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Ask Slashdot: Math-Related Present For a Bright 10-Year-Old?
peetm writes: I have an above averagely bright nephew, aged 10, who's into maths and whose birthday is coming up soon. I'd like to get him a suitable present – most likely one that's mathematically centred. At Christmas we sat together while I helped him build a few very simple Python programs that 'animated' some simple but interesting maths, e.g., we built a factorial function, investigated the Collatz conjecture (3n + 1 problem) and talked about, but didn't implement Eratosthenes' Sieve – one step too far for him at the moment perhaps. I've looked about for books that might blend computing + maths, but haven't really found anything appropriate for a 10-year-old. I should be indebted to anyone who might suggest either a suitable maths book, or one that brings in some facet of computing. Or, if not a book, then some other present that might pique his interest.
haven't really found anything appropriate for a 10-year-old.
Don't buy something appropriate for a 10 year old. Buy something appropriate for a 15 year old, and let him grow into it as opposed to him growing out of it.
Look for Robo Rally. It is a programming-based multi-player hands-on board game that is much more fun than the simpler Robot Turtles.
Donald Knuth's old, little known book 'Surreal numbers' is quite good. http://www-cs-faculty.stanford...
I wish someone had given this to me when I was ten. It is so simple and I am awful at it. I imagine that a ten year old could get pretty good pretty quickly
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_(game)
Slide rule?
The poster is likely from the UK or somewhere similar where "maths" is perfectly correct. Like where we in America will say "a company is..." they are likely to say "a company are...". A bit stilted to American ears, but normal usage for them. Lighten up!
Men of Mathematics by E. T. Bell.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
Maybe get him a book about Wolfarm Alpha?
It seems like he can explore an awful lot of maths there at his own pace.
Failing that, is there some kind of "advanced maths for the aspiring tween" book which exists? (Obviously if you knew that you wouldn't be asking)
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Her dad has a love of maths and is a lecturer in a local university maths department. She writes about how he encouraged her interest in maths at a young age and about her own research.
In Code: A Mathematical Journey
by Sarah Flannery
http://www.goodreads.com/book/...
Instead of cake, you could get him a 1 radian slice of pie.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
My son, who decided to ace the math portion of the SAT, spends time with a Rubik's cube.
for a desktop computer or a smartphone/tablet. Being able to start to organize mathematical calculations for the likes of area of a circle and volume of a sphere or cube and carry out those calculations are well within the ability of a 10 year old who is interested. Then you move on to Wolfram, spreadsheets and such.
This is the perfect present for any math-inspired individual. Teach him how to hit a target a mile away, he'll need to not only know math but must take in account wind, weather, speed and trajectory.
More programming than math, but they are related:
The book Coding Games in Scratch
I highly recommend this book. It's very well illustrated and self explanatory. My 7 & 10 year olds devoured this book.
They also enjoyed a minecraft programming course I subscribed to for them for a year: Learn to mod
I chose to end my comments, not with a rim shot, but a long decaying F#7sus4
Get him a book on how math is used for amazing things or a book on "math tricks" (also called "number sense").
Get one written at his reading level "plus a year or two" - he may have difficulty reading it today but he'll come back to it later.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Some thoughts:
Ultimately, maths, despite its abstract nature, is a human endeavour practised by humans. Humans have emotions. They like fun, joy, beauty etc. and dislike boredom. Once somebody dislikes maths, forcing them to learn can make them dislike it a lot, and quickly. Thus the fun and joy part are of critical importance. Knowing the territory where the child is exploring, and being able to guide them gently, but let them explore, is important.
Some books like Ian Stewart's 'Cabinet of curiosities' and suchlike, and Knuth's surreal numbers are worth _you_ having, and having a look through, so as to have ideas and exposition lying around for in future (assuming the child stays interested in maths). Likewise, fractals and fractal generators are worth having handy. For me, (back in the early 90s), the curiosity sparked by the brief history in the fractint documentation did a lot to lead me to do maths at uni.
In short, cultivating a child's interest in maths, science and computers is a long process, and it is worth thinking a long way ahead. And for as long as possible, being a fellow traveller who knows the road a few steps ahead is a good thing.
