downselecting to a known math

[dwenius]

Nina and I were making a paper chain this evening, you know, taping thin strips of construction paper together into links and all that. The folding (for consistent widths), the cutting, the sorting of colors, occasionally the naming of parts, blah blah blah. Because it was close to bedtime, we limited ourselves to three pieces of paper: red, green, and pale blue (because the first purple we found had some paint splatters on it). Nina asked me to do the folding and cutting parts first, which led to the following conversation:

Nina: "Four blue...eight...twelve?"
Me: "Yes, twelve! What comes next?"
Nina: "Um, 15?"
Me: "Close..."
Nina: "Twenty?"
Ma: "Twenty is in the series, but it's not next. What is twelve plus four?"
Nina: "Sixteen!"
Me: "Right. So what is [...to 20, 24, 28, etc., adding tonight instead of the usual Schoolhouse Rock inspired multiplication tables, and finally...] Ok, what's 28 plus 4?"
Nina: "Um...20 plus 12."
Me: [sound of jaw dropping]. "Yes. Exactly."

Comments

[damienw]

Time to start teaching her to play Go.

[canetoad.livejournal.com]

And why not? she already beats the pants off anyone foolish to engage her in a game of Mancala.

[damienw]

Ah, mancala. I tried to learn this by playing at random against a computer, but I am still clueless. Maybe she'll share some hot tips with me.