MathIt Blog

Blog · Topics

Classroom Notes

All · 40Math at Home · 19Classroom Notes · 21Times tables · 3Math explained · 19For parents · 15Adult learners · 3
Three cubes built from small blocks on a table: a single yellow block, a blue cube two blocks on each side and a larger orange cube three blocks on each side, with two loose green blocks beside them.
Classroom Notes· 10 min read

Exponents explained: what the small number means and the rules that follow from it

What the base and the exponent mean, how powers of 10 connect to place value, the five laws of exponents with worked examples, why any number to the power of 0 is 1, and the mistakes that cost marks.

By Laura Bennett, MathIt
A rectangle cut once across and once down into four colored parts of different sizes.
Classroom Notes· 10 min read

Long multiplication explained: the order that makes it stick

The order that makes long multiplication stick: the times-table check, 36 × 24 as an area model, the placeholder zero, and the four mistakes that ruin the second row.

By Laura Bennett, MathIt
Ten bars of different heights in a row, with a dashed line drawn across them at the average height.
Classroom Notes· 10 min read

Mean, median and mode explained, with worked examples

Three summaries of the same list of numbers give three different answers, and all of them are correct. Here is how to find the mean, the median and the mode, with worked examples, the even-count rule and the mistakes that cost marks.

By Laura Bennett, MathIt
Three groups of counters on a table: twelve arranged in a rectangle, eight in a rectangle and nine in a square, while seven counters fit only in one straight line.
Classroom Notes· 11 min read

Prime numbers explained: how to spot them and why they matter

What makes a number prime, why 1 is left out, the square-root test that settles any number under 100, prime factorization with factor trees, and the six mistakes children make.

By Laura Bennett, MathIt
Flat illustration on a deep purple background of an adult holding a shopping bag and a phone calculator, next to an abstract pie chart and a large percent-like shape.
Classroom Notes· 7 min read

How to calculate percentages: three formulas and the mental shortcuts

Every percentage question is one of three calculations. Here are the three formulas with a worked example each, the 10% trick for doing them in your head, and the mistakes that make a sale price or a news headline come out wrong.

By Laura Bennett, MathIt
Flat illustration on a deep purple background of a parent and child at a kitchen table, working through a stacked division problem on paper drawn as abstract shapes.
Classroom Notes· 8 min read

How to teach long division, with worked examples

The four steps of long division, three fully worked examples, the partial quotients method many schools teach first, and the mistakes that cost the most marks.

By Laura Bennett, MathIt
An adult working through arithmetic practice on paper beside a phone and a cup of coffee.
Classroom Notes· 8 min read

How to Get Better at Math as an Adult: A Realistic 60-Day Plan

Most adults who feel bad at math have three or four specific gaps rather than a general weakness. Here is how to find them in 20 minutes and close them over 60 days.

By Laura Bennett, MathIt
A pencil working through a multi-step arithmetic expression with brackets on squared paper, one line per step.
Classroom Notes· 8 min read

The order of operations, worked out step by step

One rule, several acronyms, and one detail almost everyone gets wrong. Five worked examples from a single multiplication up to nested brackets with an exponent, plus an honest answer to the viral equations.

By Laura Bennett, MathIt
A notebook page with a calculation broken into simple steps, next to a coffee cup.
Classroom Notes· 8 min read

Mental math tricks you can learn in one sitting

A working set of calculation shortcuts for adults and older students: the rule, a worked example, the mistake it invites, and the drill that makes it automatic.

By Laura Bennett, MathIt