Contemporary state math standards emphasize that students must demonstrate an understanding of the mathematical ideas underlying the computations that have typically been the core of the elementary school math curriculum. The standards have put an increased emphasis on the study of fractions in upper elementary grades, which are the years during…

The purpose of this study was to examine the cognitive predictors of calculations and number line estimation with whole numbers and fractions. At-risk 4th-grade students (N = 139) were assessed on 6 domain-general abilities (i.e., working memory, processing speed, concept formation, language, attentive behavior, and nonverbal reasoning) and…

In 2006-07, seven Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) middle schools piloted Algebraic Thinking as an alternate approach to teaching middle school mathematics. Algebraic Thinking was developed to help students in grade 6 reach higher mathematics courses by combining the regular and advanced middle school mathematics courses into one…

An easy way to present the uniqueness of the square root of a positive semidefinite matrix is given.

Eigenvalue is an important concept in Linear Algebra. It is well known that the eigenvectors corresponding to different eigenvalues of a square matrix are linear independent. In most of the existing textbooks, this result is proven using mathematical induction. In this note, a new proof using Vandermonde determinant is given. It is shown that this…

Despite the assurances of store employees, whenever a deal is on offer it always pays to apply a little logic (and mathematics) to see just how to use it most effectively. In this article, the author displays how to employ this technique by using the example of a shoe store that advertised "second pair half price" (with the fine print…

In this note, we give a method for finding the inverse of a three by three magic square matrix without using the usual methods for finding the inverse of a matrix. Also we give a method for finding the inverse of a three by three magic square matrix whose entries are also matrices. By using these ideas, we can construct large matrices whose…

This paper focuses on the representation of a proper fraction "a"/"b" by a decimal number base "n" where "n" is any integer greater than 1. The scope is narrowed to look at only fractions where "a","b" are positive integers with "a" less than "b" and "b" not equal to 0 nor equal to 1. Some relationships were found between "b" and "n", which…

A test was given to 322 secondary students to develop a profile of mathematical ability based on four components: computation, pattern recognition, logical reasoning, and symbolic manipulation. These profiles were compared to mathematics test scores; the results verified hypotheses about individual differences in mental processes and knowledge…