John_Chalisque
How about Kerbal Space Program? The physics simulation is spot on. Folks from NASA (including Randall Munroe) to Elon Musk recommend it, yet it's also great for kids.
On the one hand you take life too seriously, and on the other, you do not take playful existence seriously enough. Seth
Right, I bought my kid a signed firest edition of Newton's Principia in the original Klingon
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
You could get him that famous Barbie doll that says "Math is hard!"
https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
An abacus.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
I know its a bit of a stretch but math loves physics...What I got as a poor child growing up at christmas was the best a loving parent could offer: a set of two hydrogens and an oxygen.
Oh I had fun all day long with those little atoms. I lent my friends the hydrogens and kept that oxygen for months, categorizing its weight and marveling at its gaseous nature. Right up until mom decided I should share it with my sister and the last thing i remember after an argument about splitting it was one hell of a blaze and my old man barking something about the furnace being on the fritz.
Good people go to bed earlier.
A pythagoras (greedy) cup or a klein bottle would do nicely.
How about getting him Tool's album Lateralus. It's concept is based on several mathematic principles. Though, this might be something you'd want to give him when he's older. https://scholarhero.wordpress....
Care killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.
Get him is a computer and install PARI.
PARI is a command-line calculator for exploring mathematics. It's got *lots* of high-level math functions and commands and uses high precision arithmetic (you can set it to use 5 million digit numbers, for example).
For example: type factor(20345) and it will print out the factors of that number.
PARI will let him explore mathematics concepts, and if he's at all interested in mathematics he'll see the commands, research what they are for and how they are relevant, and perhaps discover interesting corners of mathematics that interest him.
It also allows scripting, so it will introduce him to programming concepts such as flow control and loops, without having to worry a lot about data types and I/O formatting.
I did learn to program around 10 or 11, but i really needed a physical model until I was around 13, and did not do any independent programming until I was 14. The thing with math and programming is that it is algorithmic, and rules that are enforced must more loosely in life are enforced rather more precisely. This is difficult to get across to a kid who is still focused on testing boundaries rather than accepting limits. For example recently I had a kid tell me that the computer was broken because he could not set a password when in fact the problem was that he was testing limits and refusing to comply with the clearly stated password policy. He had not yet learned that computers are algorithmic. I think for most ten years old learning to do math and code is the goal. Just remember that doing math is not necessarily symbols manipulation and coding is not necessarily typing on a computer. This was a benefit of my education. Computer time was expensive enough that we had to have an algorithm before we coded. So buy toys where math happens. For instance a scale where equations are balanced. A robot where things have to be specified and calculated, where the right wheel is held still for a left turn.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
Get a raspberry pi. It comes with mathematica and should last all the way through graduate school (but works down to kindergarten). Seriously, had mathematica been available when I was going through university, it would have saved me tousands of hours of tedious work. I had a physics prof who reproduced one of his grad student's theses work from a decade earlier in a day something that it took the student two years to do by hand.
It will challenge him and his curiosity for a google while. And eventually he can make the transition for using it as a consumer with Android to more advanced uses.
Maybe it's just me but when I was a young teen I was amazed at fractal exploration software. In those days it took ages to draw, might have been part of the fun, but they were just so cool. I don't have mathematical prowess but I'd think anyone who did would be at the very least intrigued by fractals.
Perhaps some fractal software and a copy of Mandelbrot's Book would be a good gift?
There are only 10 kinds of people in the world. Those that understand binary and those that don't.
Get him into fencing; physical chess. For a sport, the people are pretty intellectual, and it hones aggressiveness, which most intellectual types need.
School band or orchestra, piano lessons are better.
Almost anything written by Martin Gardner should be approachable by a math-favoring 10-year-old. Anything from puzzle books to essays about famous mathematicians.
There are a bunch of good Martin Gardner books to consider. A couple of possibilities are:
These are generally good in that they encourage mathematical thinking and analysis and don't rely much on prerequisite material. And they are well done, with a good playful attitude about things. And they are often Dover books and reasonably priced, as well!
It's psychosomatic. You need a lobotomy. I'll get a saw.
