math real applications at a cake booth

[Math] Real applications

In our family, “Learning is compulsory. Schooling is optional”.

Today, 10yo Jae had a hard-to-get appointment to renew his passport yet school was opened for him with short notice given.

So he skipped school.

There was a booth selling cakes at the immigration office, so we had a little math exploration:

  • Estimate the number of cakes at the booth

  • Find out the average price of the cakes

  • Estimate the gross profit per cake sold

  • Observe customers who buy the cakes

  • Estimate the gross profit per month

  • Estimate the rental & wages to estimate the monthly profit

He was quite amazed by how one can make a good living by running this booth.

When we were home, he chose Math as his first piece of work.

This is consistent with research that shows students are more interested in learning math when the curriculum includes real applications. (O’Leary, et al., 2021)

What Math can you find around you to share with your child?

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