Math Facts That'll Make You Say "Wait, What?" #6
Numbers look simple until you actually pay attention—and then they start doing things that make no sense whatsoever. Here are some facts to share with your kid. Not because they're on any curriculum, but because they're the kind of thing that makes you put your phone down.
Numbers are sneaky. They look simple until you actually pay attention—and then they start doing things that make no sense whatsoever.
Here are some facts to share with your kid. Not because they're on any curriculum, but because they're the kind of thing that makes you put your phone down and say "hang on, that can't be right."
The Kid Who Broke His Teacher's Brain
If you add every number from 1 to 100, you get 5,050—and an eight-year-old figured this out in about thirty seconds. Carl Friedrich Gauss did it in elementary school in the 1780s. His teacher wanted to keep the class busy. Gauss spotted a pattern immediately: pair 1 with 100 (=101), pair 2 with 99 (=101), and so on. Fifty pairs, all equalling 101. So 50 × 101 = 5,050. His teacher's jaw hit the floor. Gauss grew up to become one of the greatest mathematicians who ever lived. That teacher probably told this story at dinner parties for the rest of his life.
Nine Is Basically Doing Magic
Multiply any number by 9. Add up the digits of the answer. Keep adding until you get a single digit. You'll always land on 9. 9 × 5 = 45 → 4+5 = 9. 9 × 376 = 3,384 → 3+3+8+4 = 18 → 1+8 = 9. Every time. Without exception. Nine is out here performing tricks while the other numbers just sit there.
What Math Actually Is (The Real Secret)
Math isn't just equations and homework. It's patterns hiding inside numbers, waiting for someone to notice them. It's a kid in the 1780s seeing something his teacher missed. It's nine doing magic. It's four standing perfectly alone. That's what kids need to see. Not just practice problems—the strange, delightful side that schools somehow skip over.
Math isn't boring. We just teach it like it is.
