Soren Figures out Math

Since Soren taught himself to read, I have been focusing a lot of my homeschooling research and pondering on math. I have lots of good ideas (some of them directly contradictory) but still no firm plan. I figured that since I want to hold off on formal instruction until first grade (still a year away), I had plenty of time to decide.

But then Soren went ahead and figured out a lot of it on his own. Here are some of the things he has figured out:

Counting

777,199 + 1 = 777,200
"After seven-hundred-seventy-seven thousand, one-hundred-and ninety-nine comes seven-hundred-seventy-seven thousand, two hundred."

999,999,999 + 1 = 1,000,000,000
"What number comes after nine-hundred-ninety-nine million, nine-hundred-ninety-nine thousand, nine-hundred-ninety-nine? It has nine zeros."

59 + 1 = 60
"Why does 9:00 come after 8:59 instead of 8:99?"

Basic Arithmetic

5 x 5 + 5 x 10 = 75
"Five nickels and five dimes is seventy-five cents."

9 x 10 + 1 x 10 = 100
"Nine times ten plus one times ten is one hundred."

5 + x = 8
"What makes 8 with a 5?"

Roman Numerals

3 = III
"Let's play Megaman I I I."

5 = V
"I am V years old."

12 = XII
"We are on chapter X I I, Inside Information."

24 = XXIV
"I want to take Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist volume X X I V."

(Yes, he really does talk like this sometimes. It is hard to understand because I don't think in Roman numerals!)

Patterns

10^3 = 1000
"1 dollar is 100 pennies. 10 dollars is 1000 pennies."

f(x) = x + 2007
"In the 2012th year I had my fifth birthday. In the 2011th year I had my fourth birthday. In the 2010th year I had my third birthday. In the year 2009 I had my second birthday. In the year 2008 I had my first birthday. In the year 2007 I came out of your belly!"

Comments

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