Calculations

The other day, we engaged in a conversation about abacus, and thus about calculations.

Especially, regarding the methods one uses in order to make calculations.

I did not make so much use of the abacus when I was a child, but I do remember one ingenious method that I discovered while I was an English teacher in an afterschool.

I had finished the English class and I stayed in order to keep an eye on 8, 9 years old children doing their Mathematics homework. The management was really clear that us, the teachers, should be very careful not to let the children solve their exercises by using the calculator.

I was thus on a serious mission while surveying the little ones, when one of them drew my attention. I discreetly approached him and asked the little boy to draw out from underneath the desk whatever he was using to solve his exercises. He looked me in the eyes, with a mix of amazement and shame, and pointed towards one of his feet.

I took a better look and saw that both his feet where on the chair. Thus, I asked him to explain to me what he was doing.

Unaffected, he replied that the exercise he was working on needed more than the number of fingers from his hands in order to be solved so he went and used his toes, too.

It is during moments like these when a teacher really discovers the beauty of her/ his profession.