Ex-president Trump’s criminal hush-money trial in New York provides much fodder for comedians and political pundits, not to say, math educators and poets, to poke fun at the lasagna of lies exposed by the prosecution and defense teams.
Below is a math meme that was X-ed, when the ex-Commander in Cheat’s defense lawyer was cross-examining his “ex-fixer” in the court case.
Political Math: When two serial liars failed to convince a jury of recreational math educators from the “fine” city of Singapore that they’d be exempted from a mock high school test paper.
@MathPlus on May 20, 2024
5GDishonesty
Thanks to Mr. Pinocchio and his once-most-loyal lawyer, who said he’d take a bullet for his ex-client, even math teachers and writers (and pseudo-poets) around the globe couldn’t resist from indulging in some poetic licence.
A Tale of Two Liars
One lied n times, but repented at the (n+1)th time. The other keeps lying for the nⁿth time.
Another “adult math” meme that was tweeted to irreverently expose the ex-president’s constant denial of his affair with a former porn star is the following:
Political Calculus: The Real Analysis of the Trump-Daniels Affair. Meme posted by Shivam Kr (Jan. 28, 2022) to the “Mathematical Mathematics Memes” page.
@MathPlus on April 17, 2024
More MAGA Haikus
Let’s end with four haikus based on the duo’s decades-long manifold lies.
Last July, millions across Asia competed for just 300,000 tickets to see Taylor Swift in the “fine” city of Singapore, which will host the only stop in Southeast Asia for the singer’s Eras Tour. Organizers said 22-plus million people registered for pre-sale tickets while online registrations passed the one million mark.
And last night, even pop singer Swift, who kicked off her six sold-out shows at the 55,000-seat National Stadium, couldn’t avoid creating some light-hearted political rift or jealousy among some ASEAN members.
Time magazine’s Person of the Year in 2023
Last month, after Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin “complained” that Singapore had brokered a deal to “pay the pop star up to US$3 million for each of her six concerts—in exchange for keeping the shows exclusive to Singapore in Southeast Asia,” the Singapore Tourism Board admitted it “supported the event through a grant,” sans revealing its size or any conditions attached to it. Guesstimate the amount of grant that was given to stage these coveted events.
Even one unhappy politician from the Philippines said “this isn’t what good neighbors do” and called for his country to register its opposition with Singapore’s embassy. Go ahead, Mr. Joey Salceda.
Cartoon by Shannon Wheeler. #NewYorkerCartoons
Political instability, radical ideology that threatens violence to Western values, and poor infrastructure are oft-unspoken key factors for concert promoters to convince the pop superstar to give regional hubs like Bangkok, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, and Jakarta a miss as part of her “Eras Tour.”
Mathin Pop Culture
With so much excitement (and concern from conservative or puritan parents) about Swift’s six-show tour in Singapore, how could math educators seize the opportunity to excite otherwise mathematically indifferent or apathetic students with some Swift-related math questions or activities?
For instance, what about coining some math or dismal science terms like Swiftematics and Swiftonomics to promote some creative problem posing?
Posing real-life Swift-related math questions is only limited by our imagination. Below is a nontrivial question that was posted on Facebook, whose solution is anything but straightforward.
Posted by Judy Smith Hallett on “Maths Jokes Daily”
Swift’s Carbon Footprint
In 2022, Swift topped the list of celebrities with the highest private jet CO₂ emissions. If her jet pollution were about x times more than the average person’s total annual emissions, estimate x.
The next item is a Swift- or math-friendly question posted by news anchor Peter Busch.
A Math-Friendly Question for Swifties
The Numerology of Taylor Swift
Last month, after reading about Swift’s serial infatuation with her “lucky” number 13, I made an attempt to define Swiftie Math, which is based on the numerology (or pseudoscience) of Taylor Swift.
Since I’ve yet to receive any approval or rejection of the term—whether the editors see it fit for publication—I’d skip posting it online for now.
The Swift-Biden Conspiracy
Theomatically, MAGA evangelicals (or MAGA Xtians, where X ≠ Christ)—a subset of Christian nationalists—in red-pilled states haven’t failed to warn netizens about the “satanic” influences of Taylor Swift’s songs, but have hypocritically or selectively remained silent about the fraudulent, criminal, and sexual activities of their “political savior.”
Does Taylor Swift CAST SPELLS On Her Listeners?!
Conspiracies about the singer’s alleged support for President Biden have been rife in political and religious circles to paint Ms. Swift as an “ambassador of Satan,” who’s shown zero sign in supporting Trump and his cult.
Puritan Trumpublicans are hell-bent to warn millions of Swifties from unknowingly becoming witches lest they and their idol lose their souls, but, interestingly, hardly anything from these patriots calling for a nationwide corporate prayer for the soul of their beloved un-Christian ex-president.
Common sense has returned to Thailand, when the present government admitted before the Year of the Dragon ushered in that the recreational use of cannabis or marijuana is wrong, which was decriminalized in the kingdom in 2022.
Mr. Chonlanan Srikaew, Thai health minister, said that the government will soon be moving a new bill that will allow the drug to be used only for health and medicinal purposes.
Indeed, a big blow to hundreds of marijuana dispensary owners, and to millions of tourists who’re planning to visit the “Land of a Thousand Smiles” to get a kick out of marijuana.
And to a small extent, the ban will also affect recreational math educators who’ve started working on new and fertile questions that incorporate the legalized use of marijuana recreationally.
Should “Thailand math” questions be allowed in recreational math classrooms?
Marijuana Math
In an earlier post on “Marijuana Math” under “Math Word of the Day,” on LinkedIn, I poked fun that in tourism the “fine” city of Singapore would likely be losing out against Thailand. I mentioned tongue-in-cheek a few positives of Thailand being a “marijuana mecca” for adventurous or uninhibited tourists, especially those who come from conservative countries that criminalize the use of the drug recreationally.
With the new cannabis law in the pipeline, the number of tourists bypassing budget-unfriendly, family-friendly Singapore for wallet-friendly, pro-same-sex unions Thailand should be expected to be far lower than initially feared.
Math on a High
Let’s indulge in some recreational Thai Math questions, while there is some time to be on a high. The window of opportunity to enjoy these soon-to-be-banned word problems is closing in fast, unless the power-hungry military stages another coup to put in place a new pro-cannabis government.
1. A MAGA patriot, who recently visited Thailand, was caught with 24 cannabis candies and chewing gums in his locker at Mar-a-Lago. The fine is $80 for each candy, and $90 for each chewing gum. If the judge sentenced the culprit for a total of $2,010, how many candles and how many chewing gums were seized?
2. Which has the higher chance of occurring in the next quarter century: Singapore qualifying for the World Cup, or Singapore allowing tourists (but not locals and permanent residents) to use marijuana recreationally?
3. If the medicinal use of marijuana debatably proved to be a quasi-effective cure in treating math anxiety, mathophobia, or other mathematical disorders in a-not-too-distant future, would the “fine” city condone its use among its oft-self-professed semi-innumerate citizens?
Like the days of the legalization of recreational cannabis in Thailand, the days of the recreational use of Thai Math questions, too, look numbered.
A math definition that has miraculously survived the attack of digital green terrorists.
Are you guilty of speaking (even mild) mathematical bullshit with your fellow math educators? How often do you use these BS phrases consciously or unconsciously to sound more educated or “mathematically civilized”?
If your math HOD talks about squaring the circle, thinking outside (or inside) the box (or cube), or going the extra (second) mile, do you really understand what the heck they’re talking about? Or are they just trying to impress or persuade their teachers to “walk their talk” (yes, another BS term); or worse, to cover up their shortcomings or confuse the new novice teachers?
What are the chances that they may to some degree be farting around some annoying and tiresome jargon to sound like a mathematical bore?
