Yoko Ogawa Housekeeper

For example, in the story he was solving an equation, “ A triangle with sides that can be written in the form n^2+1, n^2-1, and 2n (where n>1) is right angled. Show, by means of a counterexample, that the converse is false” (214). I don’t even understand what he says there and I am pretty sure neither can half of the class either if they read that equation. In the appendix he solves the equation and I was lost for days. His work looks like this in his

Numbers do not exist. They are creations of the mind, existing only in the realm of understanding. No one has ever touched a number, nor would it be possible to do so. You may sketch a symbol on a paper that represents a number, but that symbol is not the number itself. A number is just understood. Nevertheless, numbers hold symbolic meaning. Have you ever asked yourself serious questions about the significance, implications, and roles of numbers? For example, “Why does the number ten denote a change to double digits?” “Is zero a number or a non-number?” Or, the matter this paper will address: “Why does the number three hold an understood and symbolic importance?”

In the novel “The Outsiders” by S.E Hinton an important theme is family and friendship. This theme is interesting because it shows us how when you’re family you come together to look after each other no matter what. The theme of friendship is also interesting because when your friends you support each other through everything and anything no matter what the consequences are. In “The Outsiders” the theme of friendship is also a main interest because despite peoples differences they can come together through a common interest or factor, which is what happens in “The Outsiders”.

The aims and importance of learning provision for numeracy development are to ensure all students understand that maths is a vital part of everyday life and will continue to be used throughout their life. Primary schools will teach students to learn various methods and techniques to be able to reach the correct answer. The end goal means more students will be able to solve a mathematical problem, independently, using a method that suits them. They can then develop their learning to improve their knowledge and apply it to real life situations; such as counting in groups of numbers such as 5’s or 10’s, which in turn can be applied when paying for

Numeracy development is important for all children as maths is an important part of everyday life. The way in which maths is taught has changed greatly over the years. When I was at school we were taught one method to reach one answer. Now, particularly in early primary phase, children are taught different methods to reach an answer, which includes different methods of working out and which also develops their investigation skills. For example, by the time children reach year six, the different methods they would have been taught for addition would be number lines,

This synthesis paper is examining the direct link between counting and building student’s number sense. The study conducted by Baccaglini-Frank and Maracci (2015), number sense as being vital to learning formal mathematics and stated there was a positive correlation between using fingers for counting and representing numbers has a positive effect on number sense. Students need opportunities to practice counting and establish foundational skills in number sense in order to be successful during their mathematical futures. It was determined that touching, moving, and seeing representations are essential components of the mathematical thinking process (Baccaglini-Frank & Maracci, 2015).

The novel brings out the themes of close friendship and family. It teaches the reader the extreme importance of having friends you can rely on when situations

“Logical-Mathematical Intelligence is quantifying things and making hypotheses and proving them.” It connects to “from Blue Nines and Red Words” By: Daniel Tammet. Daniel Tammet eats exactly 45 grams of porridge for breakfast. He weighs it to see

Something Margot Lee Shetterly mentions in the book's prologue that I found to hold more significance the further I got into the book. It had to do with a question she was asked several times during the early days of her research in regards to the "magnitude" of the stories she'd plan to cover in her book.

The chapter illustrates the connection between math and language by expressing the explicit differences between two cultures. He compares the brevity of Chinese numbers to those of English numbers. For example, the words for Chinese numbers are most likely monosyllabic, resulting in a lesser time to say and process them. The number seven in the Cantonese dialect of Chinese is pronounced as “qi” (Gladwell). This brief number system can be beneficial to toddlers and children learning how to speak and perform simple mathematical functions. A child will better process numbers in the Chinese number system rather than those of the English number system, and early learning can help a child’s brain grow more rapidly as the child grows older. The Chinese language can be seen as advantageous because it helps with processing the number system. This connection between language and math can be seen in other real-world situations, as

The author of A Mind for Numbers, Dr. Barbara Oakley, grew up with a strong dislike for math and science because she never excelled in those subjects. When she was in seventh grade, her father lost his job after a severe back injury. Due to the lack of his income, she had to transfer schools. At her new school, she had a "crotchety math teacher" who made her sit for hours doing simple addition and multiplication problems. This teacher caused her distaste of math and science to increase dramatically, which eventually led to Dr. Oakley's failure in many future math and science courses. Although she did not enjoy math and science, she loved learning a new language, Russian. Due to her Russian language studies, she received an ROTC scholarship to the University of Washington. Right after she received her bachelor's degree, Dr. Oakley enlisted in the army. Eventually she found herself commissioned in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, where technology was key. Because she was not good in math and science, she was treated as a second-class citizen in her workplace. Dr. Oakley then reflected on her career and decided to go back to college as a result of the funds she had received to continue her education

It is this air of isolation that brings him together with his far-elder cousin, Miss Sook. “…neither of us had an ordinary outlook or background, and so it was inevitable, in our separate loneliness, that we should come to share a friendship apart” (243). This friendship with a woman fifty years his senior livens Buddy’s world as they spend all their time together, working in the garden, going fishing, and cooking up gigantic breakfasts. “…she was a child herself…she understood children, and understood me absolutely” (242). Buddy relates to her as an equal, creating a much needed friend that serves as an anchor in his childhood. As the primary figure in Buddy’s life, Miss Sook is able to teach him lessons about envy, vengeance, and empathy. She knows that Odd bullies Buddy, so she invites him to join their Thanksgiving dinner. Buddy is outraged and feels betrayed by his friend’s welcoming of an enemy. Immediately he views Odd in contempt as he watches him eye up one of his relatives while grabbing all the attention with his talented singing voice. “Odd was good, he could sing for sure, and the jealousy charging through me had enough power to electrocute a murderer.” (259). Overcome by this jealousy, Buddy immediately finds a way to find vengeance on Odd by accusing him of stealing a brooch from Miss Sook, which he was in fact guilty of. In the process of

She recognizes that numbers can be used to identify important things in our lives such as our age, birthday dates and an amount of present students. She is able to recite number names in sequence up to __ and to arrange a complete set of numbers from 1 to __ in the correct order. She knows that the last number counted answers the “how many” question. She can see at a glance how many there are in a collection of up to 6. Xinran can identify and describe one set as having more, fewer, or the same number of members as the other set. Xinran has a good understanding of one-to-one correspondence up to ten using duck footprints, matching objects such as people, fruit, animals to the numbered wagons and plates.

The Housekeeper and the Professor is a novel written by Yoko Ogawa, and published in 2003. The story is a bout a mathematician who is the professor in the story. The professor suffered from a brain damage after a tragic traffic road accident, and he can only produce 80 minutes worth of memories. The professor forgot everything about his former life, but could only remember numbers, since he had a passion for mathematics. The story is told from the narrator’s point of view (the housekeeper). The narrator was to take care of the professor who asked her to let her son come direct to his house after learning that she had a 10 year old son who used to wait for her at home till late night after school. Later on, the professor grew fond of

Being numerate means having the confidence and skills to use numbers in all aspects of life. Language, Literacy and Numeracy are all interdependent. Comparliative numeracy is e.g. big, bigger and Superlative is e.g. biggest. Children learn their numeracy skills through play with adults, these adults can be parents/carers, practitioners, child minder’s etc. Numeracy also means being able to work out “charts and diagrams, process information, solve problems, check answers, understand and explain solutions, and make decisions based on logical thinking and reasoning.” (National Numeracy, 2014)