An Irish Diary

1, 2, 3 – counting on fingers is out of the educational doghouse

An Irishwoman’s Diary: Fionnuala Ward

We have a veritable abacus quite literally on hand. Photograph: iStock

Fionnuala Ward
Mon Nov 8 2021 - 02:56

Do animals count?

Or rather, as we’re all balancing on branches of the same evolutionary tree, do other animals count?

I was watching one of those wildlife programmes recently and a pack of wild dogs fancied their chances against a lone lion until that lone lion was joined by four others. Unsurprisingly they scarpered pretty quickly.

It’s unlikely that any of the dogs processed that there were now five lions instead of one. No doubt from the off, nature had enough on her plate to set aside any time ensuring that canines would be up to date on the exact number of lions charging in their general direction.

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But it got me perusing a National Geographic article later that evening, which included reference to some sort of squirrel that, according to squirrel-related observations, clearly needed access to a cave. It was seen hanging around outside the entrance as two bears – who apparently would have very much enjoyed that squirrel as a kind of mid-morning snack – wandered inside. Sometime later one of the bears lumbered out of the cave and shuffled off.

But the squirrel did nothing. Absolutely nothing. It continued to loiter in the immediate vicinity, presumably bouncing around from branch to branch. Which begged the question - did that squirrel know how to subtract?

Maths has been on my mind for some time now.

It's impossible not to wonder why, given that we have a veritable abacus quite literally on hand, it was ever viewed as embarrassing or shameful in the first place

I recently returned to primary teaching after a bit of a break and I’ve found myself double or even triple checking totals when correcting the most basic calculations at the junior end of the school. Mentally totting up figures can get the brain cells up off the bench and engaged in some light stretching. But like any exercise, it needs to happen regularly and consistently or stiffness can set in. And in my case, stiffness had most definitely set in.

A child approached one morning and announced, with barely controlled excitement, that it was nine weeks and two sleeps to his birthday. I did the usual “isn’t that great” kind of affirmation but came to the conclusion on the spot that there was an unsustainable amount of anticipation between this and then. I stood pondering as the child skipped down the corridor. I mean, nine weeks was a lot of days, an awful lot of days, so many days, and then happily the child disappeared out of sight and I could refocus on other things.

Mathematics, of course, encompasses a lot more than numeracy but numeracy is where it all begins. And it has seen some changes over the years.

We have counting on fingers for a start, which has made a triumphant comeback after years in the educational doghouse. Looking back on its days out of favour, it’s impossible not to wonder why, given that we have a veritable abacus quite literally on hand, it was ever viewed as embarrassing or shameful in the first place.

But we’ve rectified that situation and have also gotten around to tweaking another, which brings us to the concept of renaming.

Mathematically speaking, there is quite possibly a universe out there somewhere, in which that squirrel and I have swapped places

Most of us were exposed to the whole borrowing and payback scenario when it comes to subtraction. Yes, it was a bit complicated but there was some comfort in those teeny, tiny number ones appearing on one side of the sum and then sneaking back over to the other. This approach, however, is officially defunct and only spoken of in hushed terms.

Primary school children are now instructed to view numbers such as 51 as five groups of 10 with one outlier and subtraction of something like 36, involves the migration of one of those groups of 10 to the outlier camp. And that group has moved for good and forever and is most definitely not on loan.

There’s unquestionably a beauty to the intellectual rigour at play here. That is, apart from the fact that it is late, far too late, for me and my generation and possibly the ones on either side as well.

We will be borrowing and paying back for as long as we draw breath.

Mathematically speaking, there is quite possibly a universe out there somewhere, in which that squirrel and I have swapped places. In this scenario, I will have cheerfully leapt into the cave without giving the situation a second thought while that squirrel will most likely have set up a workshop on quantum physics just down the corridor from Junior Infants.

And as for the bears? They will have holed up somewhere with a raft of sudoko to while away the winter months. Once they’ve finished me off, that is.

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