Of course, mathematical BS goes beyond language. Think of those sadistic statistics, data graphics, or infographics, which are often intended to mislead or confuse the audience. Misinformation, disinformation, and the Trump lies—you’re lured by them, because most are often music to the ear, especially if you love indulging in conspiracies, hoaxes, and white supremacist talks.
Context Matters
If a math teacher or educator talks about pushing the envelope, the chances that they may be legitimate are pretty high. If Pinocchios like Donald J. Trump, Boris Johnson, Vladimir V. Putin, and Kim Jong-un do, then it’s probably not—the odds are quasi-zero.
How to Be a Mathematical Bullshitter
How many of these phrases mostly convey empty words trying to sound smart?
always in beta think outside the box zero sum game square the circle make a 180° turn the common denominator 360° appraisal walk the talk walk the walk big picture big ideas blue sky thinking pie in the sky go the extra (second) mile 24/7 or 24/7/365 9 out of 10 agree journal writing push the envelope back to square one learning experiences growth mindset problem-based learning (PBL) the new (new) normal miss the forest for the trees moral calculus
To Bull or Not to Bull?
Is spewing out mathematical BS a form of ineffective communication? A linguistic malpractice you’d try avoiding to reduce any chances of being misinterpreted?
Or do you like them because they make the speaker sound intelligent or educated, albeit their meanings or interpretations are often vague or even dangerous in some extreme cases or contexts?
In most cases, they arguably add spice to the conversation or impress the listeners, because most people who use them aren’t necessarily dishonest or evil-minded, unlike Trump and his gang of morally corrupt advisers and lawyers.
If BS can get Mr. Pinocchio into the White House or remove a country from the WHO, why not you? Your politicians, bosses, and pastors do it all the time (and probably you too), whether you want to admit it or not, so shouldn’t you do it as well since everyone else is guilty of it?
Until we meet again, know that my job isn’t to cure you from any honest or dishonest mathspeak. Why?* You can’t count on me to free you from a life of mathematical BS.
* The writer is currently undergoing weekly counselling sessions for excessively using BS or PC words in his formal and informal writing; he hopes (and also prays) that he’d find freedom from linguistic obfuscation in using only simple language that even his pets at home could understand him.
A math definition that has since been hijacked by digital terrorists.
Early this week, we read in the news that the Taliban were stopping female Afghan students heading to the university from leaving the country to study in Dubai.
What kind of society or ideology would prevent girls and women from pursuing an education that would empower them to live productive or fruitful lives, and to help raise the literacy and numeracy rate of their country?
If a government don’t respect the human rights and fundamental freedom of women and girls, it speaks volumes what kind of radical thinking is behind their spiritual or ideological decision and action.
Just when the civilized world thought that forcing people to be attired in a certain way based on man-made laws is bad, banning them from attending secondary schools and universities makes a mockery of all the rites and rituals that are practiced to moralize or de-infidel-ize them.
In most developed or semi-democratic societies, not sending your children to school, or depriving them of a formal education, for no valid reasons, could land parents and caregivers in deep trouble with the authorities.
Singapore: Lifelong Opportunity for All Minority Muslim Girls & Women
In multicultural Singapore, even educated parents can’t simply homeschool a child just because they want to without a valid reason from the Ministry of Education. For example, religious-minded parents can’t conveniently send their children to a madrasah for their formal education if they can’t convince the authorities that their children’s educational, emotional, and social needs would be well taken care of.
A government that fail to provide formal education for its citizens, male and female (or whatever other labels some might prefer to be identified themselves with), or discriminate against girls and women, or alienate certain racial or religious groups, and minorities, makes us wonder how far these people have been radicalized, or are ideologically brainwashed or spiritually blinded.
When rogue rulers or radical religious leaders in a theocratic state control the lives of millions of men, women, and children based on radical ideology, by dictating them how they ought to live and be taught, one can imagine what kind of citizentry they’d produce for future generations.
The marginalization and objectification of girls and women is condoned in many Mohammedan milieux or Islamist circles, and these practices hardly ever make the headlines, compared to the misinformation or disinformation on the repression of Uyghurs and genocide in Xinjiang.
