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Why Your Child Is Behind in Math (Yes, Even Your Child)

Elephant Learning accurately tests and evaluates kids at different grade levels to see if they truly get what they should be learning. It then adjusts what they’re learning to ensure they understand math conceptually right from the start. The app provides educational games for the kids while also providing parents with reports and information on how the app is actually teaching a concept. Parents will find games to play with their children outside of the app that further support learning. We break it down for you, telling you how to help your child along every step of the way and showing you how to identify your child’s misunderstandings simply. For instance, rather than correcting them or showing them how to do the math problem correctly, ask them why they think they’re correct; you’re going to see what they misunderstand nearly immediately and be able to give them a hint on how to overcome it. This way, Elephant Learning is empowering to the student, but it’s also empowering to the parent. You no longer have to be afraid to take your child’s math education into your own hands.

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Why You Need Tools Other Than Math Worksheets to Help Your Kid Become a Math Whiz

Discover why math worksheets aren’t the best tool for helping your child ace math.

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Why Math Tutoring Doesn't Help

Discover why math tutoring is not the most effective tool for helping your student learn math.

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Why the Gifted and Talented Program is Rigged (in Public School)

Discover why the gifted and talented program is rigged and how you can help prepare your child for the test.

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Why Kids Need Gamification for Education

Discover the one big reason why gamification is a top-notch tool for learning math.

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What Parents Need to Know About Math Curriculum in Algebra and Beyond

At the end of the day, algebra comes down to these three steps: define, recognize and produce. No matter if your child is in middle school or a PhD math program, it’s all about defining (can you understand it?), recognizing (can you identify it?), and producing (can you use it to produce results or new research?). If you can help your child with these three aspects of algebra at home, they’ll be better set up for success in the classroom and in the future.

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Valuable Skills Your Child Learns in Math That They Can’t Learn Anywhere Else

Elephant Learning teaches math concepts from a logic and reasoning perspective, so students learn the underlying basic skills of math before attempting to tackle intimidating numbers and equations. These basic skills are the aspects of math that set up your child to succeed throughout the rest of their life. Get started with the Elephant Learning app and see how I used my knowledge as a Ph.D. mathematician to change the early learning math experience to remarkable results. Our users learn at least a year of math in three months, just by using the app 30 minutes per week, or your money back.

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The Elephant Learning Teacher Dashboard

Elephant Learning's teacher dashboard is now released. Here is a blog walkthrough of the dashboard.

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The Three-Step Method to Teaching Math

Teaching math effectively is so much more involved than giving your child a math sheet filled with problems or asking them to memorize some multiplication tables. It requires passing on the experience of math concepts and ensuring a child truly comprehends a math concept before going on to the next one. However, with a little bit of work and a lot of patience, parents can teach their children math in a way that sets them up for future success.

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The True Link Between Learning Math and Creativity

Blending math and creativity yields amazing results; discover how embracing creative subjects will help your student in learning math.

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René Descartes, The Philosopher Mathematician That “Mathematized” Philosophy

Discover the life and work of René Descartes, the philosopher mathematician that “mathematized” philosophy.

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Thales of Miletus, The First Mathematician, As Told By The Greeks

Read about the Greek mathematician Thales of Miletus, who was considered by the Greeks to be the Father of Science and Mathematics.

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The Real Reason Math Curriculum is Failing Your Child

Does your child enjoy math class? When you see them doing their math homework, does it feel like they don’t really get the concepts? Do they appear to blindly apply strategies they’ve been taught in class to solve their homework problems? In the classroom, many children are unable to develop a solid math foundation due to the typical way math is taught. The good news is, you can remedy this issue at home by simply looking at math instruction through a new lens — so that your child goes into the classroom prepared to take on mathematical challenges.

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Stephen Hawking: Became a World-Famous Theoretical Physicist While Living With ALS

Discover how physicist Stephen Hawking changed our perception of the universe despite a debilitating, incurable illness.

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The Bernoullis: Mathematical Genius and Serious Family Drama

Discover the Bernoullis, a family which produced no less than eight famous mathematicians–and a lot of family drama!

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Sophie Germain’s Secret Love Of Mathematics in 18th Century France

Discover the work of Sophie Germain, one of the earliest woman mathematicians, who defied gender stereotypes to conduct her life’s work in number theory.

