McKinnonNEWS

MATHS

MATHS – A FUN, INTERESTING AND CHALLENGING SUBJECT

There are many fun and interesting facts about numbers. For instance, 2025 has many seemingly random but quirky features:

  1. It’s a square number as 2025 = 45 × 45, the last square number year was 1936 and the next will be in 2114. 

  2. Its digit sum is also a square number 2 + 0 + 2 + 5 = 9 = 3 × 3, this was last seen in 1681 and will not occur again until 2304.

  3. The year divided by its digit sum is also a square number:

This last happened in the year 900 and I gave up before I found the next one.

  1. As 45 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 is a triangle number that also means that 2025 is the sum of the first nine cubic numbers:

This last happened in 1296 and will come around next in 3025.

 

So many ideas in one little number!

 

As the Key Learning Area Manager for Maths, I want all students to find Maths as fun, interesting and endlessly fascinating as I do. However, I also recognise that it can be very challenging, and you need perseverance to succeed. Sometimes students may need some extra help both at school and at home.

 

At school there are many ways a student can seek support, through their classroom teachers but also at our regular lunchtime Maths Help sessions. These run on every:

  • Tuesday at both East Campus (room V2.3) and McKinnon Rd Campus (room A17)

  • Thursday at McKinnon Rd Campus (A17)

Everyone is welcome to bring their lunch and complete their homework, ask questions, both specific to their work or to extend their mathematical knowledge.

 

So how can you help at home? 

 

In an article published in 2017 and with a rather dramatic title, “I would rather die – reasons given by 16-year-olds for not continuing their study of mathematics”, the most common reason given is that it is ‘difficult’. The perception of difficulty for students can often come through messages received from other people – parents, siblings, friends and social media. 

 

So, the most influential way to help your child is to always model a positive approach to learning and challenges. Emphasise that although it may be difficult at times, with hard work they will improve. If I could have one wish granted it would be that no student ever hears ‘Well I was always hopeless at maths too’, from anyone!

 

Here's hoping for a fun and interesting year for everyone.

 

Emma Mullane

Key Learning Area Manager - Mathematics

 

References:

Article: Ben Crockett, Deputy Director Durrington Research School (2025). “I am a teacher of .….. – what has maths got to do with me? A look into the role of non-maths teachers in developing students’ mathematical identities and perceptions.”

 

Brown, M., Brown, P., & Bibby, T. (2008). ​“I would rather die”: reasons given by 16-year-olds for not continuing their study of mathematics. Research in Mathematics Education, 10(1), 3 – 18.