Greeting:  Welcome to the K-8 Discovery Program! There are special interest Discovery courses scheduled at Tenafly Middle School throughout the year, and enrichment programs at each elementary school.  Assignments in the homework column are updated weekly.

   The Idea Box:  Great questions heard in class:

• Who invented lattice multiplication? (Also called box multiplication)  Lattice multiplication probably comes from India or Persia. It was in use there for a long time before a European mathematician named Fibonacci was born. He learned about many great mathematical ideas, including lattice multiplication.  He wrote a book about them that became popular in Europe.

2. Who invented zero?  The practice of using zero as a number came from a mathematician in India named Brahmagupta in or around the year 650 CE.  Brahmagupta invented the rules for how zero works. The idea was so good that it spread quickly to Egypt and Arabian countries because there were trading routes between these countries and India.  It made sense to use a zero when they were talking about what they'd bought or sold. Zero wasn’t popularized in Europe until 1202, when Fibonacci collected some of these ideas and published a popular book about them.

Math Cartoon

Looking for a few great science experiments you can do at home?  Click here: Hooked on Science

Frequently Used Math Practice Sites:

• Sheppard Software
• Mr Bowen's Math Practice Site
• Visual Math Fraction Circles
• http://nrich.maths.org/secondary-lower
• NRich Maths: Primary Grades 

Try this! Pick the music actually written by Bach (vs. comuter-generated music)   Bach vs Bot