We split an hour into 60 minutes and a minute into 60 seconds because the ancient Babylonians counted in groups of 60, thousands of years ago.
Source: The British Museum
A little wonder for every month
The set above changes automatically each month. Here is the whole year, so you can peek ahead or pick a favourite to talk about tonight.
January
Maths
The equals sign “=” was invented by a Welsh mathematician, Robert Recorde, in 1557. He was simply tired of writing out “is equal to” every time.
Try this: Ask your child to invent their own symbol for a word they write a lot.
Source: The British Library
February
Maths
There are more ways to shuffle a pack of 52 cards than there are atoms making up the Earth. Every well-shuffled deck is almost certainly an order that has never existed before.
Try this: Shuffle a deck together and marvel that no one in history has likely held that exact order.
Source: Royal Institution
March
Maths
The number pi (π) begins 3.14159 and never stops or repeats. It has been worked out to trillions of digits. Pi Day is celebrated on 14 March (3/14).
Source: NASA
April
Maths
Honeybees build their honeycomb in hexagons because a hexagon holds the most honey using the least wax. It is a maths problem that bees “solve” by instinct.
Source: Royal Institution
May
Maths
A “googol” is the number 1 followed by 100 zeros. It was named by a nine-year-old, and the company Google is named after it.
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica
June
Maths
The Fibonacci sequence (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13...) shows up in nature, in the spirals of sunflowers, pine cones and pineapples.
Try this: Count the spirals on a pine cone in both directions.
Source: Royal Institution
July
Maths
When you multiply any whole number by 9, the digits of the answer add up to 9 (or a multiple of it). For example, 9 × 7 = 63, and 6 + 3 = 9.
Try this: Test it together on the whole 9 times table.
Source: Royal Institution
August
Maths
We split an hour into 60 minutes and a minute into 60 seconds because the ancient Babylonians counted in groups of 60, thousands of years ago.
Source: The British Museum
September
Maths
Roman numerals have no symbol for zero. The idea of zero as a number came later, from mathematicians in ancient India.
Source: The British Museum
October
Maths
A number that reads the same forwards and backwards is called a palindrome, like 12321. Some dates are palindromes too.
Try this: Find a palindrome number plate on your next walk.
Source: Royal Institution
November
Maths
The three angles inside any triangle always add up to exactly 180 degrees, no matter what shape the triangle is.
Try this: Tear the three corners off a paper triangle and line them up: they make a straight line.
Source: Royal Institution
December
Maths
A single sheet of paper folded in half just 42 times would, in theory, be thick enough to reach the Moon, because the thickness doubles every fold.
Source: Royal Institution