The Art of Problem Solving is an online self-teaching maths website with a really strong focus on curriculum quality. So if the kid likes maths, you can let them learn more of it!
Here's one discussion of 9 year olds using the sites successfully.
|/usr/games/fortune
Go is a wonderful board game that can offer endless depths of logical thinking skills.
Get him Ivan Niven's The Mathematics of Choice (How to Count Without Counting). Most computer nerds never heard of this one, and may not get the relevance, but I think it is totally appropriate for young teens. I read it in high school when I was 14 or 15. And yes, this is the best recommendation you will receive today. It's a basic, extremely well-written combinatorics book, so you can read the book yourself and create interesting programming problems for him for reinforcement. Don't deny your nephew this AMAZING opportunity! :)
Just a suggestion that you might want to widen your horizon a bit. Most of what you've been doing is related to number theory. You might consider topology (mobius strips), geometry (compass and ruler), real numbers (show pi is irrational), platonic solids (wikipedia has some you can print, cut out, and fold), zeno's paradoxes (there a many), probability (die rolls and coin tosses), and almost any basic physics demonstration.
$50 here: http://www.amazon.com/Davis-Ma...
$17 - Copy of Bowditch (tells you all you need to know to use the sextant)
http://www.amazon.com/American...
Asimov on numbers.
http://www.amazon.com/Asimov-On-Numbers-Isaac/dp/0517371456
Recreational mathematics Yakov Perelman
http://mirtitles.org/2011/08/17/yakov-perelman/
*** Suerte a todos y Feliz dia!
How To Lie With Statistics by Darrell Huff is an old but classic work that everyone should read. Its lessons about the ways that statistics are misused are as relevant as ever today. I read it in junior high school, but a bright 10-year-old should have no problem grasping it. It has entertaining cartoon-style illustrations, which help.
Q: What does the "B." in Benoit B. Mandelbrot stand for? A: Benoit B. Mandelbrot
Many of the Manga guides are good. Biochemistry is the best (http://www.amazon.com/Manga-Guide-Biochemistry-Masaharu-Takemura/dp/1593272766). The statistics one is good too but probably a little beyond most bright 10-year-olds. An interesting math book is Math Girls (http://www.amazon.com/Math-Girls-Hiroshi-Yuki/dp/0983951306) - it sort of has a plot but its more math than story. There are some good kids programming books like Python for Kids ( www.amazon.com/Python-Kids-Playful-Introduction-Programming/dp/1593274076), or Scratch Programming (www.amazon.com/Scratch-Programming-Adventure-Covers-Version/dp/1593275315). Speaking of Scratch, it is really great if you haven't already checked that out (https://scratch.mit.edu/). Its free.
Get him a soccer ball or something off-topic. He's gifted in math, give him something fun outside of that to do. A drone?
Magic the Gathering, something you can DO together, and requires a fair bit of math, critical thinking and creativity.
Or this game "Spectromancer", which requires a fair bit of basic math (addition, multiplication over x-turns).
How bout a toy he might enjoy like a Star Wars action figure.
The Gardener and Perelman books already recommended by other commenters are good, as I can confirm based on my own experience. Though not tested on my younger self (too old for that), the books by Al Sweigart, especially the one about crypto, also look good if you want some math designed to be implemented on a computer.
A lobotomy for his moron uncle
"The Number Devil" is a very good kids' book that our family has enjoyed and has been gifted to lots of friends' and relatives' kids.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Even for ideas that were already know to myself, the presentation of them is fun. The framing story of a child who does not enjoy math class but is excited when meeting the titular devil character is not particularly suprising, but the whole thing is quite enjoyable.
The book, "You Can Count on Monsters" might be interesting. At 10, this might be nearing the edge of being too simple, but it's a book about prime numbers, factors, multiplication, sets, etc., presented with the numbers as monsters, with multiple visual depictions of how to imagine the numbers. For instance, the 6-monster is a combination of the 2-monster and the 3-monster, visually demonstrating that 6 is a combination of 3 and 2, whereas every prime number monster is visually distinct.
www.amazon.com/You-Can-Count-Monsters-Characters/dp/1470422093/
Disclaimer: my Mom either knows the person who did the book, or knows someone who knows the author. That's not why I recommended the book.
