Math Storytelling Day

Not only philologists, historians and lawyers have the gift of storytelling Those who study the exact sciences also tell fascinating stories about their life’s work In 1995, an elementary school teacher from Georgia decided to get students interested in mathematics in an unusual way The teacher began to tell the children funny stories from the lives of scientists, give examples of unusual problems and ways to solve them, pay attention to sequences of numbers, etc Over time, this tradition, which spread to other schools, states, countries and continents, became a holiday - Mathematical Story Day, celebrated on September 25 In honor of Math Storytelling Day, since 2009, quizzes, competitions, charades and other events have been organized On this day, someone tells students about the basics of science, while others come up with fairy tales for kids, the main characters of which are numbers, geometric figures and arithmetic signs All events held on September 25th are aimed at getting both children and adults interested in mathematics Mental arithmetic and independent derivation of theorems train a person’s thinking abilities “Mathematics is mental gymnastics,” said commander AV Suvorov Therefore, mental calculations without a calculator or counting, problem solving, algebra or geometry classes in adulthood will long delay the onset of dementia and its reign in the form of Alzheimer's disease Perhaps thanks to their involvement in science, famous American and European mathematicians John Littlewood, Jacques Hadamard, Charles Jean de la Vallée-Poussin, Atle Selberg, Freeman John Dyson were long-lived and died at the age of 92-97 years It is believed that Pythagoras of Samos, who lived in the 6th century, was at the origins of science BC This ancient Greek scientist is called the father of mathematics Pythagoras argued that empirical constructions are not enough to prove the correctness of any judgment, so he called for the use of deduction and logic Newton, Archimedes, Euclid, Descartes, Leibniz, and Fermat made their contribution to the development of this exact science These and other great mathematicians and their achievements are remembered during Math Storytelling Day On September 25, participants in the celebrations try to find explanations for the mystical coincidences of numbers, solve one of Fibonacci’s problems, and speculate on how Boolean algebra, which uses exclusively the numbers “0” and “1,” found its application in the construction of binary code This approach to mathematics, an abstract science with a formal language, makes it exciting and instills interest in it in children of all ages You can practice your holiday counting skills by playing Sudoku and other number puzzles The date of the holiday was not chosen by chance The popularizer of the celebration, Dr Maria Druzhkova, decided that the best way to celebrate her birthday on September 25 with friends and family is to talk about mathematics while solving various puzzles Her initiative was supported by Sue Van Hattum Interestingly, her date of birth is also September 25th On this day, people from many countries around the world tell interesting stories about numbers, algebra and geometry Math Storytelling Day is a great opportunity to find something exciting to do and make mathematics a part of your life