Math is FUN!!!

How to Run Math Franchise Successfully

Frank Ho

The other day, some one suggested to me that Ho Math and Chess shall also offer SAT course, I asked why? I was told that there is a demand and also many learning centers now offer SAT courses. The reason for Ho Math and Chess also jumps on the band wagon seems to be convincing but I would prefer to look at this issue in a long term view and this prompts me to spend next few days to ponder on a topic that is just how to run a math franchised centre and be successful? If I know the answer correctly then it will also answer the perplexed question if Ho Math and Chess should offer SAT and also many other similar type of questions?

A franchised math-learning centre will never make to the international stage if it just acts as a follower. Ho Math and Chess constantly evolves and innovates, many new workbooks were created because we know they are more efficient and will help children to improve math, much like the idea of pharmaceutics companies continuously looking for new and improved drugs. It is cumbersome that students have to work on different sets of worksheets to get a combined effects of improving math, fun with puzzles and brain power improvement so Ho Math and Chess invented multi-function math worksheets to not only improve student’s math ability but also improve their problem solving ability and all these are done in a fun environment.

A franchised math-learning center must have a clear teaching philosophy. All workbooks and teaching programs are developed based on its philosophy, otherwise, the franchised learning center may just simply become a tutoring center for marks, and that is all. With this kind of narrow pedagogical view, this kind of franchised math learning center will not have its uniqueness and one-of-its-kind teaching materials. Why Ho Math and Chess has to offer something just because others are offering? Ho Math and Chess stands out above crowd because of its uniqueness in recognizing a niche in tutoring and its most effective workbooks.

It takes time and efforts to develop teaching materials and comes up with standardized teaching system so that a good franchised math learning center will not just hastily jump on a hot product for a short term gain. What happens if SAT is no longer required for universities entrance requirement?

A good and successful franchised math-learning center must be unique and be different from others in its teaching philosophy and reflected its philosophy in its student workbooks or teaching materials. Not only students will increase math marks under guidance, they must also enjoy the program and feel it is really fun to work with and this cannot be achieved by having a snappy marketing slogan. This is the reason that Ho Math and Chess spend large proportion of its time and efforts in writing workbooks and creating programs, which are for long-term view. Many sustainable products like math, chess and puzzles integrated workbooks, Frankho Puzzle, Frankho Maze, Amandaho Puzzle, and Brainpower Math are all created for long-term view.

A franchised math learning centre’s brand name is most effective when students and parents can identify it through its unique teaching method and one-of-its-kind workbooks, A successful franchised math learning must be a leader and not a follower in creating innovative products and have a standardized teaching method.

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As most of you probably know by now, there have been some rather large demonstrations going on in Madison, Wisconsin by public employee union members who are upset that the new Republican governor and legislature are about to pass a bill that would eliminate collective bargaining for certain public employee unions and require union members to contribute to their pension and medical benefit costs. The reason for this legislative action is that the state is faced with a looming budget deficit of .6 billion and the Republican lawmakers believe that this is one of the few ways left to help close that deficit.

The naive remarks of a lawmaker, who was supporting the protesters on the news by saying that that wealthy in Wisconsin should be taxed more and that the unions should not be required to do any givebacks to save the financial solvency of the state, showed how out of touch with reality our politicians are. If you do a little math you see the either math is simple in this case or the politician is simple:

– The following math is based on official IRS results detailing how many Americans earn how much money. Thus, these are official Federal government numbers, they are not Fox News numbers, Tea Party numbers, Republican numbers. These are 2008 final, official IRS numbers, the last year which this data was available to this detail

– The results of the 2010 Census which showed that Wisconsin was home to 1.82% of the nation’s population.

– For 2008 IRS filings, 321,294 households nationwide earned over as million dollars. If you assume that the number of millionaires are spread throughout the country in the same proportion as the population, then we would expect Wisconsin to have about 5,847 millionaire earners in the state, 1.82% of 321,294.

– If this lawmaker wanted the “rich’ to pick up the state budget shortfall, then each of those 5,847 state residents would have to pay a whopping 5,700 to eliminate the shortfall (.6 billion divided by 5,847 people).

