“Number Mania: A Visual Exploration Of 0 To 100”

Chico mathematician Scott Lape, aided by Madrid-based illustrator Víctor Medina, will make readers fall in love with digits. Even if you don’t like math, he has your number. Actually, 101 of them.

In “Number Mania: A Visual Exploration Of 0 To 100” ($19.99 in hardcover from Odd Dot/Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group) Lape and Medina provide a carnival of number lore on every page not just for kids ages 6 through 12 but for adults as well. 

We’re surrounded by numerals, in street signs and digital clocks, but things get really interesting when we start counting. “The number representing a group of objects only has meaning if there’s somebody looking at the objects, counting them, or wondering, ‘How many are there?’” 

Each number has its own mathematical personality and each colorful, whimsical page looks at how the number is expressed in other languages, its factors, a bit of numerical history, and a section that’s just wild about that number. There are 64 colors in many Crayon packages; Forty-Four is a small town in Arkansas; “The traditional gift for a 70th wedding anniversary is something made of platinum (element 78).” Bowling balls can’t weigh more than 16 pounds.

You’ll see 36 on a yardstick, of course, but also “there are 36 counties in Oregon. There are 36 black keys (and 52 white keys) on a piano.” In Judaism, “the commandment to be kind to strangers is found 36 times in the Torah.”

Zeroing in on nothing, Lape writes that “The idea of ‘none’ being a number took a long time to catch on…. The first known use of a small circle to represent zero was in 876 CE in India…. Now we have a bunch of words that mean 0: nada, zilch, zip, diddly, and diddly-squat! … There used to be a town called Zero in Iowa—but sadly, its population is now 0.”

You’ll have fun with this book. Count on it.

Scott Lape will have a book signing at the Chico Barnes & Noble on Saturday, November 23 at 1:00 p.m. And listen to a recent Nancy’s Bookshelf interview with the author by host Nancy Wiegman at www.mynspr.org/show/nancys-bookshelf.

Two local educators bring math fun to the elementary set

Perhaps the subtitle of "Math Wise!" ($29.95 in paperback from Jossey-Bass), by Jim Overholt and Laurie Kincheloe, sums it up: "Over 100 Hands-On Activities that Promote Real Math Understanding" for Grades K-8. Now in its second edition, the book is aimed at helping students understand concepts that range from counting to data analysis.

Overholt is an education professor at Chico State University; Kincheloe teaches mathematics at Butte College. Both have extensive experience working with K-12 students and their parents, and especially with elementary school teachers.

A grade level is provided for each activity, which include those that are "concrete/manipulative" (such as illustrating division using paper clips); "visual/pictorial" (3 x 5 can be shown by three horizontal lines crossed by five vertical ones); and "abstract procedures" (in Post-It Mental Math a student tries to guess the numerals stuck to his or her back using clues provided by others in the group). "Math Wise!" encourages teachers not only to "instruct students in regard to mathematical mechanics but also enable them to gain a true understanding of the concepts involved."

Each activity explains what the exercise is designed to accomplish (such as practicing computation, getting friendly with fractions, or learning about probability). There's a list of materials needed and detailed steps and examples that give ample guidance for teachers. There are also "extensions" that provide additional ways of using the activity. Many of the activities in the book are for entire classes, others are for small groups, and still others work best as independent projects.

My own mathematical knowledge is, uh, a fraction of what it should be, and I found myself delighted at the creative approaches--and sophistication--that "Math Wise!" embraces. Take "Palindromic Addition." (A palindromic number is reversible.) The activity uses pencil and paper. Pick a non-palindromic number less than 1000, then add its reverse, and continue until a palindrome is produced.

The example given is the number 158. When 851 is added to it, the sum is 1009, but it's not a palindrome. So add 9001 to 1009 and you get 10010--still not a palindrome. Ah, but add 01001 to 10010 and you get 11011. Our palindrome at last! Great fun for kids in school--and for adults in boring meetings.