Review: Sorting, Tallying, and Graphing

Think about where you have seen this before. This path from question to answer is what scientists, nurses, and shopkeepers follow every working day. This is worth learning because the path from question to answer is how real knowledge gets built.

Watch for it today, and when you spot it, tell someone what you noticed and how you knew. Ask yourself where else the same idea might be hiding, then go and look.

Here comes a new math idea. Information follows a path. Ask a countable question. Sort answers into clear categories. Record them with tally marks, bundling every fifth.

Count each category and check against the total. Build a bar graph with a title and labels. Then ask questions of your graph: how many in all, how many more. Walk that whole path once today with something small, like colors of socks in a drawer.

Try running the whole path with something tiny, like the colors of socks in a drawer. A small project finished completely teaches more than a big project abandoned halfway through. Try it once with someone beside you, then try it alone.