MathIt Blog

MathIt · Blog

The MathIt Blog

Clear, practical guides for parents, teachers and adults who want stronger math skills. Each article answers one question, shows the method step by step, and points to a free game or printable worksheet to practise it.

Featured

A flat kitchen scale with two oranges on it, an empty glass jug, a coil of mint-green ribbon, red apples, a banana and a wooden spoon on a light kitchen counter.
Math at Home· 10 min read

What is the metric system? Units, prefixes and how to convert them

What the metric system is, why it works like place value, how to convert metric units step by step, the prefix table from kilo to milli, kitchen benchmarks and the mistakes that cost the most points.

By Laura Bennett, MathIt
A wooden desk with neat rows of blank yellow, green, blue and coral sticky notes next to a clipboard with a blank sheet of paper and a yellow pencil.
Classroom Notes· 10 min read

How to make a box plot, read it and find the interquartile range
Colorful paper triangles, squares and hexagons and wooden pattern blocks scattered on a light wooden table next to a yellow pencil.
Math at Home· 10 min read

Polygons explained: what a polygon is, what each one is called and how to tell

All articles

All · 51Math at Home · 25Classroom Notes · 26Times tables · 3Math explained · 24For parents · 20Adult learners · 7
A plain brown cardboard box unfolded flat into a cross-shaped net on a light wooden table, with a pencil on it, a plain metal tin can, a roll of pastel wrapping paper and scissors.
Math at Home· 11 min read

How to find the surface area of a box, a prism or a cylinder

What surface area is, how to find the surface area of a rectangular prism with a net, the formulas for cubes, prisms, pyramids and cylinders side by side, and kitchen-table ways to practice.

By Laura Bennett, MathIt
A round cheese pizza cut into eight equal slices on a wooden board, with an empty white plate, a spool of red string, colorful blank fraction pieces and a yellow pencil on a sheet of paper on a light table.
Classroom Notes· 9 min read

Rational numbers and irrational numbers explained: how to tell them apart

What makes a number rational, a five-step test for any number you meet, a table of common examples, how to turn a repeating decimal into a fraction, and the edge cases that catch adults and grade 8 students alike.

By Laura Bennett, MathIt
A green toy crocodile with its mouth open toward a big pile of colorful buttons on a wooden table, a small pile of buttons on the other side and a child's hand pointing at it.
Math at Home· 6 min read

Greater than and less than signs: what > and < mean and how to never mix them up

What the greater than sign and the less than sign mean, how to compare two numbers step by step, four memory tricks side by side, kitchen-table practice and the mistakes with decimals and negative numbers.

By Laura Bennett, MathIt
A small wooden ramp built from a plank resting on stacked books, with a toy car at the top, a notebook and a pencil on a light desk.
Classroom Notes· 10 min read

How to find the slope of a line from two points, a graph or an equation

What slope means, how to find slope from two points step by step, how to read it from a graph and from y = mx + b, the four kinds of slope side by side, and the mistakes that cost the most marks.

By Laura Bennett, MathIt
A wooden ruler, a retractable tape measure and a pencil beside a small wooden toy block and a leaf on a light kitchen table.
Math at Home· 10 min read

How to read a ruler in inches and centimeters, mark by mark

Why the marks on a ruler look confusing, how to read the inch side (1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16) and the cm side (millimeters) step by step, a table of every inch mark, and measuring activities for home.

By Laura Bennett, MathIt
A sheet of graph paper on a light table with colored pins and a short piece of string stretched between two pins, next to a pencil and a small toy treasure chest.
Classroom Notes· 10 min read

The coordinate plane: how to plot points and read the four quadrants

What the coordinate plane is, how an ordered pair (x, y) tells you where a point sits, how to plot a point step by step, the four quadrants and their signs, games to play at home and the mistakes grade 5 and 6 children make most.

By Laura Bennett, MathIt
A folded paper butterfly with matching painted wings, scissors, colored paper hearts and a small hand mirror on a light kitchen table.
Math at Home· 10 min read

Lines of symmetry explained: what they are and how many each shape has

What a line of symmetry is, how to find every line of symmetry in a shape by folding, the counts for common shapes side by side, and kitchen-table symmetry activities with paper, paint and a mirror.

By Laura Bennett, MathIt
A carpenter's steel square, a folding wooden ruler and a pencil on a light wooden workbench, with three wooden sticks laid out as a right triangle.
Classroom Notes· 10 min read

The Pythagorean theorem explained: find any side of a right triangle

What the Pythagorean theorem says, how to find the hypotenuse and a missing leg step by step, the Pythagorean triples worth knowing, and real uses from ladders to the 3-4-5 corner check.

By Laura Bennett, MathIt
A child's hands holding a paper-plate clock with two colored paper hands on a light kitchen table, next to an alarm clock seen from the side and a pencil.
Math at Home· 10 min read

How to tell time on an analog clock: a step-by-step guide for parents

How to teach a child to read an analog clock in five steps, from o'clock to the nearest minute, with a.m. and p.m., the 24-hour clock, a paper-plate clock and a two-minute test.

By Laura Bennett, MathIt
Round kitchen objects on a light table — a dinner plate, a jar lid and a tin can — with a loop of red string and a tape measure beside them.
Classroom Notes· 10 min read

How to find the circumference of a circle and its area (and what pi is)

What pi is, how to find the circumference of a circle and its area step by step, why the area formula works, a comparison of circumference, area, diameter and radius, and kitchen-table activities with plates and jar lids.

By Laura Bennett, MathIt
A desk at night with a small telescope, a magnifying glass, a scientific calculator turned face down, a notebook and a pencil under a lamp.
Classroom Notes· 10 min read

Scientific notation: how to write big and small numbers

What a × 10ⁿ means, a five-step method to write any number in scientific notation and back, how it differs from standard form and a calculator's E, and how to multiply, divide, add and subtract with it.

By Laura Bennett, MathIt
Two round pizzas on a light kitchen table, one whole and one cut into slices with some slices missing, beside a set of measuring cups, a bag of flour and a pencil.
Math at Home· 9 min read

Improper fractions and mixed numbers: what they are and how to convert them

What improper fractions and mixed numbers are, how to convert an improper fraction to a mixed number and back step by step, kitchen-table ways to practise, and the mistakes and edge cases that trip children up.

By Laura Bennett, MathIt