What is mathematics?

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Mr. Lawrence has been visiting our classroom. He invites and challenges us with some of his favorite math problems. 

 Today he asked us, What is mathematics?
We said things like: 

  • "Play with numbers"
  • "Combination of numbers"
  • "Messing around with numbers and then sometimes it's like science."
  • "You can take different numbers and put them together in different ways, splitting them apart and putting them together."


What you did as you thought about this sheet was mathematics.

 Some people would say mathematics is pattern making.

 What were some patterns?

  • "We counted digits: count up the number of digits and then go back down."
  • "Once you get to the top number you go back down, the top number appears one time."


 We can make predictions using your observations.

This is just a snapshot of some of the conversations we're having as we get ready for I Love Math Day (celebrated this year on February 11th).

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