– You could venture a legitimate guess that there are even fewer millionaire earners in Wisconsin than the 5,847 estimate above, making the budget reduction burden for Wisconsin millionaire earners even greater. Other, richer  states (New York, California, Texas, New Jersey) probably have more millionaire earners relative to their population than Wisconsin.

– If you ever did such an insane move you can be sure that shortly afterward there would be no millionaires living in Wisconsin.

– Since we know that the average American household spends almost 30% of its annual income on income taxes, sales taxes, Social Security taxes, Medicare taxes, property taxes, gasoline taxes, excise taxes, etc., and Wisconsin is already one of the most heavily taxed states, many of these Wisconsin millionaires would not be able to pay their 5,700 share since after taking more than 30% of their earnings via other taxes and paying for food and other basic necessities, they would not have enough left over to cover their 5,700.

Simple math, simpleton politicians. The government debt burden has gotten so high in this country that even if you confiscate all of the earnings from the richer Wisconsin families, you still might not be able to cover the budget shortfall. Does not the political class understand this simple math fact of reality? You can no longer tax the rich to pay off the bad financial management of the simpleton politicians.

Consider another example. Fortune magazine annually publishes its list of the richest Americans along with an estimate of their worth. If you added up the richest 400 Americans from their last analysis, you found that their total net worth was about .7 TRILLION. Thus, if you confiscated all that these richest Americans owned, (bonds, cash, boats, houses, cars, furs, property), you would not come close to paying down just the deficit that Obama, Reid, and Pelosi rang up over the past four years. You cannot tax the rich enough, even if you take all that they own, to cover the shortfall. Simple math, simpleton politicians.

Want more examples? Last year, New Jersey was looking at a state government expense stream of about billion and a revenue stream of about billion, leaving a budget shortfall of about billion. What were half of the New Jersey political class worried about? Was it the billion? No, it was the fact that the governor refused to raise the income tax on the highest earners in the state by 2%.

By the outcries from the state employee unions and the state Democrats, you would have thought that this single action was responsible for the billion shortfall. However, if you did the math, you would have found that raising the income tax 2% for that small percentage of earners would have raised far less than billion, still leaving the state more than NINE billion dollars short. Rather than attack the underlying root causes of the problem, the politicians were intent on arguing and politicking over a nit that would not have made any significant difference in the overall crisis. Simple math, simpleton politicians.

That is what is so disconcerting about the Federal government’s skyrocketing national debt. It seems most of the political class do not understand simple, logical math and the simple reality that goes along with it. And even the small percentage of politicians that might get the simple math, they are too busy continually running for office to make a stand for sanity. Let’s review the looming financial crisis at the Federal level once again for the simpletons in D.C., I will try to speak s…l…o…w…l…y:

1) We are about to hit a national debt level of TRILLION.

2) With about 115 million households in the country, that comes out to a debt burden of about 2,000 per household.

3) In the best of all economic worlds, if Obama has his way, his budgets will add another TRILLION to the national debt in the next ten years, making the household burden in excess of 2,000. This debt will eventually have to be paid off by us and FUTURE generations of Americans, our kids and our grandkids.

4) Very soon, within the next few years, American taxpayers will pay more on interest on the Federal debt than they do on all other discretionary areas of the Federal budget combined, meaning less money for transportation, education, etc.

5) By paying so much to cover the national debt, Americans will be less free to spend their earnings on things they want such as charities, better schooling for their kids, their own businesses, and their own lives, resulting in a sustained and deep loss of freedom.

6) Speaking of freedom, the Chinese now own almost TRILLION worth of our debt, restricting our freedom in the international arena, i.e. do not tick off one of your largest bond holders regardless of what compromises you have to make on human rights.

Smart Americans from across the political spectrum recognize and understand the problem and most have come up with ways to eliminate the problem, with the one exception being the American political class. These partisan and bipartisan Americans include, but are not limited to, the Cato Institute, Obama’s own debt reduction comimission, the Concord Coalition, the National Taxpayers Union and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

Simple math, simpleton politicians. Simply a travesty.
 

Some people might argue that poker is a game of psychology and feelings.  Others argue that it’s a game of math.  Really, though, it should be a blending of both. The math side can be scary for some players, but it’s not as hard as it seems.  All it takes is some basic knowledge.  Here are some quick tips.