As someone aptly commented, it sounds like Americans “don’t like Chinese and also don’t like Muslims, but they seem (or pretend) to like Chinese Muslims.”
An e-card that proves ISIS values math education.
For “infidels,” selling or marketing Singapore math titles to the Taliban or Boko Haram (which outwardly or publicly abhor and denounce anything Western or Christian) is like running a half-priced campaign for ice cubes in Alaska.
Politics 1 Math Education 0
Since the U.S. pulled out of Afghanistan, after trying to free the people from terrorism and radical Islamism for two-odd decades, arguably, both Trump and Biden are directly or indirectly responsible for the current deprivation of education among girls and women in the country.
It’s a back-to-square-one situation before 9/11, when radical Islamists and terrorists religiously relegated girls and women to domestic slaves.
The Western media put a premium on “radical democracy” but pay lip service to the lack of educational and job opportunities for millions of girls and women in Afghanistan and many so-called “moderate Muslim” countries.
Radical Math Questions
Below are some previously x-ed (or tweeted) politico- or religio-mathematical questions non-NATO [no-action-talk-only] math educators would like to reflect on if they wished to play an active part in the education emancipation of girls and women in many oppressive or rogue regimes around the world.
1. Guesstimate how many millions of girls and women in Afghanistan would be denied of their human and educational rights, as the Taliban start enforcing their man-made Sharia law to oppress or enslave them in most spheres of life.
2. How many Afghan girls and women would be robbed of an education under the Taliban in 2021 and beyond, as radical Islamists and terrorists force them to be subservient to men?
3. If Section 377A humiliates and hurts gay people, doesn’t the men-designed Sharia also “discriminate or disadvantage girls and women”? Shouldn’t those discriminatory laws against them be repealed?
4. [Fake] Math News: Trump & the Taliban. Afghan judges are deliberating what sharia punishments should be meted out to Trump for his financial, political & sexual crimes. What are the odds that he’d be spared of barbaric amputation, caning or stoning?
5. How many Malala Yousafzai’s Afghanistan and other Muslim-majority nations like Iran and Saudi Arabia—where women and girls are often discriminated and enslaved—would need to fight for women’s and children’s rights against the Taliban and the ayatollahs?
A math definition that appeared to have been hijacked by Al-Qaeda or the Taliban
An unspoken commandment among parents and homeschoolers is: Thou shalt not introduce algebra to young kids without close adult supervision.
Looking at the unhealthy number of pre-school math titles in local bookstores, some Singapore math authors have set questions that directly or indirectly help promote algebraic thinking among toddlers and kindergarteners, particularly via the bar model method and number patterns, whether they’re pedagogically conscious of it or not.
Kiasu parents or tiger mums would buy assessment (or supplementary) math titles (often disguised as “parents’ guides”) to give their kids an “unfair advantage” over their peers.
On closer look, disappointingly, these preschool “enrichment math” books are often mere rehashed primary one (or grade one) assessment math titles.
Fr: Cartoon from Judy Smith Hallett
I decided not to showcase any covers of these oft-drill-and-kill kindergarten math titles here to avoid any perception that I’m endorsing some local authors or their publishers.
Notion, Not Notation
Debatably, it’s no harm getting preschoolers to start thinking algebraically long before they’re formally taught generalized arithmetic. Yes to pre-algebraic thinking but no to algebraic notation or equation for kindergarteners.
Personally, I’ve yet to see any decent locally published K–2 Singapore math titles in bookstores (other than through some questions in children’s puzzles books), which creatively or systematically promote algebraic thinking skills.
In the last two decades, there had been a number of journal articles and a few NCTM (and even some AMS) titles that feature activities or nonroutine questions that champion pre-algebraic thinking at the kindergarten level.
It’s a pity that Pre-K and kindergarten teachers (and mathepreneurs) haven’t leveraged on these rich resources to come up with supplementary math titles to evangelize the algebraic gospel to K–2 students.
