A in Math

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Note: This is the only book that is not "self learning" at any age. It is so at grades 8 and up, possibly 7. But for lower grades, as well as higher ages, it is a book for parents and teachers to use in order to guide the children in how to solve math problems.

Note 2: This book counters EVERYTHING that is taught in how to solve word problems.

Guarantee: regardless of you age, I guarantee that if you follow the process I explain in the book, and follow it exactly, you will stop having difficulties with word problmes.

What might take you some time is learning to ignore all that is taught on how to solve word problems and follow the rules and process in the book. Specifically, it takes some time to learn NOT to read full sentences, stop the moment one idea or data is presented in the problem description, immediately translate it, and then "do what you can" with it and the rest of what has been translated already.

Why Word Problems are considered Difficult

Word problems are considered the most difficult Math problems to solve for the following reasons:

1. Reading Comprehension: Before you even figure out how to solve a problem, you have to really understand its description, the facts, and what you are supposed to solve for. It is not always easy since sentences can be complicated and not all problems are well written. In fact, in my experience, many problems are not clear and have ambiguous information that can be understood in different ways. There are also many students who do not read well; reading comprehension is known to be a big issue. Further more, to really understand a problem you need to have a mental model of it, which is not always easy to do EVEN if you understood the parts.

With this book you will learn how to break complicated descriptions to small parts, how to understand those parts, and how to see the relationships between the parts. You will also learn to use a set of tools that will help you understand and create Mental Models of the problem.

2. Translation: After you read and understood the problem, which does not mean you know how to solve it, you have to translate it to Mathematics. Mathematics is a language, and while it is not fundamentally difficult to translate human speech to Mathematics, the principles of translation are not really taught in school and students are expected to figure it out by themselves. While some students figure it out, most students only do so partially, and therefore get stuck at this stage. Even when the principles are taught (mostly not explicitly even then), they are taught with unintuitive symbols and methods (all those x and y).

With this book you will learn how to systematically translate Word Problems to Mathematics in a simple and intuitive way.

3. Problem Solving Strategy: This is the least understood, and the least taught (if at all) element of problem solving. It is also the most critical one, because even if you have mastered steps 1 and 2, you can get stuck without a good strategy. The few text books that do talk about “strategy” do not provide a strategy but are actually discussing the tools I mentioned in (1). Strategy is an overall approach that applies to most, if not all, problems. A tool is a way to solve a specific problem, or a one type of problem, but does not fit other types. It is a very important difference that underlies the problems in how Word Problems are taught. Note that you never study “word problems” as a topic, but only as part of a specific subject.

With this book you will learn a strategy that applies to ALL problems, not just wordproblems. It is a general strategy to solve any type of problem, not just in Math but also in life. Use this strategy for all the problems you encounter and you will see how powerful it is.

4. Mental Block: Due to all these problems mentioned above (and the one mentioned in 5), people (not just kids) often get stuck when they try to solve problems, either math or non-math ones. It is a normal and natural human reaction – freezing in the face of complexity and ambiguity. No one teaches how to overcome such mental blocks, except maybe say “have confidence”, which is not very helpful when you are not confident and cannot see what is going on. What is more important
is for you to have a way to solve problems EVEN if you do not fully understand them, and you do not have “confidence”.

5. Intuitive and Quick Students. Another reason for a mental block is the presence of students who have an intuitive understanding of math and can quickly see the path from the problem description to the solution. When the teacher asks a question in class and such a student jumps up with the answer, the rest of the students, who are not as quick, think that they must be “bad in math”, because they could not solve it as quickly. Of course, that is not true. It is only that some students are exceptionally intuitive and quick about math. Those students do not have a “magic wand” in their head; they do all the same steps required to solve the problem, but they do them so quickly that it seems like they “jumped to the solution”. With the right explanations and methods EVERYONE can be good in Math. Maybe never as quick and intuitive as those special students, but good enough to solve every problem and get an A.

The strategy you will learn with this book helps you solve problems even if you don’t have confidence. It also guides you in how to make sense of the problem and how to solve it EVEN IF you do not fully understand it!

6. Knowledge: If you do not have the “technical” knowledge required for a given problem, you cannot solve it. That is a requirement that cannot be circumvented by having a good strategy, or solution tools. If a problem requires knowledge of addition, you must know addition facts and methods.

Price = $20