Overview

"Swing Sets uses childrens' natural ability to classify objects to introduce the concept of a set and membership in a set. Sets are fundamental to modern mathematics. Every principle of number theory, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry and calculus is defined in terms of sets. An early understanding of the principles, language and notation of sets will prepare a child to absorb higher math concepts quickly and thoroughly. A definition of a set is ""a collection of objects where it is known if any particular object is a member of the set."" A 'collection' is any grouping. An 'object' can be anything; a toy, a number, or even another set. 'Membership' is a critical concept here. To form a set, one must be able to tell exactly what is in the set and what is not in the set. Each set must be clearly defined. This book starts with a definition for the types of objects that can be included in a set and a definition for each set.""A swing set is a group of swings that hang from the same pole. A swing is something that swings back and forth that kids can ride on."" This definition is emphasized throughout the book. As you discuss this book with your child, emphasize the definitions given and whether objects not found in the book meets the definitions. Swing Sets teaches the child how to form a math statement such as f is an element of B from a situation involving sets. This book also teaches the child how to translate a math statement expressing membership in a set into words."

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9781632703828

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"After 30 years of software development, David McAdams was looking for something new to do. He turned his attention to how math is taught. Through his coursework at Utah Valley University, he learned how critical vocabulary acquisition is to all learning, and especially to math. Math has long been regarded as its having its own language, with its own syntax and symbols. The acquisition of this language has been found to be a barrier to many students. After the completion of his internship, Mr. McAdams finished compiling math vocabulary words into a comprehensive dictionary, written for middle school and high school students. ""All Math Words Dictionary"" is the culmination of ten years work collecting, classifying and describing all of the words a student might encounter in their studies of algebra, geometry, and calculus. This book has over 3000 entries; more than 140 notations defined; in excess of 790 illustrations; an IPA pronunciation guide; and greater than 1400 formulas and equations. While working on the dictionary, between playing with his grandchildren, Mr. McAdams started developing other ideas for math literacy. The results are ""Numbers"", ""What is Bigger than Anything (Infinity)"", ""Swing Sets (Set Theory)"", and ""Learning with Play Money"". Branching out, Mr. McAdams took a departure from tools for teaching math, moving into the arena of pure mathematical delight. This results in two volumes of ""My Favorite Fractals"". While reading a book on color names to his grandson Sawyer, he got to thinking how boring books on color names are for adults. ""What in the natural,"" he mused, ""has enough of the primary and secondary colors to teach color names to children?"" His first answer was either frogs or parrots. He created ""Parrot Colors"", ""Flower Colors"", and ""Space Colors"". Returning to math, Mr. McAdams created a book to help children learn shapes, called ""Shapes"". He remembered how, in his youth, he found a few printouts of geometric nets and was fascinated how they folded together into complex, 3-dimensional objects. He prepared ""Geometric Nets Project Book"", then ""Geometric Nets Mega Project Book"" with many geometric nets to cut out and assemble. What can one get for the math aficionado who has everything? Mr McAdams created the books ""The First Million Digits of Pi"", ""The First Million Digits of e"", ""The Square Root of Two to One Million Digits"", ""The First Hundred Thousand Prime Numbers"". Many young math learners become fascinated with how math works. Mr. McAdams wrote ""One Penny, Two"" to illustrate through a stories how fast powers of two increase with each iteration. Jerry is given a magic box. If you put a penny in it, the pennies double each day as long as none are taken out. Jerry decides he wants a dark green convertible sports car. Follow Jerry's trials as he sets his sights on his goal."

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