

Ask HN: Fun challenges for a 9 year-old math whiz? - julian37

Hello Hacker Newsers!<p>Friends of mine have a 9 year-old son who recently scored in the 98th percentile in his school's math tests.  The teachers now want to put him in 7th year math class (he is in 5th year) and apparently sent him home with some multiplication tables which he memorized instantly as he also has photographic memory.<p>It doesn't help that he lives (and goes to school) in a rather rural part of New Zealand, an hour outside of Wellington.  Neither does the fact that his school recently fired their principal and is in a bit of turmoil ever since, leaving less time for teachers to focus on individual kids.<p>(Moving to a different town or having him commute to a different school aren't really options for his family at this time.)<p>When I heard about all this I was wondering if there aren't better ways to engage him and allow him to develop his skills, rather than memorizing tables.  I was thinking that something less dull, more animated and colorful would be better suited to give him some inspiration and encourage him to pursue his strong suits.<p>He doesn't know his way around computers particularly well (yet) but he likes playing games on his PSP and so I thought games might be a good angle to get him started on something fun to do with computers.<p>A few ideas I've had so far:<p>* Lego Mindstorms<p>* Arduino Starter Kit, BASIC Stamp or similar<p>* MIT's Scratch ( http://scratch.mit.edu/ )<p>* Chess, though I'm not sure what the best software or website would be to get him started<p>* His parents were also thinking about getting him involved with "Mathletics" ( http://www.mathletics.co.nz/ ) although I don't know anything about it.<p>I was hoping I could tap into the vast pool of amazing knowledge that is the Hacker News community.  Any other ideas, recommendations, or advice?<p>Note that he's an avid soccer player and his dad (a photographer, film set designer, guitar player, skateboard maker, and builder) has the artistic and hands-on angles covered, so if you feel like giving advice along the lines of "there's more to life than maths" please refrain from doing so -- this question is specifically about cultivating his skills relating to maths and logic.<p>Many thanks in advance!
======
smz
At the very least you can have him progress through the mathematics tree at
Khan academy which would further his education a bit. If you haven't heard of
it, you can check khanacademy.com

The site includes exercises with a bit of a game element attached where you
earn badges for completing certain achievements.

~~~
julian37
Of course, how could I forget about Khan academy. Good point, thanks!

------
bartonfink
You could ask him to add the integers from 1 to 100.

~~~
Zumzoa
I passed this 'test'/suggested a clever way of solving it at a relatively
early age, but have always been pretty poor at Maths. I think it's more
indicative of a problem-solving intuition than maths skill, or even thew
child's conception of integers.

~~~
thiagofm
If you didn't notice, he was joking due the fact that there's a story which
Gauss did the same,

------
MaysonL
Point him at Project Euler.

Books: (remembered fondly from my childhood & adolescence)

The World of Mathematics (ed. Newman)

Symbolic Logic by Suzanne Langer

How to Solve it by Polya

One, Two, Three, Infinity by Gamow

What is Mathematics by Courant & Robbins.

~~~
julian37
Thanks for reminding me of Project Euler, great idea.

I haven't heard about any of these books (I grew up in Germany) but I've
forwarded the list to his parents. Cheers, much appreciated!

------
jgamman
hey another kiwi on hn ;-) "better explained" is cool for the aha sort of
insights. get him pygame and get him to make his own games to play - that
could go in all sorts of directions. have him bounce around MIT's OCW - he may
not get it but being able to follow his nose and his own passions
independently should solve the isolation problem (i recommend the physics
lectures, really great demonstrations and some meaty maths). don't let anyone
tell you it's too advanced - it may take him a while but that's better than
letting him think it's all too easy and get bored

~~~
julian37
Hi there, great ideas! I agree the hard way is the way to go, it's how I got
started myself. Thanks for the suggestion re: physics lectures, sounds really
good.

Pygame is an awesome idea too, actually you've inspired me to put Ubuntu on an
old notebook and give it to him so he has something to hack on (right now he
shares his parent's Macbook.) Nothing too flashy but should be enough to get
him going at least with some 2D stuff.

Cheers!

