lefty mathematics
March 13, 2010 3:25 AM Subscribe
my son is left handed and is finding it frustrating when doing his maths homework, because he continually needs to stop writing to lift his hand and look at the equation he is working on.
Any lefty mathy mefites with advice on how you have have learned to deal with this?
cheers
mathew
cheers
mathew
Best answer: Ask his teacher if he can write the problems on the right side of the equals sign, and put the solutions on the left. He can then work right to left, and always have the equation in sight as he goes. It shouldn't make much of a difference for maths.
posted by Sova at 4:26 AM on March 13, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Sova at 4:26 AM on March 13, 2010 [1 favorite]
Long time lefty here - I found that turning my paper to the two o'clock position worked for me - just like eccnineten said.
Do not ask for special treatment from the teacher - your son will have to find what is the best way for him to navagate in a right-handed world. This is only one of the challenges for left-handed people and the sooner he can "work out the kinks" the better off he will be.
When he is older he will appreciate just how special he is. I understand that only 10% of the world's population are lefties!
posted by pamspanda at 4:45 AM on March 13, 2010 [1 favorite]
Do not ask for special treatment from the teacher - your son will have to find what is the best way for him to navagate in a right-handed world. This is only one of the challenges for left-handed people and the sooner he can "work out the kinks" the better off he will be.
When he is older he will appreciate just how special he is. I understand that only 10% of the world's population are lefties!
posted by pamspanda at 4:45 AM on March 13, 2010 [1 favorite]
Echoing the 2 o'clock solution, which I was taught as "the belly button method" -- that is, point the lower right corner of the paper directly at your belly button (assuming that you are sitting at the desk correctly). This helped me to write with a straighter wrist and to avoid crab hand.
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:35 AM on March 13, 2010
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:35 AM on March 13, 2010
Best answer: Life time lefty here...
Ergonomists and lefty writing specialists usually discourage the 'crab hand'. I'd turn the page, as some said.
In a pressure-free environment (and I remember that school math is not among these) I'd recommend working on memorizing skills, because they anyway greatly enhance one's grasp of the matter at hand.
Seconding pamspanda in that it is better not to make too big a deal out of the problem.
Also, life isn't all that unfair. Just watch a right-hander try to cut a right-hand corner of a pan pizza crust (like I watched my mom do the other week). Agonizing!
Because some things aren't spontaneously 'right' (duh) for lefties, we're generally better at finding work-arounds. I see this as a great advantage, really.
[But I fear I just learned about one of the reasons why my math skills are so abysmal...]
posted by Namlit at 5:35 AM on March 13, 2010
Ergonomists and lefty writing specialists usually discourage the 'crab hand'. I'd turn the page, as some said.
In a pressure-free environment (and I remember that school math is not among these) I'd recommend working on memorizing skills, because they anyway greatly enhance one's grasp of the matter at hand.
Seconding pamspanda in that it is better not to make too big a deal out of the problem.
Also, life isn't all that unfair. Just watch a right-hander try to cut a right-hand corner of a pan pizza crust (like I watched my mom do the other week). Agonizing!
Because some things aren't spontaneously 'right' (duh) for lefties, we're generally better at finding work-arounds. I see this as a great advantage, really.
[But I fear I just learned about one of the reasons why my math skills are so abysmal...]
posted by Namlit at 5:35 AM on March 13, 2010
The "two-o'clock" method is just how I was taught to write everything; if he's not doing that already then it would probably help him to start. Another thing that might help him is to keep is hand below the line he's writing on. It's possible to do this comfortably as long as the lines are relatively short, so what I've taken to doing is just put each step in the solution of the equation on a new line unless it's very simple.
I don't know how neurotic your son's math teacher is. I know some of them demand very special formatting of equations. I had one that would count the entire problem wrong if, when she used a ruler to check, the equals signs weren't perfectly aligned. So what I do, having escaped the misery of primary education, might not be acceptable.
posted by vogon_poet at 5:52 AM on March 13, 2010
I don't know how neurotic your son's math teacher is. I know some of them demand very special formatting of equations. I had one that would count the entire problem wrong if, when she used a ruler to check, the equals signs weren't perfectly aligned. So what I do, having escaped the misery of primary education, might not be acceptable.
posted by vogon_poet at 5:52 AM on March 13, 2010
Seconding putting everything on a new line. I'm a righty, but I did my math all on the same line and my teachers hated it.
I also think that switching things like Sova said is a good idea. After all, the equals sign means that everything on both sides is the same. If the teacher is neurotic and always wants the solution on a certain side then that can be the last step.
My wife, who is a lefty, looked over my shoulder and said he should just deal with it. And that it makes him stop to think, which isn't a bad thing when it comes to math.
posted by theichibun at 6:01 AM on March 13, 2010 [1 favorite]
I also think that switching things like Sova said is a good idea. After all, the equals sign means that everything on both sides is the same. If the teacher is neurotic and always wants the solution on a certain side then that can be the last step.
My wife, who is a lefty, looked over my shoulder and said he should just deal with it. And that it makes him stop to think, which isn't a bad thing when it comes to math.
posted by theichibun at 6:01 AM on March 13, 2010 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Are these worksheets, and he's blocking printed text, or is he having problems reading what he is actively writing?
