Aaron is reading his Handy Answer Science Book every night before bed. This morning he said, “Mom, I saw something in my Handy Answer Science Book last night that I don’t understand. Can you give me a piece of paper and let me write it for you?”
So I gave him a piece of paper and this is what he wrote:
I told him that this symbol means square root, which of course meant nothing to him. So on another piece of paper I began showing him the meaning of square root using the number 9. He interrupted me with a loud laugh and then said, “That’s dumb!”
Well, why is that dumb, Aaron? “Because 9 is not square!!!”
This time I also laughed, and he joined me because he thought I was laughing at my own “dumbness” to think that the number 9 could be square. What a good laugh we had together, each for our own different reason!
I was able to explain sqaure roots to Aaron. He’s good at math and he accepted the lesson – but I do believe he still thinks that this whole concept is pretty dumb.
Literal Aaron is still stuck on the word “square!”
He Said What?! 