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Friday math movie: Right Brain Math - Times Table

By Murray Bourne, 13 Aug 2010

The majority of math teachers (arguably) are "left brained", which means their approach to number, algebra and even geometry tends to be logical, sequential and specific. (Such people end up being "good" at math, and some of them become math teachers.)

However, there are many students who have a more intuitive and holistic view of the world (they are more "right brained"), and have trouble understanding the math teacher's explanations (and algorithms).

Are you right brained?

This short video gives you an indication about whether you are left- or right-brain dominant.

If she only goes in one direction for you, try looking at the video by first covering your left eye so you perceive it using your left hemisphere (you're looking at it with your right eye), then cover your right eye, so your right hemisphere is busier.

Right brain times table

Tom Biesanz presents an interesting visual method for understanding the patterns in the times tables. He claims it appeals to right-brain dominant students.

Of course, none of us is completely right- or left-brained, but like many things, we certainly have a preference.

See the 6 Comments below.

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HTML: You can use simple tags like <b>, <a href="...">, etc.

To enter math, you can can either:

  1. Use simple calculator-like input in the following format (surround your math in backticks, or qq on tablet or phone):
    `a^2 = sqrt(b^2 + c^2)`
    (See more on ASCIIMath syntax); or
  2. Use simple LaTeX in the following format. Surround your math with \( and \).
    \( \int g dx = \sqrt{\frac{a}{b}} \)
    (This is standard simple LaTeX.)

NOTE: You can mix both types of math entry in your comment.

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