Visualising maths problems

Visualising mathematical problems is half the battle in getting a solution. In the days before the invention of the pocket calculator, bank employees in Singapore and Hong Kong used the abacus to perform the calculations they needed to do. After a few months calculating on an abacus, the bank employees did not need to use the apparatus any more. They could solve their problems in thier heads, because they could visualise in their minds’ eye how they would be moving the beads on an abacus were they actually using one. The employees did continue to use their abacuses, because to do so was less effort than doing it all in their heads, but the point is that because they could visualise the problem and the method of its solution, the didn’t need to, and they could, if they chose, solve the problem as fast in their heads. Maths Puppets aims to give children a way to visualise maths problems and the method of their solution, thereby giving them the basis for generating the correct answers, and knowing intuitively when they are getting it right and when something is not quite as it should be and therefore requiring a second look.