Whose Foot Is a Foot?

Whose Foot Is a Foot? — page 1

Whose Foot Is a Foot? — page 2 — W hen you think about mathematics you probably think about a class at school where you do calculations and answer word problems But have you ever thought about math being all around you It’s in every shape and pattern you see It’s in every song you hear It’s in every game you play and any puzzle you solve The first mathematicians realized this and they looked for ways to prove it to show how order and reason could explain much about life as they knew it Sometimes this was easy to do But other times people just didn’t get it Even some of the most intelligent people in history have struggled with math Albert Einstein once wrote to a child Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics I can assure you mine are still greater So how can you use whatever you know about math in everyday life When you find the length of your feet as you buy shoes determine the volume of milk left in the gallon or guess the weight of all the homework you have in your backpack you are using math Length volume and weight are the three basic measurements that are used in math There are a variety of different units for these measurements but the calculations you do with them have not changed Whose foot was the one that helped set up the system we know today 5

Whose Foot Is a Foot? — page 3 — SO MANY MEASUREMENTS WITHIN SIX MONTHS A BABY TYPICALLY DOUBLES ITS BIRTH WEIGHT LOOKING BACK ON ALL THE MATH YOU HAVE EVER DONE WHEN DO YOU THINK YOU STARTED The very first time you were involved in a calculation was likely right after your birth Even though you can’t remember it it was important One of the first things that happens after a baby is born is that their length and weight are taken Such information is among the first facts that friends and family receive about a baby the first math that you were ex It’s fitting that measurement is posed to since math ematicians have been measuring quantities for hundreds of years For example when mathematicians first started do ing math they didn’t understand numbers as being representations of quantities If they wanted to talk about the number two they would reference a stick or segment that was two units long As a result metrology the study of measure ment has always been around and is closely related to all other branches of math The confusing part about using 6

Whose Foot Is a Foot? — page 4

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