I launched this Mag to demonstrate to my then-5-year-old son that math can be a fun and fascinating subject, rather than boring and mundane. As a child, I became drawn to math and science through reading intriguing stories, and I felt that there was a lack of similar materials available for young kids. So I decided to create a Mag to showcase the wonder of math to my son. The primary goal is not to provide children with specific math knowledge, but to immerse them in the enjoyment of math. If we can connect math with the word "fun" in our kids' minds, then we will have accomplished our objective. After all, interest is the most effective teacher.
How Many Colors For The Map
August 14, 2022
Son was filling colors in his drawings, which reminded me of some fun in math: “Do you know how many colors are needed for a world map?” I asked son. “Many colors?” “Let me ask the question better. There are many countries in the world. In the map, we want to use different colors for […]
Find Patterns, Solve Problems
August 14, 2022
“What’s the last digit of 18100?” I asked my son all of a sudden. “Wow, it will take some time to calculate the answer!” Son replied. “I can tell you the answer in a few seconds. So can you.” “Really?” “Yes, try it and I believe you can find the answer.” “OK! Let’s see. What’s […]
Numbers That Stay True To Themselves
July 23, 2022
“Do you know numbers that stay true to themselves?” I asked my son. “What do you mean?” “Let me give you an example. The number 25, if you multiply it by itself, what’s the result?” “625.” “The last two digits of 625 is 25. It is where we started! The number 25 stays true to […]
Why Do Computers Use Binary Numbers
July 16, 2022
This is the third episode of the Binary Numbers And Computers series. In Episode I, we introduced binary numbers, which are used by Computers. In Episode II, we explained why humans use decimal numbers. In this episode, we are going to dig a little deeper to see why binary numbers are so important to computers. […]
The Most Beautiful Number
June 28, 2022
Today we are introducing the most beautiful number! Her name is … drumbeat please… φ (Pronounced fi, to rhyme with fly) So what is φ? It’s also called the Golden ratio. It’s represented by the Greek letter phi. This is called a Golden rectangle. The ratio of its length ( c ) to width ( […]
The Tower of Hanoi
May 28, 2022
Another fun story today! Legend has it that, on a pouring day in the nineteenth century, a French explorer entered a giant, splendid temple in Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. He saw three massive pillars. 64 golden disks stacked neatly on the pillars. Monks were busy moving the disks from one pillar to another. […]
Why Do We Use Decimal Numbers
June 12, 2022
This is the second episode for the Binary Numbers And Computers series. Here is the previous episode. In this episode, instead of talking about binary numbers, let’s take a step back and first look at decimal numbers – the numbers we use everyday. Numeral systems We introduced binary numbers in our previous episode. Binary number […]
Chickens and Rabbits
June 4, 2022
I posed this question to my son: There is a farm that raises chickens and cute bunnies together. (BTW, here are some real tips on how to raise them together). Today, a neighbor girl wants to find out how many chickens and bunnies are on the farm. She starts counting from outside a fence. The […]
Guess My Number
May 14, 2022
I wrote down a number on a piece of paper, “It’s a number between 1 and 100.” I asked my son, “Your job is to guess the number. Each time you make a guess, I can tell you whether it’s correct, or if your guess is higher or lower than my number. How many times […]
The Butterfly Effect
March 11, 2022
“Have you heard about the Butterfly Effect?” I asked my son. “What is it?” “You know weather is highly unpredictable, especially in the longer term, right? Weather forecast is reasonably accurate for the next few days, but it is not accurate at all to predict the weather a month later.” “Right, that’s why the weather […]