The Basic Logic

You have to make sure that any math you do at the table is based in logic.  If you’re guessing, using inaccurate facts or just plain second guessing yourself constantly, you shouldn’t bother.  You’ll only succeed in frustrating yourself.

Simplicity Behind the Poker Odds Calculations

While guessing isn’t an option, approximating and simplifying definitely are.  Part of the reason poker math may seem scary is that you may assume that it’s like math you used to do in school.  There’s only one right answer.

That’s not the case with poker math, though.  The reality is that you have to do quick calculations at the tables.  So, it’s really fine to estimate closely, rather than going for complete accuracy.

Back to Basics

Although a lot of poker math can be expressed in a complicated way, it doesn’t have to be that complicated and when you participate in poker tournaments you must know your math because the chances are you will face very skilled poker players.  In fact, basic, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division can see you through.  Those are things that we all learned in grade school.  So, I poker math seems like a foreign language to you, find yourself a translator and reduce it to its simplest form.

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The purpose of this article is to explain why learning Vedic Math (Vedic Maths) is a benefit to all who study it. I have been studying and teaching Vedic Maths for about 12 years. During that time, I have tried to interest various segments of the general public to learn and appreciate Vedic Maths. I would like to describe some of the experiences I have had so that any budding Vedic Maths teachers might learn from my experiences.

The first group that I approached was, in my estimation, the most logical and the one with the greatest impact on our youth: the public school system. I was woefully mistaken in that I thought they would be greatly interested. The example that I typically give, to sum up the response I have received over the years is this: let us assume that there is a student that has been shown the traditional methodology to add and subtract fractions and they do not and cannot understand it. They have honestly tried to figure out how to solve problems of this type using the tools their teacher has provided them, but, to no avail. They just cannot figure out how to do it.

By continuing to “beat their head against the wall” trying, to no avail, to understand the teacher’s approach, they are frustrated and have started down the road of hating math for the rest of their lives. I explain within one minute how they can solve problems of this type using Vedic techniques. They can now just look at the fraction problem and immediately just state the answer in five seconds or less. You would think that the teacher observing this would shout “please tell me what you told him so I can take it back to all of my other students having the same misery with fraction problems.” Unfortunately, this is not what I hear. The response I receive over and over is “I don’t like this approach.”

When I ask why, they tell me “how do I know that the student knows what he is doing if he doesn’t write anything down.” I have two responses for the teacher. The first response is that the student got the right answer. The second response is that I only explained how the method works; it will take another minute or two to explain why it works. As unbelievable as it may seem, they will not accept my reasons. They would rather have the student not be able to do fraction problems, be incredibly frustrated and start to hate math with a passion. Maybe this is the reason that almost everyone in every class I have been invited to raises their hands when I ask how many of them hate math. It is a terrible situation when students aged 13-15 have to rely on a calculator to multiply single digit numbers. I have been in classes where I will ask literally, “what is 6 times 4″ and they cannot give an answer. One student actually started counting on her fingers in an attempt to get an answer. This is a pervasive problem that the United States has been suffering with for some time. In the 2009 PISA Study, which tested 15 year olds in math, reading and science from the top 65 industrialized countries in the world, the United States ranked 31st in Math and not much better in the other areas. Until the education establishment in the United States realizes that their current approach to teaching math does not work and are willing to examine alternative approaches, I have the feeling that this situation will only get worse.

There are groups that are willing to listen to alternative approaches to learning math. One very responsive group has been homeschoolers. I have given Vedic Maths workshops to these groups with very positive results. By the end of the workshop, the students feel “empowered” with the knowledge that they can now do certain types of math problems faster than they ever thought they could do before (more about the concept of “empowerment” later on). The parents in these classes usually have mixed emotions regarding my presentation. On the one hand, they are just as amazed as their children with their new found ability in mathematics, but, on the other hand, they are angry that they were never shown these techniques when they went to school. I have found that there are certain ethnic groups that appear to place a higher importance on education than others. These groups are Indians, Orientals and Jews. The parents from these groups will be open to anything they feel will enable their children to better compete in the world. Obviously, there will always be exceptions, but, these groups show a remarkably solid concern towards the importance of education.

