Math for Mom and Me

A little rambling on my roots: I rarely think about the fact that my ancestry is Chinese, but recently there’s been some excitement surrounding that culture. The Olympics? Maybe for some. But for me, it was the arrival of the Complex Chinese version of The Great Number Rumble in my mailbox, and on its heels, the news of an impending deal for Simplified Chinese rights.

Finally, I can show my mother what I spent almost all of my spare time doing the last 3 years! Her English is bare bones, and my Chinese is … well, let’s call it immature (to give me some credit, I found the character for my last name easily enough)…so our conversations are rather limited in their scope and depth. I showed her the North American and Korean editions, but this one’s different – she’ll actually be able to read it! So that takes care of one mystery for her. Now to explain what I do with the rest of my life: how does one say “regulatory documentation for the biopharmaceutical industry” in Chinese?

Cora Lee

author of The Great Number Rumble

Why did the Möbius strip cross the road?

Image by David Benbennick taken on March 14, 2005.

Last Thursday, I met with 36 Grade 4 students from Ms von Blerk’s class and Ms Schachter’s class at Westmount Park Public School in Montreal (a school that looks like a castle!). Nico and Max, who are homeschooling, attended the presentation too. We talked about the weird and cool parts of math and played with Möbius strips. The kids were great – polite and full of questions.

A couple of their questions stumped me! So I looked up the answer to "How did Pierre Fermat, creator of Fermat’s Last Theorem, die?" The encyclopedia didn’t say how he died but it did say that, in 1637, he scribbled in a book that he had a proof for his theorem . He didn’t die until 28 years later, but he still hadn’t written down the proof in a place where people could find it. Talk about not getting your homework done!

My presentation was part of an ongoing science program run by the excellent Montreal Children’s Library, a non-profit institution that has been providing free library service since 1929. Thanks to MCL Science Coordinator Josie Baker for setting up the event. And a big thank you to Librarian Elizabeth Macdonnell, Robin, the teachers and all the kids for making an author feel so welcome – and to the two students who volunteered to draw on and cut Möbius strips.

Here’s a joke for you all:

Why did the Möbius strip cross the road?

To get to the other....???!!!

Gillian O'Reilly

author of Slangalicious and The Great Number Rumble