The Quirkz Handbook of Self-Improvement for People Who Are Already Pretty Okay
Buy him a box of Smarties.
He can count them. And eat them.
It's courts martial A marshal is something else and Marshall is only an amplifier (though the later series will go up to 11 :) )
Apparently, in the Rolls-Royce car factory, they referred to them as Rollses-Royce :)
As previously mentioned
fencing lessons (or any martial art really)
slide rule, but get something nicer than a "student" model
Add in Arduino or some other microcontroller that has a practical interface. Get the development kit.
Model aviation is a blast. Free flight, control line, remote control, drones, rocketry, they are all good and I recommend all of them. I find control line most satisfying, but have flown all of these. I fly RC about as much as control line. I currently do not do rockets but this will probably change again.
(Remember that balsa can be glued really well with common school glue, just an annoyingly long drying time, with performance equal to expensive stinky glues.)
Applied ballistics are pretty fun. A small trebuchet set up to launch tennis balls, or golf balls, can make for many afternoons of fun. Back up with martial arts, firearms, air rifles, and archery also provide quite a bit of satisfaction.
Sit down and design a project - THEN GO DO IT TOGETHER. Time is probably the most valuable gift you can give your child, so whatever you choose to get, make it something you can both participate in.
Phil
Laugh, it's good for you!
That was the epitome of geeky and awesome when I was in 5th grade.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Like Top Spin. We used it in my undergrad Abstract Algebra. The assignment was to define the Algebra of the game so that anyone could pick it up and solve it in the lease number of steps. We had 3 days to complete the assignments.
Any puzzle which can then be used as a door way to higher Math while being fun to a 10 year old.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Ask him what he wants for his birthday and get him that.
love is just extroverted narcissism
Gift a journal for a monthly fun - math, popular science, computing ...
I am a https://www.linuxvoice.com/ subscriber; the magazine is newcomer-friendly, covering stuff like games, programming, Raspberry Pi, history... By coincidence, Oct 2015 issue teaches (python) profiling on prime numbers and the sieve method served as an example.
There is only one book that he needs.
Abramowitz and Stegun - Handbook of Mathematical Functions.
A printed copy is about $30. Or get him the pdf for free.
USB, USB, USB!
http://www.instructables.com/c...
Then, each year, you can give him more parts to build the Analytical Engine.
Mission: To provide products that consume time and energy as entertainingly as permitted by the laws of thermodynamics.
Try the Murderous Maths series of paperbacks, available as a fairly cheap box set. They have a light-hearted presentation covering a variety of maths fields and actually go quite far into some of the more interesting/harder aspects. They're similar to the Horrible Histories series. My kids found that very interesting at a similar age.
----------------------------------- My Other Sig Is Hilarious -----------------------------------
To that end, give him a coupon -- good for one long walk, whenever he wants to take one with you. It is not material gifts, but a part of ourselves that has any value whatsoever.
I come here for the love
I got one of these at age 12, made me the Physicist I am today. https://www.quasarelectronics....
I believe it was Paul Erdos who said he never met a number [integer] that wasnt interesting in some way. I saw a book that went through all the integers from 1 to 1000. There is a new one from another author that just does 1 through 10.
Boxing gloves
My nephew was into conjuring tricks when he was coming up to 9, and a lot of conjuring tricks have a mathematical basis. I gave him some non-transitive dice. Some of the other stuff which that site sells is also targetted at mathematically inclined children.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
If he's hooked on maths, problem solved. Now the issue is a broad education. You might like to check what one of the world's greatest maths geniuses has to say about that. Terry Tao's blog talks about the importance of a broad education.
terrytao.wordpress.com
work in progress
I can suggest two books.
"The World of Mathematics" is a four-volume set edited by James R. Newman. This might be somewhat dated, but it should still be relevant. Besides mathematical essays, the set also contains biographies of mathematicians and histories of mathematical concepts.
Any book by Martin Gardiner, who wrote the monthly "Mathematical Games" column for "Scientific American" magazine for 25 years. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/....