The raison-d’être of premature algebra teaching
In Singapore, a mecca for brain-unfriendly, budget-friendly assessment (or supplementary) math titles, it looks rather surprising that local Singapore writers have so far not come up with an “Algebra for Babies or Toddlers” when local libraries already carry catchy foreign titles like Bayesian Probability for Babies and Pythagorean Theorem for Babies.
Ripe Harvest but Few Workers
The time is ripe for creative math educators, local or foreign-born, to publish a creative algebra series for toddlers and kindergarteners of kiasu parents, but it looks like the writers who’d help pluck up the fruits are few. An untapped market for publishers that want to move away from canned or drill-and-kill preschool math titles.
Is this another ill-posed math question? Or just another arguably creative solution that put the teacher or tutor in a catch-22 response?
Let’s look at a sample of comments for and against the given answer.
They don’t want a digital clock! This is the correct answer for anyone that is somehow confused! 🤔
Teacher needed to say clock with hour and minute hands.
The question says “small clock”, not “analog clock”, therefore the answer is correct.
This is everything what’s wrong with current educational system. It sure does prepare you. To think in the frameworks they want you to think. For example “there is only one right solution to a problem and that ain’t it”
thats what happens when you let kids use ipads at a young age
This student should be transferred to art school immediately
On one hand I’m scared that the new generation can’t read physical clocks, on the other hand, I’m surprised by the out of the box thinking
If my child received a X for that answer, I would challenge it. There is nothing at all wrong. It is a small clock showing ten past eleven. 100% accurate. IF they wanted a conventional clock face that should have been stated. I’d have given 2 ticks for innovative thinking!
The question doesn’t specify that it meant “analog clock” plus it says “10 minutes past 11:00” which implies digital time as opposed to “10 minutes past 11 o’clock” which would imply analog time.
I would have drawn an analog and digital clock with a note saying the request was ambiguous and next time be more specific. Also how small? Another ambiguous request
How many of these responses would you agree or disagree with? Valid or invalid, or preposterous in some instances, most of these comments can’t be discounted offhand.
Followers or Oddballs?
At a time when politicians, pastors, or even prisoners are often hypocritically or insincerely pushing for an overhaul of their rigid educational system (from which they themselves benefited much)—which promotes rote learning or regurgitation, or prepares students to the test—are math teachers ready for students’ unconventional or disruptive solutions, which often border on the ridiculous or irreverent?
If a child (or a trained chimpanzee) presented the solution below to the above problem, what would your response or reaction be?
Would you mark it wrong or partially correct, because he or she had failed to take account that time on a clock is determined by the hour hand alone, with the minute hand acting as a mere convenience? Or in layman terms, the hour hand had also moved when the minute hand took a sixty-degree turn.
Or would you take this opportunity to introduce nonroutine (or more subtle faux) questions like the ones below?
1. What is the angle measure between the hands of a clock at 10 minutes past 11:00?
2. A clock reads ten minutes past eleven. What time would the clock read if the hands of the clock were interchanged?
3. Are there other times of the day when the hands of a clock would also show the same angle measure as when they were at 11:10?
The Positives of Ill-Posed Questions
An ill-posed question, or the unexpected answers to such a flawed question, is a gold mine for creative mathematical problem posing. It not only provides an off-the-wall sense of humor, but also gives math educators an opportunity to address students’ mathematical loopholes or their half-baked understanding of concepts.
Like math, calculus needn’t sulk (to any degree)! In the hands of an excited middle-school or high-school math teacher, or with access to some creatively written (or online free) resources, the ABCs of calculus can even be taught to elementary school kids.
Think of Mr. Jaime Escalante who had successfully taught calculus to cohorts of Mexican-American students. There is zero excuse why we can’t emulate him to teaching it to financially disadvantaged or minority groups.
What’s Calculus to You?
