I Can Be a Maths Magician

By Anna Claybourne and Katie Kear

Do you have what it takes to be a maths magician? Yes, of course you do - and this action-packed book will prove it! Baffle your friends with mysterious number squares; measure the height of a tree using only shadows; and solve a mathematical spot-the-difference! While you're drawing, making, and playing, you'll be learning all kinds of exciting facts and ideas about the world of STEM- science, technology, engineering, and maths. This book supports the key stage 1 (KS1) and key stage 2 (KS2) curriculum and is great for home learning. An awesome book for both boys and girls, aged 7+.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcturus Publishing
• Release date: Aug 27, 2020
• ISBN: 9781398800724

Anna Claybourne

Anne was born in Portland, Oregon, and received her BFA from Oregon State University. In addition to her collaboration with Trina Robbins on the Lulu Award-winning GoGirl!, Anne's work includes the Eisner-nominated Dignifying Science and Pigling: A Cinderella Story for Lerner's Graphic Myths and Legends series. She has illustrated and painted covers for children's books and provided interior and cover art for regional and national magazines, including Wired, Portland Review, and Comic Book Artist. Anne's art also appears in the anthology 9-11: Artists Respond and is now in the Library of Congress.

Book preview

Numbers Are Everywhere!

Numbers aren’t just something you study at school. They’re a LOT more than that! In fact, numbers are essential. We use them and rely on them all the time.

Imagine how all these things would work if we didn’t have numbers!

They’ve won the game 8-5!

I live at number 49, apartment 4.

Launching in T minus 15 seconds …

Now stir in 2 tablespoons of flour …

And here’s your change.

From buildings, banking, and bus routes to simply knowing what time it is, numbers are everywhere.

Project: Become a Mind Reader

Start with this super-simple number trick. Memorize the steps, then try it on a friend.

First, write the number 5 on a piece of paper (without letting your friend see it). Fold it up, and put it in an envelope.

As the famous mathematician Shakuntala Devi said:

1. Ask your friend to think of a number …. any number!

2. Ask them to double it … Then add 10 …

3. Then halve the result … Then take away the number they first thought of.

4. Tell them that with your magic powers, you can read their mind and know what number they’ve ended up with. Hand them the envelope to open.

They’ll be amazed that you got it right! But the secret to this trick is that whatever number you start with, you’ll always end up with five.

Without mathematics, there’s nothing you can do. Everything around you is mathematics. Everything around you is numbers.

Magic Squares

A magic square is a square with a pattern of numbers arranged in a grid. If you add up any row of numbers in the grid, you’ll always get the same answer. Magic squares have been around for thousands of years and feature in the ancient Chinese legend of Lo Shu...

This became known as a Lo Shu square, or magic square. The number that the rows, columns, and diagonals all add up to (15 in this case) is called the Magic equation.

Long ago, the rivers in China flooded. After people left offerings by the River Lo, a turtle crept from the water with a strange pattern of dots on its back. The dots stood for nine different numbers, arranged in a square. Every single row of numbers in the square added up to 15. The people took it as a message from the river telling them to leave 15 offerings.

Activity: Squares to Solve

The pattern on the turtle’s back isn’t the only kind of magic square. There are many more, with different patterns, numbers, and sizes. A 3 x 3 square is called an Order 3 magic square. A 4 x 4 square is called an Order 4 magic square, and so