mathematical Relationships
One of the most common questions I get from home-schooling parents is something like this: “When I was a kid, I loved math until we got to algebra. That’s when it got confusing and stopped making sense and I lost interest. I don’t want that to happen to my kid, and it’s almost time for him/her to start algebra. What suggestions do you have?”
What follows are all my tips, ideas, and suggestions for how to think about algebra in a way that makes it feel easy and intuitive.
The first thing to understand is that life is all about mathematical relationships. We all have many mathematical relationships, all the time. We just often fail to recognize that we’re dealing with mathematical relationships. Helping yourself or your kid see that is the most helpful step to making algebra interesting, cool, and not scary.
Here’s a mathematical relationship you may not ever think about as such: the relationship between speed and time. If you want to get somewhere sooner, you drive faster. If you’re dreading getting there and want to delay your arrival, you drive more slowly. You probably do this without consciously thinking about the fact that you’re exploiting a mathematical relationship.
Here’s another mathematical relationship that may not intuitively feel like one: the relationship between the size of a box and the amount of wrapping paper needed to wrap it.
One of my good friends is a mathematician you may know as the true President of the United States, Dr. Roller Gator, who wears a slick leather jacket. Here’s a portrait of President Gator addressing the press corps:
I’m good at choosing gifts (even wrote a guide here) but less skilled at wrapping them nicely, so I want to use mathematics to improve on that.
Let’s wrap his birthday present, using math to find the ideal amount of paper so we can center it and make nice, straight folded corners.
Gator sometimes reads this series so I won’t say what it is, but his birthday present is in this shirt box:
I have purple wrapping paper that has a grid on the back and some mathematical stickers to jazz it up.
This isn’t exactly a word problem—I wouldn’t do that to you!—but it’s a fun way to show a mathematical relationship.
(Narrator: she would indeed do that….eventually, and when least expected.) 😈😈😈
How much wrapping paper do we need?
Let’s figure it out.