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Robert Simson, The Restorer of Grecian Geometry

Read about the Scottish mathematician Robert Simson, whose restoration of Grecian geometry has influenced modern education.

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Sofya Kovalevskaya: Never Take No For An Answer

Discover the groundbreaking and fantastical life of late 19th-century Russian mathematician, Sofya Kovalevskaya.

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Pythagoras: Going Beyond a2 + b2 = c2

Dive deeper into the life of Pythagoras and go way beyond geometry and a2 + b2 = c2 to find out about this spiritual thinker!

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Restoring the American Dream

We tell our children in the United States that they can grow up to be whatever they want. It is the quintessential American dream and why thousands if not millions of people want to move to our country. Find out why the dream is over before students even have a chance. It is all due to a gap between parent's understanding of what counting to 10 is versus what kindergarten means by counting to 10.

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Niels Henrik Abel, The Consistently Overlooked Mathematician

Learn more about the Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel, who’s math career never quite took off, while alive.

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Pierre-Simon Laplace: The “French Newton”

Learn about French Revolution-era man Pierre-Simon Laplace who laid the framework for the theory of probability.

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Pierre de Fermat, Judge Turned Mathematician

Discover the life and work of Pierre de Fermat, the judge who turned mathematician.

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The Most Important Woman In 20th-Century Mathematics: Emmy Noether

Meet Emmy Noether: an amazing woman working in mathematics in early 20th-century Germany, despite the major obstacles.

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Oprah Winfrey: From Poverty to World Famous Broadcaster & Philanthropist

Learn how Winfrey overcame the extreme challenges of her early childhood to achieve tremendous success!

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Paul Erdös: Collaborative Mathematics

Learn about the life of nomadic mathematician, Paul Erdös, who collaborated with the most mathematicians of any person in history.

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Marlee Matlin: First Deaf Performer to Win an Academy Award

Learn about the fearless Marlee Matlin, who didn’t let losing her hearing as a toddler stop her from taking on Hollywood!

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Michael Jordan: Cut From High School Team, Became an NBA Superstar

Learn how being cut from his high school varsity basketball team spurred Michael Jordan to work harder and eventually become an NBA legend.

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Maryam Mirzakhani: First Woman to Win Math’s Nobel Prize

Read about the life of Maryam Mirzakhani, the first woman and the first Iranian to win the Fields Prize, math’s version of the Nobel Prize.

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Lorenzo Mascheroni and the Geometric Discovery Incorrectly Credited To Him

Discover why Lorenzo Mascheroni was mistakenly credited for a discovery someone else made.

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Maria Gaetana Agnesi: A Life of Devotion to Mathematics and Charity

Discover the life of 18th-century Italian mathematician, Maria Gaetana Agnesi, the first woman to gain international recognition as a mathematician.

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Leonhard Euler: Lifelong Curiosity

Discover the prolific career of 18th-century Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler, whose work spanned almost every field of math under the sun!

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Leonardo Pisano, The Mathematician Who Westernized the Hindu-Arabic Numerals

Read about the Italian mathematician Leonardo Pisano, who introduced the Hindu-Arabic Numerals to Europe; and is likely the reason it is used globally today.

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Johannes Kepler, The Fleeing Mathematician and Astronomer

Discover the many mathematical and astronomy “firsts” Johannes Kepler made while having to continuously dodge the religious politics of his time.

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Later Elementary Math Concepts and Strategies: What Parents Need to Know for Grades 3-6

Most students learn to multiply in school by memorizing their multiplication tables. There’s nothing wrong with memorizing multiplication tables, but a child must know what the multiplication tables mean. If they’re multiplying seven by six, they need to have that picture in the back of their head of six groups of seven or seven groups of six. If not, they don’t have a true understanding of what multiplication actually is and it won’t serve them later on in life. Take, for example, a child who knows that five times four is 20. She can solve the multiplication problem with ease.

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Learn To Read With Math? 5 Surprising Facts About Early Age Math

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Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: A True Polymath

Discover the wide-ranging work of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who was a lawyer, mathematician, and philosopher.

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Kurt Gödel, the Mathematician Who Spoiled David Hilbert’s Life Work!

Learn how an Austrian mathematician disproved David Hilbert’s axiom theory that aimed to provide a stable basis for all mathematical systems.

