Presents report of 1983 conference on trade books for young children co-sponsored by Drexel University and Free Library of Philadelphia. Keynote address by Ava Weiss, Art Director of Green Willow Books, is followed by summaries of workshops led by well-known authors, illustrators, and/or editors. A selected bibliography of books is included. (EJS)

A procedure for generating the "nth" term of figurate numbers is given. (MNS)

Four three-year-old girls were studied in seven sessions during a three-month period for their performance on rote and object counting tasks. Two exhibited behavior consistent with underlying stable-order and uniqueness principles. (MNS)

A card trick that can be explained and justified using first-year algebra is presented. It illustrates the power of mathematics to unmask seemingly complex situations. (MNS)

Exercises with numbers designed to hold the interest of a heterogeneous group of adult students are described. They include games about age, counting, and cards. Meaningful content and active, interested participation are features of the techniques. (MSE)

The lesson details an approach to teaching positive and negative numbers which uses number pairs and generates inverses that initially avoid any mention or use of negative signs. The material moves pupils from development of key concepts to the use of more standardized notation for number operations. (MP)

A series of problems is presented that (1) focus on certain kinds of numbers or (2) emphasize a specific concept of number theory. Several are appropriate for extensive investigation with a computer. (MNS)

It is seen as important that mathematics teachers encourage open, imaginative investigations that give students an opportunity to probe, find patterns and relations, and derive new patterns and relations. The article focuses on multiplication tables and classes, including questions for further exploration. (MP)

This study is an examination of developmental changes in children's use of pointing gestures to achieve an accurate count. Based on the data gathered, it is argued that the functional relation between the recitation of number names and children's pointing gestures in counting changes over the course of development. (Author/AL)

Critics assert that Piaget's tests seriously underestimate operational thinking by failing to consider experimenter and presentation variables. This experiment studied the impact of these social influences on number conservation performance. Subjects viewed videotapes in which the task was presented by an adult or by puppets. Presentation mode…

Five problems on the generation and study of prime and related numbers are discussed. Solutions to the problems posed will be in next month's presentation. (MP)

Included are nine brief notes on various aspects of infinity. These are an attempt to stimulate and organize the thinking of teachers and others who acknowledge the role notions of infinity play in mathematics and in children's thinking. (MK)

Attention is drawn to an ancient Greek method for finding the least common multiple (LCM) of two numbers. A link is established between this method and a well-known method of obtaining the highest common factor (HCF) numbers. This leads to consideration of some relationships between HCF and LCM. (Author/MK)