I have a question for you.
Where have you used mathematical thinking or interacted with mathematical ideas today?
If you are new here, you might be thinking you haven’t. That you aren’t a math person and you definitely don’t use math regularly.
If you’ve been around the podcast for a while or if you’ve been following me on Instagram, you might answer that question a bit differently than you would have last year or even last week.
I hope you take a minute to celebrate that. It’s a sign that your mindset around math, and how you see yourself, is beginning to shift. And that is what brings me to the podcast mic every week and keeps me creating content for you. Because part of the reason I believe I’m on this planet right now, at this exact time, is to encourage you and empower you to see yourself as a math person.
Remember, there are just two requirements for being a math person…be a person, which you’ve had covered since the day you were born, and interact with math, which you do every day whether you realize it or not.
Continuing our journey together through the mathabet, yes, I made that word up, let’s dive into today’s episode, brought to you by the letter H.
When you think of math ideas that begin with H, what’s the first thing on your list?
Half
Is it half or halves? I know I don’t need to define the word “half” for you. You are already completely familiar with this idea and it comes up in your life all over the place. Not only is it mathematical in nature, but it’s fractions, too…everyone’s favorite 😉
Obviously, if you have ever cooked a meal or baked anything, you’ve encountered one half in your measurements at some point…1/2 cup, ½ pint, ½ teaspoon. Same for if you’ve ever used a ruler or tape measure. I know you’ve looked at the gas gauge in your car and recognized half a tank and I know you know how many minutes are in half an hour.
Fans of sports like football, soccer, and basketball are familiar with halftime…a break halfway through the game or match. And speaking of halfway, I bet you’ve been on a trip and mentally recognized when you were halfway there, either gauging your remaining travel time or when you need to stop for a break. If you play a musical instrument and read sheet music, it’s likely you are very familiar with the idea of half notes. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t needed or wanted to share something evenly with someone…so that each of you gets half of it or pays half the bill.
I’m willing to bet you think about halves fairly regularly, and this makes you a math person.
Height
Was height on your list of math ideas beginning with h? The height of something is defined by the distance between the bottom and top of something, although I’m sure you are already familiar with this concept. We measure and track the height of all sorts of things…ceilings, deck and stair railings, buildings, trees, plants in the garden or yard, and especially the heights of our growing children. We even talk about things like being scared of heights and what people accomplished at the height of their careers.
When was the last time you thought about the height of something? Even if it was how tall that basketball player is, if you are thinking about height in any way, you are a math person.
Horizontal
Did horizon or horizontal make your list of mathematical ideas beginning with h? Horizontal means from side to side and when we look off into the distance to view a sunrise or sunset, we are looking at the horizon. Dancers think about moving in a horizontal direction. In basketball, a chest pass is generally horizontal, as opposed to a bounce pass, which has a distinctively angled path as it travels to the floor before making it to your teammate. In our homes, we decide whether to take photographs or hang artwork horizontally or vertically, and when we do so, we want to make sure the image or the frame is level…a true horizontal position as opposed to being tilted to one side or the other.
Thinking about and noticing the horizon or when something is level or horizontal absolutely makes you a math person.
Hundreds & Hundredths
When you thought about math words and ideas that begin with h, did you think of hundreds or hundredths? One hundred is a counting milestone for small children and we spend time learning how to count by a hundred and how to add and subtract one hundred. You also know that 100% means all of something and we sometimes think in hundreds of dollars.
While we know one hundred is equal to 10 groups of 10, what are hundredths? This is something my students of all ages have been confused about from time to time. That th on the end of hundred means we are talking about a fractional part. If we take something and divide it into 100 equal pieces, a hundredth is one of those pieces. I bet you use this concept nearly every day and don’t even realize it.
What do you get when you divide a dollar into 100 equal pieces? That’s right. You get a penny which is equal to one cent. So, any time you are talking about dollars and cents or comparing prices, you are thinking in hundredths. When you write a money amount, it’s typically written with the number of dollars and a decimal point followed by the number of cents. As you probably remember from math class, that second digit after the decimal represents the “hundredths” place. So, .48 for example is 48 cents or 48 hundredths of a dollar.
{Fun fact: cent has its roots in centum, the Latin word for hundred. We find this used as a prefix in metric units like centimeters (there are 100 centimeters in a meter), and is part of words like century – a period of 100 years, and percent, which means out of 100.}
If you are thinking about and using the idea of hundreds or hundredths, you are a math person.
Hypothesis
The last idea I want to talk about today might not seem like it has a mathematical connection and it’s one that I bet you did not have on your mental list of math ideas beginning with h. Hypothesis is typically associated with science as part of the scientific method. In simple terms, a hypothesis is a suggested answer to a question that can then be tested in an experiment to see if it’s true or not.
So is this science? Absolutely. And it’s part of the problem solving process, which is mathematical thinking, too. If you are trying to solve a problem in your life, you typically come up with an idea you think will work. This is your hypothesis. You try it out and evaluate how it went.
Did it work perfectly? Great! You keep doing it that way.
Could it use improvement? Great! You make adjustments and try again.
Did it completely fail? Great! You come up with another idea to try based on what didn’t go well the first time.
Not only does this iterative process involve hypotheses, but it’s also a basic formula for problem solving and learning new things. Algorithm, formula, method, process, recipe…these are all words we can use to describe the steps we take when problem solving. And they all form a pattern…which we all know is what math really is.
{If you’d like to hear more about patterns, I invite you to revisit Episode 2 or its companion post Math in One Word. It’s one of my favorite discussions!}
So, if you are making hypotheses and testing them out…and I don’t know anyone who does not do this…you know what I’m going to say. You a math person.
I am honored you joined the conversation today! I’m on a mission to change the way the world sees math, and that begins with you. If you found value in this episode, if something you heard made you pause, or if you suddenly realized the hidden math in something you do every day, now is your chance to join the movement!
When you comment here or share a post and when you subscribe to, rate, and share the I See Math People podcast, more people will see it and the more people who get the message, the more mindsets begin to shift.
That, my friend, is how movements gain momentum.
Thank you for being part of this discussion of a few of the mathematical concepts beginning with the letter H. I truly hope you heard something about half, height, horizontal, hundredths, and hypotheses you can relate to and that it made you stop and think about where math shows up for you on a daily basis. This awareness of where you interact with math is the first step to shifting your mindset and seeing yourself as the math person you really are.
I’m Jennifer Mason Hardin and everywhere I look I see math people just like you.