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Joseph-Louis Lagrange, The Metric System Mathematician

Discover how Joseph-Louis Lagrange convinced the French Academy of Sciences, during the heightened threat of death during the French Revolution, to adopt the widely used metric system.

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The Key to Building Confidence In Learning Math

Discover key tips to shift your mindset around learning math and build confidence for yourself and your child.

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James Joseph Sylvester, The Mathematician Who Faced Many Difficulties

Read about the English mathematician James Joseph Sylvester, who due to being Jewish, faced many difficulties in his academic and professional careers.

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John von Neumann: The Colorful Mathematician Who Helped Design the Atomic Bomb

Learn how a Hungarian child prodigy turned into the man who designed the atomic bomb for the US Army in World War II.

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John Napier: Champion of the Decimal Point and an Early Calculator

Read about the fascinating world of 16th-century Scottish mathematician, John Napier, and his critical discoveries.

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Jim Carrey: From Childhood Homelessness to Famous Actor

Learn how Jim Carrey overcame his difficult childhood to become a famous comedic actor!

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Isaac Newton: The Most Famous Mathematician of All Time?

Find out about the life of Isaac Newton, one of the most famous mathematicians of all time!

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It's About More Than Just Math: Fear, Growth, and Adaptation

Math anxiety — a fear of getting math concepts and problems wrong and the resulting avoidance of math because of that — is something I’ve seen many times over my life and not just in children. It’s just as prevalent in adults and, believe it or not, despite my PhD in math, I experienced math anxiety as a child, too. While some children allowed their math anxiety to grow into a lifelong avoidance of math, mine fueled my competitive spirit and led me to push ahead of my peers, learning advanced math concepts even when I wasn’t able to get into the advanced math classes my middle school offered.

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The Early Years: Teaching Young Children Math Concepts

Studies show that early math skills have far-reaching benefits beyond just school performance, so naturally, you want to teach your child math concepts early to give them the best edge throughout their life and career. But when do “the early years” begin? How early is too early? And, for that matter, where do you start when the time comes? Here is everything you need to know about teaching early math, from understanding when they’re ready to learn, to tips for teaching foundational math concepts.

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Is Your Child a Visual Learner? (How to Teach Math to a Child With Any Learning Style)

Discover how to teach math to a child with any learning style and why we learn best when we use all of our senses.

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How Learning Mathematics Helps Athletes Succeed

DIscover how learning mathematics helps athletes succeed--whichever level they’re at.

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Homeschool Parent's Review of Elephant Learning

A parent sent this to her homeschool group and carbon copied us. We asked her if we could put it up on our blog and here it is!

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How Math Determines Your Child's Overall Success

Setting your child up for success in math and then later in life isn’t as easy as teaching them to count before they go to preschool. When children simply learn to memorize math facts, they’re not internalizing the math-related skills that influence that later success. Students are more likely to succeed when they begin to understand the logic behind numbers, rather than being able to just spout off multiplication tables on command. In fact, your child’s skills in math might not have anything to do with how quickly they can solve basic problems; when your child takes the time to think about the numbers, they get closer to cracking into the problem-solving and analytical skills that give math its value in any career.

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How to Evaluate Your Child’s Math Skills Based on Language

Evaluating your child’s math skills is so much more than just giving them a math sheet filled with problems, or looking at how well they’re doing in class. It’s all about ensuring they have a strong math foundation that holds up over time as they move into harder and harder concepts. Evaluating their comprehension based on the language surrounding math makes building this foundation that much easier.

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How to Gamify Your Math Lessons

Making math fun for your child within the confines of your everyday world is easy. Let’s say you’re walking down the sidewalk with your child and they say, “Oh, there’s a train.” That’s an opportunity for you to ask how many train cars they can see. How many engines are on the train? Even if it’s just their toys sitting out on the floor, you could ask them, “Can you give me three toy dogs right now?” Then your child has to identify what’s a dog, what’s not a dog and how many of them equal three. Take whatever your child can identify and formulate a math lesson that’s on their level.

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How Can Your Child Learn Math in 10 Minutes A Day?

Plan for 10 minutes of practice a day and see your child learn math faster than ever before!