I have found two additional groups that appreciate the benefits of Vedic Math. Just recently, I gave two workshops for the hearing impaired in my community. Never presenting to the deaf before, I was a little anxious as to how both the material and I would be received. To my delight, the time I spent with them was a success. They understood what I was explaining to them and by the time the workshop was over, they all had smiles and felt “empowered.” The other group that I have become involved with are the unemployed in my community. They is a company in my community that will help the unemployed receive all types of financial aid to get into educational/vocational programs to better position themselves to get jobs. Before they can avail themselves of this valuable resource, they need to pass a standardized exam in reading and in math. About 60% – 65% fail this exam with almost 95% failing specifically due to poor performance on the math portion. I have been providing workshops in Vedic Maths to help them pass this exam. Passing this exam can make the difference between getting a job or not; between being able to feed their families or not; even being able to keep their families together or not. Vedic Maths is helping to change people’s lives for the better. When they pass their exam, they feel “empowered.”

Several times above, I had used the term “empowered.” Let me now tell you about the true power of Vedic Maths. The first question you should ask yourself is “with all of the negativity in the world, why would any child (or adult) even want to learn Vedic Math?” Society seems to be more interested in promoting and admiring rock stars, athletes, sex and violence than they are of scholars. Schools have stopped teaching math and are now teaching “calculator.” Parents are more interested in getting their kids to soccer practice than to make sure they understand the very basics society demands: knowing how to read and do math. The media is more interested in promoting their economic and political agendas at the expense of our children. Our children and our children’s peers are more interested in playing video games, being on the internet, texting messages on their cell phones and going out with their friends then making sure their homework is done properly and completely understood. Keeping your child happy is more important than assuring that they are educated. Everyone is failing: society, schools, teachers, parents, the media and, most of all, our children. Again, I ask, with all of this negativity, why would a person want to learn Vedic Math? I will now tell you why. In every individual, there are certain undeniable traits that exist irrespective of the degree of negativity that surrounds the person. These traits are: the need to feel admired, the need to be envied, the need for the feeling one gets from being able to do something better than anyone else and the need to feel good about oneself. Learning Vedic Maths meets these needs almost immediately. In almost no time at all, a student learns a Vedic Maths technique and can suddenly multiply large numbers, add and subtract fractions, square numbers, etc. faster than they ever thought possible; faster than anyone they know; and most likely faster than anyone in their community. These positive feelings are immediately felt during a Vedic Maths workshop. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen a student go from withdrawn and looking either bored or about to cry when I start a workshop and are smiling and very positive by the end. They feel like they can take on the world. And why not? They have just realized that one of the biggest obstacles in their lives, mathematics, is now a stepping-stone to help them reach the next higher level in their lives that they thought was previously unattainable. By proving to them that they can do math, which they considered the hardest subject for them to learn, maybe life’s other obstacles will seem a little less insurmountable.

Learning Vedic Math will definitely enhance a person’s ability to do mathematics, but, as I have detailed above, that is such a small part of the benefits that can be derived from Vedic Maths.

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The pencil and paper methods are the most popular way we teach children to solve math problems. Students are asked to learn how to use mental math to quickly solve math problems without the use of paper and pencil. Lastly, students are asked to utilize the calculator to do the majority of the mental computation for them in order to solve math problems. The calculator is the method that has caused a lot of discussion. This question is always asked: At what age should we use this tool to teach our children to solve mathematical problems?

Some people believe that the calculator enables the children to focus more on the mathematical understanding and oncepts instead of spending time on teaching computation skills. This machine can help children complete complicated mathematical operations. The teacher can spend more time teaching mathematical concepts, thus more math can be taught each class period. Teachers are always under pressure to teach a certain number of concepts each class period, and if students don’t understand how to complete simple computations, how can they teach new concepts?

Furthermore, some students become upset because they don’t have the time to complete their math problems. This is in part due to the fact that they don’t have a good understanding of math computation skills. This may cause students to be disruptive or less focused in class. Some of these students have been allowed to utilize the calculator in class because the teacher doesn’t want to spend extra time teaching these students the basic skills that they missed in their earlier grades or from home. Now, the calculator is used so the teacher can continue teaching the lesson.

