The content of Reason for Math, Volume 1 generally fits into national standards for 3rd through 5th grade level math.  However, these standards bring the assumption that at a certain age, a student should understand a certain concept.  Many learners can progress through their entire math education and have little understanding of the nature of the language of math and what it means to think mathematically.  This video is intended to introduce ideas to young students as well as eliminate confusion and misconceptions in older math-skeptical or math-fearful students.

Volume 1 of Reason for Math deals with the basic patterns in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division including:
-order of operations
-factors and multiples
-prime numbers and factoring into primes
-use of punctuation in math statements
-and the distributive property

However, the real content of the video is how these basic ideas come together to help form the overall language of mathematics.  We’ve all heard math called “the universal language”.  This video examines how math is similar to word languages, yet has a unique structure all its own.  We’ll see how the seemingly strange terminology (like “commutative” and “associative”) and apparently pointless factoids (like “the number 1 isn’t a prime number” ) aren’t simply data to memorize for a test, but are actually the foundation for logic and reason for the amazingly empowering language of math.

Total running time: 97 min, plus Special Feature