January 2010 – Christian Perspective

The Golden Ratio

The Golden Ratio – A Wonder of God’s Creation

Above is a link to a blog post one of the members of our church posted a few months back–I’m excited to be able to share it with you, as it does such a wonderful job sharing with pictures and text about this fascinating ratio. It ends with this fitting reminder:

Man is indeed without excuse, for God has put his signature on all of creation. “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse” – Romans 1:20.

Free Digitized 1800 and 1900 Math Books

Several months ago, I felt like I’d hit a goldmine when I first discovered Google has digitized and made available for FREE numerous math books from the 1800s and 1900s, including some of my favorite ones I’d found in old collections. Written back before math was viewed as an intellectual pursuit, many of these old books team with practical word problems!

While they’re not for everyone, as the older English wording and time-period illustrations might confuse some children, these historic math books can be quite helpful! If you’re not sure how to show your child how a concept serves as a useful tool, try looking at some of the word problems offered in one of these books. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend reading through all the presentations, as they’re not easy reads, but many of the word problems are gems! A good place to start is the Table of Contents–the books are also searchable if you want to narrow in on a specific concept.

Below are links to a few of Google’s extensive collection. If you search for these books’ authors, you’ll find other books by them as well (you may want to limit your search to “Full view only” to see all those available on the site in their entirety).

Ray’s New Practical Arithmetic
Adam’s New Arithmetic
Stoddard’s Rudiments of Arithmetic
Practical Arithmetic (upper elementary/high school)

Reminder: Request Week – Next week is request week, so please leave a comment with what you’d like us to discuss!

A New Year, a New Look, a New Schedule…and a New Book!

It has been more than a year since I’ve posted anything–ouch! I think it’s high time for a long-overdo update : ).

First of all, Revealing Arithmetic: Math Concepts from a Biblical Worldview, is finished! The final book ended up being a more-than-200-full-sized page manual offering ideas and inspiration for teaching basic arithmetic (counting through exponents) from a biblical worldview. I can’t tell you how excited and grateful I felt when it went off to the printer…it’s been a long, but blessed journey. Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement along the way! If you’d like to learn more about the book or purchase a copy, it’s now in our online store!

Now that Revealing Arithmetic is finished, it’s my intent to focus more on this blog. I would really like to make it a place where we can explore God’s hand in math together. You may have noticed the blog has a new look and feel–and I’m hoping to add new content to it regularly.

My plan is to post at least once a week, according to the following “tentative” monthly schedule.

Week 1: Specific Concept – Information, ideas, or musings about a specific math concept (concepts will vary each month).
Week 2: A Concept’s History or Applications – An exploration of a portion of math’s history or one of its many applications.
Week 3: Resources – A resource link or review.
Week 4: Requests – Topic will vary based on requests and feedback received. (This is your chance to tell me what you’d like to see us discuss!)

As I try to begin/resume this blog, know that your comments (feedback, ideas, sharing, questions, etc.) will help keep me going : ) I look forward to learning and growing with you!