The study of prime numbers, and number theory in general, is one of the most abstract areas of mathematics. Take a look at these patterns and see if you can figure out what they mean:Ĭan you see the connection between numbers with the same colour coding? The structure and patterns behind numbers are more mysterious than their simple roots might suggest.
I want my son to be able to work out 14 times 4 as confidently as 7 times 8, and understand that it’s the same as 3.5 times 16 to boot. Children should learn their tables, but they should develop a sense of the numbers from their inherent structure, not be required to memorize as-yet meaningless lists of facts. By laying out objects in rectangular groupings we can not only calculate but physically experience how numbers can be separated fairly into a number of groups.
They grew inescapably from our desire to accurately describe the world around us, and their fundamental properties are also pleasingly grounded in concrete patterns and structures. The beauty and underlying structure, the connections and patterns, the tricks and simplifications were all lost on me since the teaching method involved writing down every times table question from 1 to 12, in order, over and over again.
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