Did you know it’s pretty easy to integrate math words into conversations?
Here are 5 math phrases and words along with ways you can use them.
Addition – combining the values of two numbers into their sum
“The dog is a nice addition to the family. You know, ‘addition’ is a math word – we’re adding someone to the family!”
Absolute Value – the distance a number is from zero.
“Suppose our house is “zero” in space. The distance from us to Uncle Zeno’s house can be called the absolute value of Uncle Zeno’s house!”
Cartesian Coordinate Plane – two perpendicular lines (called x-axis and y-axis) used for denoting positions on the plane
“Check out the floor tiles – they make a Cartesian Coordinate Plane. All the furniture could be mapped with points on the plane!”
Fraction – a part of a whole
“Hey – I made a pie. I’ll cut it into eight pieces and you can eat one. Then we’ll say you’ve eaten one-eighth of it. A fraction!”
Greater/Less – comparing quantities
“Sure! Invite your friend to the party – the more the merrier. Hey – we only say that when there’ll be more people – or a greater number of people.”
What’s your favorite?
Do you have any favorite math things to say during “normal” conversation?
Contributed by Bon Crowder, math mom and education fanatic, who helps grown-ups see math in their everyday world so they can help their kids have a positive attitude in math.
Check out her blog MathFour.com for various articles on math learning. Or head over to That’s Math to see more specific ways to see and say math using everyday things.
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