Search This Blog

Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Eleven Plus Involvement


Some parents will have already started a serious count down to the amount of time left between now and the eleven plus examinations. There are some basic calculations to be done. The number of days in a year is equal to 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46.06 seconds.

Eleven Plus Question
Would you round the 365 days to 370 or 360? The advantage of 360 is that 12 goes into 360 very neatly to make 30 days in a month. Dividing 370 by 12 can look rather messy.

A)     Which number is the most useful in calculating days to the examination – 360 or 370?
B)      Should even plus parents work on the around average number of 30 days in a month in order to say: “Around five months to go!” – or would it be better to calculate the exact number of days?

Some parents may care to take the time to look at the story of Karl Friedrich Gauss. He was a child prodigy and went on to enjoy a successful career. I am indebted to the website http://math.about.com/cs/mathematicians/a/gauss.htm for the stories about his relationship with his parents and how he became involved in his work. This article suggest this account is true:

Famous Quote:
'Ask her to wait a moment - I am almost done.' Apparently said while working, and being informed that his wife was dying.

I hope your eleven plus child does not become this involved in an eleven plus question!

No comments: