mathematics-

Teach Your Kids Arithmetic - Multiplication Shortcuts - Part I

When Gauss said that mathematics was the queen of sciences and arithmetic the queen of mathematics, he was not lying. Without arithmetic, there could be no mathematics; for the essence of this most challenging discipline lies in the ability to manipulate numbers and figures. Multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction form the core of arithmetic operations. In this article, we will examine some niceties regarding the first of these four operations.

If you have read and followed my "Teach Your Kids Arithmetic" article series, you learned how important the basic arithmetic operations are. An inability to reckon with numbers certainly will pave the way for a rude "a-wreckoning." Of the four operations, multiplication stands as a very powerful one because of its ability to catapult us into the stratosphere, "number-wise." Known as "repeated addition," multiplication permits us to add the same number to itself many times. Thus 36x14 is really the addition of 14 to itself 36 times. In this example, multiplication gives us a shortcut to the answer, which is 504.

There is a way to do the previous multiplication lightning fast in your head without a calculator and without pencil and paper, or the old-fashioned way. However, before one learns to do these lightning fast multiplications, one needs to know the Fundamental Multiplication Table . This table allows us to figure any multiplication of the numbers between 1 and 9. This basic table can be a real bugbear for elementary students. Many adults enter the world without knowing their basic multiplication facts, as dictated by this table. For this reason, illiteracy, number-wise, also known as innumeracy, is prevalent in our society.

Mastering the multiplication table is probably one of the most important educational necessities. Just this ability will give your child a huge advantage in school and in life. So how do you get your kid to accomplish this most important objective? One of the ways to master multiplication is through mastery of addition. In my various writings, I have taken students on a journey through the four pillars of arithmetic. The first pillar is addition. Through mastery of addition and the learning of key addition shortcuts, students become better prepared to tackle multiplication.

Let's look at a specific example to make this point clear. If students wish to master the "six-times" table, then they can do this by using repeated addition techniques. For example, 1x6 = 6 is obvious from the identity property of 1; 2x6 = 12 comes from 6 + 6, and this is learned from a "quick-add." (See my article on "quick-adds") href="http://www.mathbyjoe.com/page/page/2908884.htm">Teach Your Kids Arithmetic: The Quick-Add - Part I. Once this is learned, 3x6 becomes 2x6 + 1x6; 4x6 becomes 2x6 doubled. This is carried all the way through to 9x6, and thus mastery of the six-times table is achieved through addition techniques. All the times tables can be mastered this way, and once this is done, the multiplication table is history.

Moreover, by looking at the interrelationship of addition and multiplication, students start to make important connections between different arithmetic operations and thus start to see new insights into mathematics in general. Once this hurdle is cleared, a student quickly becomes adept in mathematical studies.

Do yourself a favor. Try out these methods and read and study some of my articles mentioned here. If you give your kids these tools, you probably will not have to worry about their performance in mathematics again. This certainly is a better alternative than the most unpleasant one of seeing your kids struggle miserably in math.

Joe is a prolific writer of self-help and educational material and an award-winning former teacher of both college and high school mathematics. Joe is the creator of the Wiz Kid series of math ebooks, Arithmetic Magic, the little classic on the ABC's of arithmetic, the original collection of poetry, Poems for the Mathematically Insecure, and the short but highly effective fraction troubleshooter Fractions for the Faint of Heart. The diverse genre of his writings (novel, short story, essay, script, and poetry)-particularly in regard to its educational flavor- continues to captivate readers and to earn him recognition.

Joe propagates his teaching philosophy through his articles and books and is dedicated to helping educate children living in impoverished countries. Toward this end, he donates a portion of the proceeds from the sale of every ebook. For more information go to http://www.mathbyjoe.com

posted by fdwvsmr55035 @ 12:54 PM 0 comments

What is Solar Energy Really?

Solar energy is the energy that is produced by our sun. During the fusion process that the sun undergoes during its lifetime, it emits radiation. The fusion process produces many different wavelengths of radiation and sub-atomic particles.

Collecting and converting usable energy from solar radiation can be accomplished by using many different forms of technology and includes various direct and indirect methods of harnessing the solar energy.

There are basically two ways to use this solar radiation, by collecting the heat from the light, and photovoltaic conversion of the light.

There are many different methods of collecting the heat and converting it to electricity, and many ways of converting the light as well. I'll keep it simple here and give just a few examples.

One of the simplest ways that people use solar heat energy is by using greenhouses. A greenhouse is built so that it can best collect the sunlight and heat that it receives from the sun. Using special glass or plastics, the greenhouse and everything within it retains the heat energy from the sun. This heat is trapped inside the greenhouse by the roof and walls allowing plants to grow in an otherwise too cold climate.

By combining various technologies and the use of alternative power sources such as electricity from the grid, a controlled growing climate can be maintained to optimize specialty and agricultural crop growth.

A large greenhouse could make use of a solar updraft tower to generate most or all of the additional electricity it may require to keep the climate controlled.

A solar updraft tower is a simple use of the excess heat generated by light heat that the greenhouse receives. Heated air rises. Heated air is channeled from along the ceilings of the greenhouse and directed into a tower. The hot air rises and the turbine blades are pushed by the hot air rushing past them to generate electricity. Storing any excess power in batteries for the night when there is no sun can also keep the use of grid power to a minimum.

Expanding on the collection of heat from the sun, there are power plants in the hot sunny desert areas that collect the heat from the sun and convert the heat to electricity.

Some of these solar energy plants make use of curved, highly reflective and focused surfaces to optimize the collection of heat from the sunlight. They focus the light onto a central tube that is filled with synthetic oil that gets very hot. This hot oil is then piped into a boiler filled with water that is flashed into steam from the heat of the oil. The steam produced is then used to turn turbines that produce electricity. This is a highly effective way to convert solar energy into usable power.

Another way to collect the energy from the sun is through direct photovoltaic conversion. What this means is that the light is converted into electricity by using special materials called photodiodes that are made into cells. The photodiodes emit electrons when the photons from the sunlight hits them. By using arrays of the special cells and electrically connecting them together, enough power is produced by the transduction process to make it a worthwhile alternative energy.

As more and more people demand the use of free solar energy, governments as well as businesses are subsidizing researchers, and these combined efforts are meeting this demand by coming up with materials that can produce more and more energy from a given amount of sunlight. Solar electricity produced by arrays of solar panels is now almost as cost effective as using petroleum, coal, and nuclear generated power.

I hope I have explained this reasonably well to you the reader, and am only expressing what I know on a personal level. I make no claims to be an authority figure, nor anything other than an interested party.

Thanks for reading!

My hobbies are science, science fiction, particle physics, astronomy, and so much more. I have recently devoted more time to a couple of websites that I have had registered since last August including: http://www.scifipie.com and http://www.forums.scifipie.com

I would love visitors and contributors to my sites! Your ideas on helping us all to go green are also appreciated. Save the planet! I hope to contribute more articles soon!

posted by fdwvsmr55035 @ 12:53 AM 0 comments