Blogging for Change

Are you smarter than my 4th grader? Try his math challenge

by Kim McGrigg on
9/5/2008
in Personal Finance

I’ll never forget the time a former boss said, “I wish you were better at math.” While I think he could have phrased it more delicately, I can understand why he wanted me to pay a bit more attention to numbers. In order to understand money management, you really do need to have a grasp on basic math concepts. At the very least, money management requires you to add, subtract, multiply, and divide. Successful money management also requires an understanding of fractions, decimals, and percentages.

One of my favorite ways to work on my left-brain skills is to help my 4th grader do his math homework. Sounds simple, right? Well, following is last night’s math problem.

If you start with $1 and double your money 30 times, how much money do you have at the end?

He had to turn in his assignment this morning, so feel free to leave your answer and a description on how you solved the problem in the comments section. No calculators or Excel spreadsheets! Oh, and if you know of an easy way for me to double my money 30 times, please share that too!!

For more fun math challenges, check out the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ Math Challenges for Families.

Kim McGrigg is the former Manager of Community and Media Relations for MMI.

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