Author Archive
What multiplication is … the central role of the distributive property
Posted by: Gary Ernest Davis on: January 7, 2011
Tad Wattanabe raised some interesting points in his comments on the post Multiplication of whole numbers, and how we think about it. Part of what he said is that in Japanese texts, authors distinguish what multiplication IS as distinct from HOW TO multiply. The issue of – psychological – models of whole number multiplication and repeated […]
Practical Applied Mathematics (wherein multiplication is treated as repeated addition)
Posted by: Gary Ernest Davis on: January 6, 2011
Writing in the Newburyport Daily News, Regina Rita Ryan Allin of Louisville, Tennessee, recalled her memories of Joseph Woodwell Ledwidge Hale. She wrote: When I was in school, I was having problems with algebra and he (Hale) tutored me and gave me a book he had written, and signed, which was titled “Practical Applied Mathematics.” […]