While some of the contents of either recommendations might be beyond the understanding of your nephew, he will still understand some of each and find them interesting.
How about a biography? E.T. Bell's Men of Mathematics
Martin Gardner's "The Annotated Alice" would be perfect for him. It shows how Carroll incorporated math and logic and other topics into his Alice books. Fantastically entertaining.
French - The lingua franca of Europe!
A friend, A ball, A ice cream. What smart ppl need the most is friendship. They can always find something smart to do or analise. The world is full of geometric forms doing all sorts of cool things. But a smart kid is always cast aside, like the teacher's kid or the guy that thinks he is better then every one else. So get him a present he can use to make friends, like a ball or group video game. I have seen to many smart ppl fail becouse of loneliness to let this one pass.
Do mathematicians not scribble out their thoughts on whiteboards / blackboards anymore? Bonus for gridded sections.
I got this for my 9 year old. The problems are rated on 10 scale, so he can easily concentrate on 1 through 4 and leave more challenging ones for when he's older.
Fuck chess: recipes for thermite and Composition 4.
if the boy is so incredibly technically oriented, he probably lacks in his social areas and artistic sides. Rather than pushing him more into his math-freak corner, which he would probably reach without much help, I would give him something that would help him play with other kids, rather than a computer. Something like a football, a skateboard, a guitar or mini-keyboard (music and math have a lot in common), or a kids bike.
I am by no means implying that this is the case with your nephew, but I find it amazing how often people miss the balance in life, and end up pushing kids into a niche corner.
Buy him the mathematica program. There is a student desktop price as low as $140 "to use for as long as you're a student." http://www.wolfram.com/mathema... If that is still too much money, there is supposedly a free version of mathematica available for the Raspberry Pi http://www.wolfram.com/raspber... (and I've read of a similar program for Atom-based boards). The Wolfram Language book is available free on line. I suspect a working mathematica could be the best possible gift if he is as bright and motivated as you say. He'll learn a Lisp. He'll get an introduction to Functional Programming (and maybe more). And he'll have a working tool to help him through school and far beyond.
Linux as that is the future, and he can delve into the source code (already more devices run Linux than all other O/S's combined - runs on everything from small embedded computers to most of the top 500 supercomputers!.
sagemath, as that is a free Mathematical package similar Matlab, Mathmatica, and others.
Cheers,
Gavin
(Who has always loved Maths, and enjoyed Martin Gardiner's books).
Both are free.
https://projecteuler.net/archives
https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/products/visual-studio-express-vs.aspx
It is a collection of Isaac Asimov's non-fiction essays about Mathematics, published in book form in 1977.
Clear, concise writing, covering topics as diverse as the history of mathematical disocoveries, the concept behind zero, pi, imaginary numbers, infinity (and beyond).
Chivalry is not dead, it's just frequently misspelt. - M. Langley
http://www.maa.org/press/books/martin-gardner-s-mathematical-games-the-entire-collection-of-his-scientific-american-columns-on-one
I enjoyed those when I was younger, and it should keep him entertained for some time.
I recommend M. P. doCarmo's "Differential Geometry of Curves and Surfaces" (Prentice Hall, 1976). It's pretty intuitive, and it restricts to |R^3, so you don't need tensors or graded algebras to understand it.
A republic cannot succeed till it contains a certain body of men imbued with the principles of justice and honour.
Check out this PC game.
http://www.gog.com/game/human_...
It will teach him some fundamental concepts in low level programming while being a fun game.
No assembly knowledge required (probably no programming at all) but knowing some as you say he does definately helps.
it's math or maths. The plural long form is actually mathematica.
Sincerely,
An English teacher.
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
Correct. Collective nouns are referred to in the singular case.
Example: a murder of crows. The murder *is* moving across the city. As opposed the crows *are* moving across the city.
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
FractINT, a floating point fractal generator released back in the dark days when shareware was a thing and distribution was via floppy disk (actually, the first version was 1988, before a lot of you were born), is still maintained, and unbelievably, still free.
IIRC Tim Wegner still maintains a full archival mirror. The root of the project resides here.
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel