The attached graphic is of an animated calculator which is being developed as part of the Simple Sums project. It shows how an animatrick can be displayed for multiplying by 11. Please feel free to display this as widely as possible.
Also it is timely in it's development as, for the first time calculators will be used throughout secondary school. This is unfortunate unless a really new innovation takes place. What makes this anicalc different to a conventional calculator is that the child (or adult) is shown the process of the calculation while it is being done, and can be encouraged to perform parts of it, mentally. As well there are the special mental mathematical techniques of Vedic Mathematics, which introduce a degree of liveliness and interest which is absent from conventional methods.
The software is being developed on the Squeak version of Smalltalk, currently located at Disney Imagineering (check it out at www.squeakland.org) . Squeak is opensource and it runs under Windows, Mac, Linux and many other platforms; this means that Simple Sums will also be multiplatform. Squeak also has the potential to produce Flash Graphics, although I have not explored this yet, and it is fully multimedia so that the most will be made of verbal or aural queues as well, in time.
One other place where animatricks could be of interest is in the new 2.5 or 3G phones, replacing ring tones with TODays, (Tricks of the Day). All that will be required is a small graphical animation plane, and the appropriate software to run the flash (?) graphics.
Demonstrations can be placed on the web within about eight weeks, if anyone could help to create a Simple Sums web site ??
If anyone is interested you can ask them to contact me at seodateo@eircom.net or by phone (021) 4342715.
Best wishes
Brían
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Brían Mach Aon Innéirighe B.Eal., D.Feal.
(Dr. Brian Mc Enery)
u r programme is excelent.but why don't u make it available at free of cost.
the answer is 858
unless I am completely missing a point here, and be easy on me if I am...I don't get where you are getting 7/?/8.
Take a look at our most recent site which will be going active shortly. The answer here comes under the method first, last, together.
1. Write down the first digit.
2. Write down the last digit.
3. Add them together and put it in the middle.
4. Adjust for carry if necessary..
When doing computations, we can do them in ANY order, or using ANY technique in order to resolve the computational process.
We will begin the process of producing educational content in April 2006, so please visit us at
Simple Sums
Best
Brian Mc Enery PhD