Summary
Laura Numeroff's children's book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, tells the story of a mouse receiving a cookie from a boy. The mouse then asks for a glass of milk to accompany the cookie. Then, the mouse requests for a straw to drink the milk, a mirror to check for milk mustache, tweezers/successors to trim hair a and broom to sweep up the cookie crumbs. Later on, the mouse feels like taking a nap, wants a bedtime story read to him, to draw a picture, and hang that drawing on the refrigerator. The fridge then reminds him of milk, leading the mouse to ask for a glass of milk and subsequently, another cookie. The cycle of the mouse with the cookie repeats itself.
Mathematical Concept Presented
Numeroff's story demonstrates the periodic function (waves). We can recall that a periodic function is that repeats itself; the values of a periodic function repeats themselves in regular, constant intervals/periods. In this case, the story represents a regular, constant cycle that repeats itself as well. Starting off with the cookie, after requesting several items and activities, the mouse ends up requesting a cookie again, which leads him to request for the exact same items. Ultimately, the mouse will always end up asking for a cookie. We can see from the graph of a periodic function that the waves simply repeat themselves.
Literature and Math
Literature and, specifically children's books, are great to teach and learn mathematical concepts because the stories are simple. Therefore, applying a complex mathematical concept to a simple story makes the concept easier to understand. The stories show the applicability of the mathematical concepts. Not only does this make the concepts easier to capture but also more interesting. Associating any math ideas to "real life" (or story) related examples always helps students understand better. Moreover, this also shows that math can be applied to countless scenarios.
Laura Numeroff's children's book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, tells the story of a mouse receiving a cookie from a boy. The mouse then asks for a glass of milk to accompany the cookie. Then, the mouse requests for a straw to drink the milk, a mirror to check for milk mustache, tweezers/successors to trim hair a and broom to sweep up the cookie crumbs. Later on, the mouse feels like taking a nap, wants a bedtime story read to him, to draw a picture, and hang that drawing on the refrigerator. The fridge then reminds him of milk, leading the mouse to ask for a glass of milk and subsequently, another cookie. The cycle of the mouse with the cookie repeats itself.
Mathematical Concept Presented
Numeroff's story demonstrates the periodic function (waves). We can recall that a periodic function is that repeats itself; the values of a periodic function repeats themselves in regular, constant intervals/periods. In this case, the story represents a regular, constant cycle that repeats itself as well. Starting off with the cookie, after requesting several items and activities, the mouse ends up requesting a cookie again, which leads him to request for the exact same items. Ultimately, the mouse will always end up asking for a cookie. We can see from the graph of a periodic function that the waves simply repeat themselves.
Literature and Math
Literature and, specifically children's books, are great to teach and learn mathematical concepts because the stories are simple. Therefore, applying a complex mathematical concept to a simple story makes the concept easier to understand. The stories show the applicability of the mathematical concepts. Not only does this make the concepts easier to capture but also more interesting. Associating any math ideas to "real life" (or story) related examples always helps students understand better. Moreover, this also shows that math can be applied to countless scenarios.
It is amazing how with such a simple think like a story involving a mouse and a cookie you can related to periodic functions! I also believe that even though the story is simple you can find a complex mathematical complex as you showed us in this story!
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Gabriela I think it is very impressive that we are able to turn that small cycle in this children's book into a wave like graph that essentially represents a cosine or sine graph. I also appreciate your final point that math can be applied to countless scenarios because I would have never thought math would have been associated to this book.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate this book. I suck at periodic functions, but creating a story behind it makes it so much easier to understand.
ReplyDeleteAt first I didnt think about the cost function, it kinda seemed more like an infinity cycle, but I get it and the idea is well thought out! The fact that the cookie always triggers the function of the mouse to rinse and repeat what he wants is quite clever and also a very interesting and different way to think about functions
ReplyDeletelaith,
ReplyDeletethis is a very clever and thoughtful interpretation of this story! i used to read this story to my 1st graders all the time when i was teaching in the elementary field, but we never talked about periodic functions. we just talked about things that repeat. i love that you extended a text that was not written with the intention of discussing a mathematical concept, but you managed to extend the plot and apply it to a complex mathematical concept.
fantastic job for thinking outside of the box!
professor little