Mathemagic by ROHINI CHOWDHURY

Author:ROHINI CHOWDHURY [Chowdhury, Rohini]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9788184756852
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2012-08-05T04:00:00+00:00

5

Numbers Everywhere!

Megha sighed. ‘We’ve told you—we use numbers to count, to put objects in sequence, and now we know, to measure things Isn’t that enough?’

‘That is certainly a beginning,’ replied the Wizard, ‘but it does not answer my question completely. Think harder, children! Come on—there are two of you, and two clever heads are better than my one old head!’

‘Well, numbers are not something we can eat, or touch, or smell, or hear, or see,’ said Mehul slowly.

‘So does that mean that numbers do not exist?’ asked Megha, frowning.

‘That makes no sense!’ said Mehul. ‘How can we use numbers to do all those things you told us about if they didn’t exist?’

‘Oh, numbers exist, they most certainly exist!’ replied the Wizard. ‘They exist as much as you and I! They tell us about the world we live in! Remember—how tall, how short, how far, how near, how heavy, how light, how many, how much! Numbers are everywhere!’

The children flopped down on the floor. This was so confusing. How could something exist if one could not touch it, or feel it, or sense it in any way? And yet, Sir Tzyphyr was right, numbers were everywhere.

The Wizard sighed, and sat down cross-legged on the floor next to the children. ‘This sounds like magic, does it not?’ he smiled. ‘This is the wonder of numbers. We may not be able to see them with our eyes, or hold them in our hands, or even understand what they really are. But believe me children, numbers do exist. They exist on their own, they do not need us.’

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.