Looking though some of my old files (they were on 3 1/2 inch floppies…that’s how old they were!), I found a project that I had to do for one of my math education classes in college.  It’s a document called “Why Questions” and it outlines some “Math Magic – that’s just the way it is” questions people have about math, and their mathematical answers.  I had focused on Fractions in my project, because I was an over-zealous sophomore that wanted the world to be able to understand mathematics and love it like I do.

If you are wondering the answers to any of the following questions, let me know and I’ll e-mail you the document.  It’s pretty interesting, with graphics and everything.  It must’ve taken me a while to make, I guess.

• Why can’t you divide by zero?
• Why can we invert and multiply when we divide fractions?
• Why do we get common denominators when we add/subtract fractions, but not when we multiply/divide them?
• Why is the product of a negative and a positive equal to a positive?
• Why is the product of two negatives equal to a positive?
• Why can we move the decimal point when we divide decimals?
• Why do we count the number of decimal points in the numbers being multiplied to decide how many decimal points are in the product?