The number one is more than zero, of course. But can a one ever be less than zero? Yes, it can! Suppose you are standing at the middle of a long line drawn on the ground. Let's call the place...
The strange row of numbers
Just for fun, a mathematician once made up a puzzle about rabbits. It went like this. Suppose that you have a boy rabbit and a girl rabbit. Each month, your pair of rabbits has a boy rabbit and a...
Tenths, hundredths, and dots
When you see the number \| you know that it's a fraction. It means one-half of something. But what does 0.5 mean? The number 0.5 is a fraction, too. And it, too, means one-half! How is this...
Pie puzzles
Fractions are foolers. For this reason, they make good puzzles. Here's a puzzle about different fractions of apple, cherry, and blueberry pie. Would you rather have the one piece of apple, the...
Tuesday I Was Ten
Tuesday I was ten, and though The fact delights me plenty, It sort of startles me to know I'm now a half of twenty. It's nice to own a bigger bike With brakes along the wheels And figure skates (the...
Bigger is smaller
If someone asked you whether you would rather have three peppermint sticks or four peppermint sticks, you'd answer "four," of course. Four is more than three. But what if someone asked whether you'd...
The smallest number
There is no biggest number. But is there a smallest number? Well, the number one is the smallest of the numbers that we count with. But it isn't really the smallest of all numbers. You see, the...
The biggest number
What's the very biggest number there is? Is it a million? That's one followed by six zeros---1,000,000. No, one million isn't the biggest number. There can be many millions. For example, the earth...
Building numbers
You have probably put together models of cars and airplanes. You've probably made clay models of animals. But have you ever tried to make a model of a number? Remember, to get a square number, you...
The foolish millionaire and the clever girl
There was once a very rich and greedy man who loved money more than anything else in the world. He knew he had lots of money, but he didn't know exactly how much. So he hired a little girl to count...
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