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How Elephant Learning Teaches Early Elementary Mathematics

In early elementary education, the first concepts that we work with are counting and comparisons — that is, quantity comparisons versus what's bigger and smaller. We might show a child an image of four objects and an image with 12 objects, and ask them to identify which has more or fewer. It's important for children to know the difference because it sets the stage for addition and subtraction.

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Helen Keller: Mastered Reading and Writing Despite Childhood Blindness and Deafness

Discover how Helen Keller overcame the challenges of early childhood blindness and deafness to become an accomplished writer, educator and activist!

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Homeschool Parents Love Elephant Learning -- A Review

A homeschool parent's review of Elephant Learning.

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Giuseppe Peano, Who Upset Peers By Pointing Out Their Mistakes

Read about the brilliant mathematician Giuseppe Peano, who was a little too enthusiastic about pointing out fellow mathematicians’ mistakes.

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Here's Why Math is Making Your Child Cry and What You Can Do About It

You have more control over your kid’s relationship with math than you think. Read on to learn how.

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Giovanni Ceva, The Mathematician With Many Hats

Discover the many responsibilities and contributions to math and science from the great Italian mathematician, Giovanni Ceva.

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George Boole, The Father Of Binary Logic

Read about the English mathematician George Boole, who is the father of binary logic, used as the basis for the computer.

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Georg Cantor’s Controversial Career

Read on to find out how backlash from the mathematics community forced one German mathematician to pivot and study Shakespeare.

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Gerolamo Cardano, The Most Influential Mathematician of The Italian Renaissance

Discover the life and work of Gerolamo Cardano, the most influential mathematician of The Italian Renaissance.

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G. H. Hardy: Mathematics As Art

Discover the life and work of G. H. Hardy: a British mathematician who believed that math was an art form just like painting or poetry.

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Eratosthenes, The Mathematician Who Gave Us the Circumference of the Earth

Read about the Greek Mathematician Eratosthenes, who created a methodology for finding the circumference of the Earth within a fraction of error!

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Évariste Galois, The Rebel Rousing Mathematician

Read about the French mathematician Évariste Galois, who split his time between his rebellious political beliefs and his mathematical pursuits.

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Franklin D. Roosevelt: Longest-Serving U.S. President Despite Polio & Paralysis

Learn how Franklin D. Roosevelt overcame polio and paralysis to become the only U.S. president elected four times!

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Euclid of Alexandria, An Influence That Spans Millennia

Read about the Greek mathematician Euclid of Alexandria, whose influence has lasted until modern day.

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Eudoxus of Cnidus Invented Forerunner of Calculus With Method of Exhaustion

Discover why Eudoxus of Cnidus was considered among the greatest of classical Greek mathematicians who invented what we call calculus today.

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Emotion is Holding You Back As A Homeschooling Parent

Your intentions are true, but the strive for perfection is actually what holds back our kids from improving.

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Dr. Herbert A. Hauptman: A Lovable Genius

Find out how a mathematician is actually to thank for modern medicine!

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Diophantus: “Father of Algebra” Influenced Rebirth of Number Theory

Learn about Diophantus and his famous Arithmetica, the work that introduced us to concepts of modern algebra still used today.

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David Hilbert: A Mathematics Mainstay

Read more about the German mathematician who set the standard for modern geometry.

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Christian Goldbach: His Discovery Still Challenges Mathematicians Today

Learn about Christian Goldbach’s conjecture and why mathematicians have been unable to prove or disprove it to this day.

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Colonel Sanders: Rejected 1,009 Times Before Starting KFC

Learn how Colonel Sanders persevered through over 1,000 rejections to build one of the most famous fast-food chains in the world!

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Claudius Ptolemy: The Mathematics of Celestial Motion

Discover the visionary life and work of 2nd-century Greek mathematician Claudius Ptolemy.

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Charles Babbage, The Father Of The Computer

Discover more about the life and work of Charles Babbage, the father of the computer.

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Children Are Empowered Through Understanding

It is never too late to understand math. At a young age, many of us had the experience of being told that “we are just not a numbers person.” Books have been written on this social phenomena, and half of all Americans report Math anxiety. As it turns out, mathematics is really about learning jargon, a jargon that is so fundamental to humanity that we consider it vocabulary.

