Algebra Is for Children

By Julio César Martínez Romero

Throughout all these years, I have designed novel ways of learning mathematics. I am convinced that if someone is not madly in love with mathematics it is because he or she has not been properly introduced to this marvelous subject.

My work has shown me that students themselves can discover and invent the solutions to any mathematical problem and that they do not need someone to explain a method or give them a set of instructions to solve it. It is only necessary to ask the right questions, and the students will always find the correct answers.

Recently, I designed a series of activities for children so that they can discover algebra. I think that instead of presenting algebra as a collection of rules, children can invent themselves the algebraic representation. This book pretends to be a guide for children to create symbolic representations of daily-life questions. The exercises will also be the basis for learning how to write the correct formulas of chemical compounds. Yes, this book is also an introduction to the concept of electrons in the valence shell of a molecule . . . and it is for children! If you do not believe me, just read it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Palibrio
• Release date: Feb 9, 2017
• ISBN: 9781506518794

Julio César Martínez Romero

Teaching mathematics is my life. I have been a mathematics teacher since 1985. I have taught students in their 5th and 6th grades of elementary education, in junior high school, in high school, in bachelor and doctorate levels. I have been teaching Differential Equations at the Undergraduate Program on Genomic Sciences of the National University of Mexico since 2006.

Book preview

Algebra Is for Children

JULIO CÉSAR MARTÍNEZ ROMERO

Copyright © 2017 by Julio César Martínez Romero.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2017901877

ISBN:   Hardcover   978-1-5065-1881-7

Softcover   978-1-5065-1880-0

eBook   978-1-5065-1879-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Rev. date: 06/02/2017

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Contents

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

I thank Daniela Carrera Millán and Natalia Pereyra Millán for their kind participation in this book. I also thank and acknowledge the work of Ismael Álvarez León, who kindly took and donated the cover photograph.

I

It was just another day. Mama Coty woke up early. Her little brother and her three daughters were still sleeping on their beds. Mama Coty looked at them, she smiled and went out to look for some fresh food for the day. When she arrived to a log that she used as a bridge to cross the stream every day, she looked around very carefully. You could never be too careful. Due to their small size, all sorts of danger threatened ocelot people. Birds of prey, like the hungry harpy eagles that soared high above in the sky, were always looking for a meal. An ocelot could be such a meal. Mama Coty had also occasionally caught the musky scent of a jaguar, an encounter she should avoid at all cost.

Mama Coty always crossed the stream on the same spot, not only because she knew the place by heart but also because alligators never ventured this high up the stream. She feared gators more than anything else in the