The Man Who Counted

Each morning, as we begin math class, we've been reading a short selection from The Man Who Counted, by Malba Tahan. The book, written by a Brazilian mathematician, is a series of Arabian Nights-style stories that center around the character of Beremiz, a brilliant mathematician who is also known as the Man Who Counted. In each story, Beremiz solves at least one difficulty put before him by the beleaguered inhabitants of Baghdad, and explains the mathematical and arithmetical relationships through which he sees the world, as well as demonstrating principles of friendship and charity. As we get further into the book, we've begun trying to solve the problems in advance of Beremiz, and I was particularly pleased by everyone's efforts this morning. Beremiz was explaining that using four fours (the numeral 4, four times), and no other numbers, it is possible to create a set of equations that yield each number from 0 to 10. For example, (4/4) — (4/4) = 0. I'm including the photograph of the equations we came up with for each of the eleven numerals. The kids did a great job!