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Blaise Pascal, A Math Prodigy Ahead Of His Time

Discover the life and work of Blaise Pascal, a math prodigy ahead of his time.

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Bethany Hamilton: Won a National Surfing Championship After Losing Her Arm

Read Bethany Hamilton’s incredible story of perseverance and determination following a life-changing event.

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Charles Babbage: The Inventor of the First Mechanical Computer

Find out about the English polymath, Charles Babbage, the man who invented the first mechanical computer.

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Carl Friedrich Gauss, The Most Brilliant Mathematician of His Time

Find out why Carl Friedrich Gauss was considered the most brilliant mathematician of his time.

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Bernhard Riemann: Shy, Brilliant, Revolutionary

Learn more about the mathematician who informed Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity!

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Brahmagupta: The Man Who Defined Zero

Find out about the inspiring work of ancient Indian mathematician and astronomer, Brahmagupta.

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The Awe-Inspiring Work Of Srinivasa Ramanujan

Get inspired by Srinivasa Ramanujan’s mathematical genius and unlikely life!

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Benjamin Franklin: From Self-Taught School Dropout to Founding Father

Learn how Franklin became an accomplished inventor, a renowned writer, and a Founding Father despite his lack of formal education!

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Benoit Mandelbrot: Simplifying the Rough and Messy Universe

Discover the life and unusual work of Polish mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot, whose theory of fractal geometry attempted to make sense of chaos.

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Archimedes, A Mathematician With An Obsession

Read about the Greek Mathematician Archimedes who was more of an inventor than mathematician, but it would be his obsession with math that got him killed.

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Ada Lovelace: The First Computer Programmer

Learn about the life of Ada Lovelace, 19th-century British mathematician and widely recognized as the first computer programmer.

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Alan Turing: How His Work in Math Saved Millions of Lives

Dive into the life and work of British mathematician Alan Turing and learn how his work saved millions of lives!

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Answers to Your Top Questions About Math Anxiety

Make no mistake. Math anxiety can and does affect the course of your life. The wife of a friend said to me, "I wanted to get a degree in physics, but it was all differential equations, so I became an English major." When she was a child, that's what she wanted to do; she wanted to be a physicist, but she gave that up because of math anxiety. The reality is, there’s no such thing as a “not a math person.” Whether it’s you or your child, those who aren’t confident with mathematics are typically individuals who have math anxiety. Regardless of how much math anxiety exists in your household, remember: there is a solution.

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Albert Einstein: Overcame Early School Challenges, Won Nobel Prize

Discover how Einstein overcame his childhood challenges with a traditional school curriculum to change the world of physics!

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100 Scholarships Awarded To Homeschool Children

Elephant Learning and Math Matters has awarded 100 1 year full tuition scholarships to homeschool parents through the Homeschool Foundation!

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5 Common Math App Pitfalls — and How Elephant Learning Is Different

Many math apps are parent-free zones or, at best, parents are an afterthought within the app. Elephant Learning knows that the best results come when the parent is involved in the child’s education. Every study shows outcomes for students are better when parents are involved. The truth is, when I started this company, my first child was on his way. I created this system as a tool to ensure that he receives the benefits of mathematics education and avoids the American educational pitfall. We live in a time when, increasingly, if you are not the person creating the automation, you are the person being replaced by it. Our reports detail exactly how we intend to teach each topic down to the milestone level with advice on how you can further learning with fun games outside of the system. This turns your child’s playtime in the system into a tool to succeed in playtime with you. We provide advice on how to work with the students on mistakes so that the pressure is always off. At any point in time, if your student is struggling, we are always happy to look at the data and advise. That is why Elephant Learning can guarantee results. The math app you choose for your child’s learning matters. Apps that focus on games and graphics with math sprinkled throughout may end up turning those math problems into perceived work for your child (and can become addictive). Elephant Learning begins with a proven curriculum and scientific understanding of how children learn math. We then build games and puzzles around the curriculum, empowering students to truly grasp math concepts. Knowing that parental involvement is key to student success, we also ensure that you, the parent, are involved every step of the way.

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Aditya Nagrath - Facebook Leader and CEO of Elephant Learning

I’m so grateful for Facebook and its business tools. We couldn’t have succeeded without it. — Aditya Nagrath, Ph.D., Co-founder, and CEO, Elephant Learning

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