Dear Antonia,

Children and adults in South Africa battle with mathematics. This is a fact ! Do you agree ?

First, I must tell you that the maths education is much better in the Cape and in Natal than it is in the provinces that previously were part of Transvaal.
Just a few examples:
1) A third-year university student in Pretoria did not know how much was "7 x 3". And that student had been the best maths student at highschool, not only in his class, but in the whole school.
2) In a two-classroom (Grade 1 to 7) in the Cape, the children were taught to do calculations like 85 x 85 mentally - and they did this quite well.
3) In a Primary School in Johannesburg the children were taught a/b x c/d = (a.d)/(c.d) !!! (it should be (a.c)/(b.d) .

So, why is maths education so bad in Gauteng ?
This is partly due to historical reasons. It was always like that and did not improve.
Children do not learn to think at school. This is particularly important in mathematics.

The children mustn't be told by the Education Department which methods to use in the exams.
Let them think and use their own methods.

Have you heard the story of Carl Friedrich Gauss, the famous mathematician and physisist ? (see information in Wikipedia)
When he was in grade 1 in a multigrade classroom, the teacher wanted to keep the children busy and asked them to add the numbers from 1 to 100. Little Gauss solved this problem in a few minutes, but this put him in trouble with the teacher, because the teacher did not know the answer himself and he thought that Carl Friedrich had invented the result. How could have this little boy worked out these sums so quickly ?
What little Gauss did, was brilliant:
1 + 100 = 101
2 + 99 = 101
3 + 98 = 101
....................
The result was always 101.
How many numbers ? 100
How many pairs of numbers ? 50
What is the sum of all numbers from 1 to 100 ? 50 x 101 = 5050 !

I remember, when I was in grade 1, we had to write as homework a page of capital "I". I took a ruler, turned my exercise book sideways and started to draw short lines. When my father saw this, he immediately stopped me from doing it that way. He was an engineer, a good engineer, and I later followed in his footsteps.
Always let your students use their own methods. Congratulate them if their methods are better than yours, but also tell them if their methods are inferior.

I studied 5 years architecture and structural engineering at the Technikon in Salzburg, Austria, and afterwards, also five years, civil and structural engineering at the Technical University, Vienna. I have designed many major structures (cooling towers at Matla, Tutuka, Pelindaba, Cape Town, Kelvin, Vanderbijlpark) in South Africa and overseas and I lecture, on an ongoing basis, finite element analysis both in South Africa and overseas.

Mathematics is my hobby and I lectured it as a Professor in Salzburg from 1969 until 1975. I like to lecture young and old (from 4 years of age to 104). I have three grandchildren and I enjoy playing chess with them and discussing mathematical puzzles.

Should there be interest, I would like to teach maths to children of all ages on weekends at Leafy Greens from 10h00 until 16h00. I will make my presentations interesting and it will benefit the children not only in maths, but also in logical thinking.

Kind regards,
Roland.