Author Greg Tang Presents to Newman Students

"There are two ways to do math - the easy way and the hard way. Why make it hard?" Guest speaker Greg Tang spoke these words of wisdom last week to third and fourth grade students at Newman Elementary School. Tang, author of creative math books for kids, uses puzzles, poems and playful illustrations in his interactive presentations to build problem-solving skills in math.

"Math is easy when you put numbers together in smart ways," Tang explains to the students. With amusing pictures and engaging banter, he teaches students to group certain numbers, like 10's and 11's, to make math operations a snap.

Over the course of two days, Tang gave a series of six presentations at Newman, all sponsored by a grant made by the Needham Education Foundation (NEF). "We wanted to bring Mr. Tang to Newman because his teaching concepts are an excellent match with our current elementary math curriculum," explained Cynthia McDermott, former co-chairperson of the Newman PTC Creative Arts Committee and co-author of the NEF grant proposal. "His books, including The Grapes of Math and Math Appeal, have been a hit with elementary teachers and students because of their clever riddles and lively illustrations. They explain in unique ways the same math concepts used in Investigations [in Math], Needham's system-wide math program."

An example of an addition problem, taken from Math Appeal, is titled "Boston Pea Party." It shows an illustration of eight pea pods, four of which have six peas and four of which have five peas. The riddle reads: "A pea would find it very odd, To be alone inside a pod. They like to hang out with their friends, For them the party never ends! Can you count up all the peas? With 11's it's a breeze." Tang's strategy for solving this type of problem is to, whenever possible, add numbers that have easy sums. In this case, the pea pods can be matched to create four pairs that each total 11, so there are 44 peas altogether (11+11+11+11=44).

In his book Math-terpieces, Tang incorporates slides of famous paintings from artists such as Cezanne, Monet and Picasso to show how his method for grouping numbers can be applied in innovative ways. The paintings create a learning environment that stimulates analytical and creative thinking among students.

Tang has taught students of all ages, from kindergarten to college. He holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in Economics from Harvard University, and a M.A. in math education from New York University.

In concluding his presentations, Tang challenged students to stump him with math problems involving random numbers chosen by students in the audience. "Oh, that's too easy!" he chided as students shot out numbers. He reminded students, "Remember, math is simple when you look for smart groupings."

Greg Tang demonstrates his math techniques
to third and fourth graders of Newman Elementary School.