Do you parrot the textbook definition of calculus to your students? The mathematics of (instantaneous) change. Or do you share it as the branch of mathematics that measures “how far an object has been going fast,” and “how fast an object has gone far”?
Moons ago, I cheekily approached or indirectly defined calculus via the division of zero as follows:
0 ÷ 0: The Raison d’être of Calculus
With some dose of irreverence, the bête noire of high-school or college math could turn out to be a much beloved topic even among the so-called innumerates or mathematically challenged.
Calculus for the Numerati
It’s debatably said that without an exposure of some delta-epsilon calculus, no man or woman can honestly claim to be “mathematically educated” or “mathematically civilized.” Sounds like mathematical pride or arrogance, isn’t it?
Or just an example of “mathematical elitism” à la Trump for those fakes who declare themselves as being a “very stable genius.” Even Einstein had remarked that calculus was “the greatest advance in thought that a single individual was ever privileged to make.”
Fr: Ryan Truong on Facebook’s “Mathematical Mathematics Memes”
Recently, while working on the Urban Calculus manuscript, I forced myself to reread some of the out-of-print pop calculus titles like David Berlinski’s A Tour of the Calculus, Steven Strogatz’s The Calculus of Friendship, and Mary Stopes-Roe’s Mathematics with Love to get an intuitive feel of the subject again.
For a long time, the thought of taking up the challenge to read Newton’s The Principia (even its annotated version) frightens me, because the complexity of the content is beyond me. I’ve a good excuse not to borrow the thick copy from the university library unless I want to look like a “mathematical snob” carrying it around, or use it as a temporary doorstop.
When Comics and Calculus Converge
Calculus for All
Let’s play our part in sharing the mathematical gospel of Newton and Leibniz that calculus needn’t be a four-letter word—how these two mathematical greats had exorcized the demon out of the division of zero.
Why not strive to be the “James Escalante” of your school, state, or country? You’d be the changemaker or mathematical savior in motivating some undecided or mature students to read a calculus course or module in college?
Mask Art as Therapy. Original un-memed photo from Hunny & Lummy’s “Masks of Singapore” (2021).
What mathematical or nonmathematical crisis are you presently facing or undergoing? Mid-life crisis? Existential crisis? Financial crisis? Relational crisis? Post-pandemic crisis?
Have you forgotten what it means to enjoy math? If you’re a school teacher or university lecturer, are you planning to leave the [Singapore’s or US’s or XYZ’s ] rigid educational system to pursue your mathematical dream?
If you’re an editor, are you longing for the day when you don’t have to handle those quasi-uneditable manuscripts once you’ve paid up your mortgage or send your children to college?
And if you’re a writer, do you long (or pray?) for those pseudo-math editors to get promoted to their next level of incompetency, where they’re less likely to adulterate your manuscript?
Math & Mask
Beyond the mask that we wear to function in our daily lives as math educators (lecturers, teachers, tutors, editors, writers, consultants, managing editors, publishing managers, …), who are we?
Do you see yourself enjoying the mathematical journey while you’re building your career or struggling to pay the bill? When you take off your daily masks, when you don’t feel the pressure to pretend, when you’d simply be yourself, what does it feel like? What does it smell like? What does it taste like? What does it sound like?
A Commandment to Deal with the Mask of Pride
Mathematical Synesthesia
Can you visualize the color of infinity? Taste the number zero? Smell the fragrance of pi? Or you think these synesthetic experiences are only reserved for autistics or idiot savants?
We all came into this world with zero, and we’ll also leave it with zero but the [mathematical] spirit of life we’ve lived in our lifetime. Are you always waiting for permission to write that math book? Or hoping that when you retire, you’d have the time (and space) to explore and pursue that math pet project?
Are you petrified that others might witness that you’ve been a victim of the imposter syndrome, as you get promoted and being tagged with bigger flowery job titles? Still struggling to fake it until you make it?
Unmask Your Math
To make a mark in math or math education in the local, regional, or international community, you need to strip your mask away. People want to see and work with vulnerable or fallible folks, who’re prepared to make a fool of themselves, to be a laughable stock or mathematical clown, and not to take themselves seriously.
What are you waiting for? Not some other time when you’ve accumulated enough zeros in your bank account, or next semester (or pandemic?), but today. Because when you’re financially free, you’re unlikely to have the energy to do that math thing you so desire.
Don’t die with a book inside you! Or miss tithing one or two years of your life to volunteer as a math teacher in some low-GDP countries to help raise the numeracy level of the locals. Or fail to resurrect that off-atrophied “math & art” project for a solo exhibition. It’s better to fail or experience the journey than regret on your deathbed.
Remember: Let not pride, insecurity, or failure prevent you from fulfilling your God-given purpose on this side of eternity, as you embark on your mathematical journey.
You needn’t do it alone: Seek Him and His wisdom for your mathematical needs and wants. Be fearless and free.
Many years ago, I read about the co-authors of a handbook for mathematics teachers in primary schools warning readers not to use the sign “<” or “>” (because the symbols were removed from the primary school syllabus); instead, they suggested using phrases like “more than” and “less than.”
For example, teachers were to avoid setting questions in these formats:
34 is 6 > ☐ 8 > 43 is ☐
Instead, they’d rephrase them as “34 is 6 more than ☐.” and “8 more than 43 is ☐.”
Similarly, they’d refrain from posing inequalities questions such as the following:
7 < ☐ is 15. 9 < 25 is ☐.
And also avoid problem sums like the one below:
What is the largest (or greatest) whole number that can be placed in the box to make the statement true?8 + ☐ < 40
Why the Ban (with or without a Fine)?
Based on teachers’ feedback that young (or even older) schoolchildren are often confused about the similarity of the two symbols < and >, that’s likely a key why that prompted local curriculum math specialists in the “fine” city to ban these “unequal symbols” in primary school mathematics moons ago.
Inequality Metaphors from the Sunshine State
Over the years, to reduce the confusion between < and >, some elementary math authors have come up with some witty ways to help schoolchildren remember which is which.
For instance, students are often taught to see the symbols as hungry alligators or crocodiles with gaping mouths—these reptiles always want to eat the larger numbers, so the open mouth will always face this.
Observe that the < looks somewhat like a lopsided L, which reminds us that itdenotes less than. Or, in any true statement, the large open mouth of the symbol is on the side of the greater quantity, and the small point is on the side of the lesser quantity.
No More Ban
Like last year’s repeal of Section 377A in pseudo-puritan Singapore, based on the CPDD’s Primary Mathematics Textbook 2A (2022), the inequality signs too are now free to roam the pages of any MOE-approved primary 2–6 textbooks and workbooks.
In the aftermath of zero ban on inequality signs, questions that involve comparing and ordering numbers would no longer be symbolically penalized or criminalized for using the “>” and “<” signs (until further notice).
Below are a sample of three “uninhibited” Singapore math primary two inequality questions:
Which sign will you use, > or <? (a) 45 ☐ 42 (b) 81 ☐ 71 (c) 317 ☐ 407 (d) 734 ☐ 724
Fill in the boxes with ‘<’ or ‘>’. (a) 35 ☐ 53 (b) 65 ☐ 62 (c) 79 ☐ 68
It’s not uncommon to see once-banned open-ended questions now gracing the pages of primary math textbooks, such as the following:
In 38 > 33 + ☐, what could the missing number be?
It looks like we’ve come some way in restoring the inequality signs in the (lower) primary school syllabus. Now that the mathematical resurrection of these symbols has taken place, does their confusion among schoolchildren still remain a concern for both teachers and parents?
An Inequality Quiz
Let’s end with a math quiz that tests our basic knowledge of inequalities.
1. How many types of inequalities in elementary school math are there?
2. Which metaphor(s) would you use to help children who are prone to mistake one inequality sign for another?
3. Name half a dozen math inequalities in real life that schoolchildren could relate to.
4. “An inequality is an equation that forbids the use of an equal sign.” True or False.
