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I will see if my library has those. Thanks for the tip.
Blush (non mathie) what's a base system? Do I need a math dictionary?

Wow Dottie, you have opened whole new worlds today. I was always pretty good at Math...but knew nothing about this binary and base system stuff. I just found this cool site that has lots of cool links on it. I am excited to see new stuff that DS5 can learn as he is soaking stuff up pretty quick. I showed him square roots, exponents, and plotting yesterday on the x,y axis as he found it on one of computer things. After a brief explanation...he got it and got them all right. It's crazy.

Here is that site I just found if anyone is interested. It looks pretty cool. Well, cool for DS that is. "cool" is relative.

http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/faq.bases.html

I just want to say how wonderful my kids are today.

They both love to read. I take them to the library every week. They are very content to look at book or play on the computer. This summer, I baby sat a child and thought that would be great for him too. I knew he didn't go to the library much. Well, he was bored even when I played games with him. Sometimes I think all kids are like mine but this was again a reminder.

I was telling my Friend the reason my kids like to read in we have always gotten cosy with them and made it fun. And we have always said if your not tired look at books at bed time. She then told me she did the same. Then, I felt a little bad, and said well it must be their personality too. But again it made me realize what a gift to have such simple pleasures.

Very Wise OTGMom! If we want to be 'politically correct' then we pretend that it is all about what great parents we are, and not about that each child is born their own person (some more so than others, no doubt) I was awfully smug for years, until I realized that it wasn't about me. I don't know how the other moms put up with me! Good news is that you can congratulate your friend for being a responsive parent and giving her child more of what they like, with are reasonable amount of what they need.

Lately a friend explained to me very simply the 'recipe for raising a coordinated child' I smiled and said: 'Great!' but I didn't believe a word of it. I think it is worth is to make the effort, but, well, mostly I think it's sweet when parents who don't know, just don't know.

Smiles,
Grinity

thank you for your kind words.

Okay, so generally I don't like to go on and on about DS6. Already did that last week However, this weekend was a great weekend for us. Played lots of chess, played a lot outside (great weather), played on the computer (Evolver math game), etc.

So bedtime reading for the last couple of nights has been a short essay from Isaac Asimov. If you didn't know--I didn't but happened to marry a lovely wife that has a lot of his books--he wrote lots about various non fiction topics, including math. DS has "discovered" one of mom's books, a collection of essays. We've been reading "The Imaginary that Isn't" about i (square root of -1). Yes, I am a geek and yes those genes did pass into said son. Hey, it's his bedtime. If that's what he wants to read, then we'll read it. [to be clear: the vocabulary is very advanced and I am reading it to him. He reads along silently]

This particular essay goes on for a while before it gets to the "good stuff". Tonight was the night that it got there though. You have to read all of it to get the story, but the short of it is that while in college a philosophy professor challenged Asimov and said that basically mathematicians were "mystics" because they believed in imaginary numbers. He then goes on an on in great length (details omitted) and then describes two dimensional space as a function of the x-axis being your normal number line and the y-axis being the imaginary line. I'm not even through reading that sentence when DS proclaims "I get it!" and then jumps out of bed and draws me a number line and then puts i "on top" and says minus i is on bottom. This was all a set up by the way to show the reader that imaginary numbers can be used to show directions just like a compass if you use that x-y system to be your compass. So he's already jumped to "yeah WEST x WEST = EAST" meaning a negative x negative = positive. The fun part will be tomorrow when we finish up!

Let's say... I was impressed/stunned/dumbfounded and glad I have a technical background!

JB

Jbdad - that is great!

Asimov's books are so well written!!

Wow, JB, that's so exciting!

Do you know Don Cohen's books? He's at www.mathman.biz . I wonder if his stuff might interest your son--there's the main book (Calculus by and for Young People age 7 and Up), and one called something like "Changing Shapes with Matrices" that was well-loved here (and that sounds like it might have something to do with what you're currently reading). (Sadly [well, sad in this context, anyway], I am Humanities Woman, not Math Woman, so I'm not sure whether this really relates to what you are discussing! But on the off chance that he might like it, I'm willing to risk the public humiliation!!!)

peace
minnie

PS And good on you for reading him what he likes at bedtime!!

Yea, JBDad, what fun! I think we may have to track down a copy of that book :-)

It is nice to have this place to talk. My DD who will be 2 and 1/2 has decided she is going to be "an orthopedic surgeon" She has a "surgeon kit" and "performs surgery" on us all the time. She uses technical terms and act out each step. It is wonderful.

She also says over 2300 words and her sentences are on par with 6 year olds, can count to 25, and understands that numbers go with quantities. She is asking to learn to read and is doing a wonderful job mastering the phonics sound of the alphabet. I would say she has this about halfway mastered.

I can't discuss this with hardly anyone not on here. I have a board I am a member of wit other moms that all have children of siilar age. And whenever I post anything about what my child does that is advanced, not in a bragging way, but just sharing because I think it is cute. It is ignored, no responses at all. So I have stopped. I am glad to have this place.