Research has also said that children can use the calculator at any grade level, as long as they are utilized properly. The research says that the calculator should be used as a supplement to learning and not as a replacement. Also, the teacher must be educated as to how to utilize the calculator in the classroom instruction. Research also states that most teachers are not trained in the use or misuse of calculators in classroom instruction.

This information is important, but let us not forget that if students start using a calculator to solve simple math computations at a young age, what is going to stop them from becoming dependent on them in the future? When will they learn their times tables? In Japan, where children’s math scores are very high, children are not allowed to use calculators until they reach the middle school level. Even then, students use the calculator sparingly. I suspect they use them at the high school level in the higher-level classes, like calculus.

Students who become dependent upon using calculators are losing their mental computation skills. This can hurt them in the long run when more mental computation may be needed. The old saying of, “if you don’t use it, you lose it”, is true. Students who stop utilizing their brain to do math computations will forget simple mathematical tasks, thus math will become harder for them. This is happening all over the United States.

Calculators in general are not bad and at some point in a child’s education they should learn to use them. However, during the early years of learning mathematical concepts and skill, the paper/ pencil and mental methods should be stressed. Early reliance upon calculators can cause children to develop poor computations skills. Math problems at the earlier ages must be taught in repetition to gain thorough knowledge of the skill. Children who learn to do mental math computations are developing strong computation skills that will be useful in their later years and in everyday life.

My son was enrolled in a second grade class that did a lot of mental math to solve problems. Students were asked multiple math computation problems and asked to come up with the answer using their brain. Those students learned how to mentally solve multiple computations problems. All of them eventually became good math students, including my son. What would have happened to those students if they were allowed to use a calculator every time the teacher asked for the answers to those math problems?

Let’s face it, in today’s world we depend on machines, tools, computers, cell phones to do almost everything for us. Almost every gadget has a calculator in it, from our cars to the cash register. That dependence has caused our society to lose some of its mathematical skills base. When we go to a fast food or grocery store, the cash register totals everything. All the person behind the register has to do is give the change that the “machine” tells them to give. No thinking is involved. Back in the day, all stores had someone on the register that could add and subtract and give out the “correct change” that they counted back to the customer. Yes, thinking was involved! This should tell society that maybe we are doing something wrong because so many people are having trouble with math.

When we think about how people learned math years ago, they were taught how to memorize their multiplication tables that led to students knowing how to complete math computation problems. That is called mental math and most of us still remember our multiplication facts today. Also, the United States was one of the top academic powers in the world. This country was also strong in mathematics. What has changed? Technology was supposed to make us smarter. One thing that has changed is how we use calculators in the classroom. (I must admit that our society has changed along with family priorities. Education seems to have taken a back seat in many homes in this country.)

This article is not trying to say that we don’t need technology, or that the invention of the calculator is a bad thing. Technology has been helpful for us, but we must be careful on how and when we use it. Allowing a child to use the calculator on a regular basis too early in their educational journey can stunt the mathematical growth of that child. If a child doesn’t develop those mental computational skills at an early age, he/she will have a harder time learning math as they grow older. This seems to be very evident because of the problems our children are having with math today.

As a child grow older and develops good math computation skills through the use of pencil/paper and the mental math, the calculator can then be a useful tool to support their learning. When children reach high school age and are taking higher-level math classes, the calculator can be a very useful tool. At the high school level, some of the math problems will require several computational steps requiring a lot of time to complete if the student doesn’t have the use of a calculator. This is a good time to utilize the calculator. This will free up time so the teacher can cover more material in class. Also, high school students take several standardized exams that allow them to utilize a calculator.

The overall recommendation is for children to not use calculators in the elementary years. Elementary age children should develop as much mental math skills as possible before a calculator is introduced to them. The best age to allow students to utilize the calculator on a regular basis is during the high school years. Even then, students should use their brain to complete simple math problems. If these simple recommendations are adhered to, we could once again be one of the super powers in math education.

For additional information go to http://www.educationalmarketplace.net
Ronnie Phillips, a very experienced educator and parent.

Terence Tao was a seven year-old high school student when he began taking calculus classes. By age 20 he had received a Ph.D. from Princeton and joined the UCLA faculty. In 2006 he won the Fields Medal in Mathematics and a MacArthur “genius” grant. Watch Tao talk about how he approaches problem-solving.

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