Do you like to solve math puzzles and do you think that they're fun?
Hopefully you don't think that math puzzles are boring or silly because
they shouldn't be at all boring or a waste of time. You see, solving
math puzzles while you're young and in school is excellent practice
for real life after you're finished with school and on your way to
being an adult. Remember even after you're finished with school, you're
never finished with learning. You'll be learning new things for the
rest of your life!
Sometimes puzzles are hard or challenging to solve. Have you ever
worked on a math puzzle for a long time before you figured out the
answer? Working on a puzzle until you solve it takes determination
and patience. These are good lessons for the rest of your life. Video
games may be fast to play but lots of things that you need to do in
this life take determination and patience. For example, look at all
the time it takes after college and medical school to become a specialist
doctor. Sometime ask your pediatrician about residency where a doctor
learns how to be specialist. A pediatrician is a specialist in healthy
children.
Puzzles make you think and be creative in figuring out the solution.
What about the scientists and engineers who work at NASA? They have
learned how think and come up with solutions for spacecraft to explore
unknown parts of the solar system.
Have you ever been to Disneyland or Disney World? Do you know that
the engineers who design the rides and park layouts at Disney parks
are called "imagineers" instead of engineers? That's because they
use imagination as well as engineering skills. Don't you think that
"imagineers" probably solved math puzzles when they were in school?
Solving math puzzles gives you skill in approaching problems in an
organized way. Math puzzles have steps that you follow in coming up
with the solution. Solving math puzzles helps you solve other kinds
of problems in an organized way too. Has your family ever moved to
a different house or apartment? When you move you need to organize
all your belongings and pack them in the right steps.
Working with math puzzles trains you to analyze the choices you can
make in coming up with a solution. Have you ever played the game of
Nim? This math game requires strategy. You need to plan ahead what
your next step will be. If you don't plan ahead, you can lose the
game. That's a lot like life in the real world. You need a plan and
a strategy for how you will finish college or learn a career. You
need to plan a financial strategy to buy a house or raise a family.
There are just so many big things to plan for when you are an adult.
You may be thinking that you're just a kid and you like to solve
math puzzles or play a complicated game like chess. You are just having
fun with some math challenges. But, you're really stretching your
mind and developing skills that will help you more than you can imagine
when you become an adult. Some day, perhaps as early as when you are
in college, you'll be glad that your teacher made you work algebra
and math cross puzzles or made you learn how to play chess. Math games
and puzzles really help you to prepare for life in the real world
by teaching you patience, determination, creativity, and imagination
plus skills at organizing and analyzing.