If it's a worksheet, it might be worth asking if he can do the problems on a separate sheet of paper.
If it's his own writing, then the two things are - break up the long lines of formula if possible, and turn the page, like everyone says. My math and chemistry homework always fell into 'blocks' of writing, not long lines across the paper.
As for turning the paper, it's a personal preference. I write with my paper anywhere between a 5 degree angle off 'up and down' to nearly 90 degrees, depending on desk, seat, type of thing I'm doing, and level of tiredness.
posted by cobaltnine at 6:29 AM on March 13, 2010
If it's a worksheet, it might be worth asking if he can do the problems on a separate sheet of paper.
If it's his own writing, then the two things are - break up the long lines of formula if possible, and turn the page, like everyone says. My math and chemistry homework always fell into 'blocks' of writing, not long lines across the paper.
As for turning the paper, it's a personal preference. I write with my paper anywhere between a 5 degree angle off 'up and down' to nearly 90 degrees, depending on desk, seat, type of thing I'm doing, and level of tiredness.
posted by cobaltnine at 6:29 AM on March 13, 2010
Best answer: I just spent five minutes trying to figure out how to describe how I write. It wasn't working, so I took a picture instead.
I handwrite a LOT and this is good for me because I can go at pretty much whichever angle feels appropriate at the moment -- I move my hand back and forth at the wrist a lot. Because my hand is below the line of what I'm writing, I can see, plus I don't get ink smeared everywhere.
posted by sugarfish at 8:03 AM on March 13, 2010
I handwrite a LOT and this is good for me because I can go at pretty much whichever angle feels appropriate at the moment -- I move my hand back and forth at the wrist a lot. Because my hand is below the line of what I'm writing, I can see, plus I don't get ink smeared everywhere.
posted by sugarfish at 8:03 AM on March 13, 2010
Best answer: Lefty math geek here. I usually didn't tilt the page much and thought lefties who wrote crab-style were crazy. Over time my pencil grip has turned the opposite direction from crab-style -- so I keep my hand almost entirely below the line I'm writing, and am aiming the pencil up at the writing. I think this evolved from teaching, since it keeps my hand out of my students' line of sight when I use a blackboard.
posted by range at 8:16 AM on March 13, 2010
posted by range at 8:16 AM on March 13, 2010
Best answer: I'm not a lefty, but one of my daughters is. To teach her how to write, many winters ago, I taught myself how to write with my left hand. Tilting the paper to 2 o'clock was the easiest way for *me* to write left handed, and that's how my daughter does it. She draws that way too, so it seems to work well.
posted by patheral at 8:24 AM on March 13, 2010
posted by patheral at 8:24 AM on March 13, 2010
I do what range does and it works out for me. I kind of write underneath a line.
I remember in elementary school having problems with smudging. I believe there are certain types of thin pencils that alleviate this issue.
posted by melodykramer at 8:48 AM on March 13, 2010
I remember in elementary school having problems with smudging. I believe there are certain types of thin pencils that alleviate this issue.
posted by melodykramer at 8:48 AM on March 13, 2010
Back when I was alive, we were disciplined if the paper was at the 2 o'clock position, so I know what he is going through. Out of curiosity, you state he is having trouble with his maths homework. If this is predominantly a problem at home, why not just make a copy of his homework page that he can refer to while he fills in his answers on the original. He can place the copy wherever it is convenient to read while working. Ask him to do a portion of his work from the original and a portion from the copy, doing two things for him. First, it will keep him able to work on the original when he is confronted with working at school. Second and, in my opinion the more important, it will exercise his ability to adapt to changing situations. This is what makes us southpaws better people later in life.
posted by Old Geezer at 9:36 AM on March 13, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Old Geezer at 9:36 AM on March 13, 2010 [1 favorite]
Best answer: nthing range & melodykramer's method
At least when I print, I write with the non-writing end of the pen pointing back towards me, instead of to my left, with all but the tip of the pen below the line. I've also learned to hold my pen about an inch or more back from the tip, which is further back than I did when I was in elementary school.
I rarely smudge what I've written, and I can't recall ever having to lift my hand.
posted by cosmic.osmo at 9:37 AM on March 13, 2010
At least when I print, I write with the non-writing end of the pen pointing back towards me, instead of to my left, with all but the tip of the pen below the line. I've also learned to hold my pen about an inch or more back from the tip, which is further back than I did when I was in elementary school.
I rarely smudge what I've written, and I can't recall ever having to lift my hand.
posted by cosmic.osmo at 9:37 AM on March 13, 2010
Best answer: Lefty physics grad student. I second the 2 o'clock solution, though I don't use it myself. I've managed to write everything keeping my wrist below and moving frequently the hand down to see what I've written. This is particularly useful if you write on the blackboard.
He definetly should try all these solutions and decide what he prefers. Be careful: what he decides may not feel natural at first (it's a new habit to learn).
posted by volpe at 9:46 AM on March 13, 2010
He definetly should try all these solutions and decide what he prefers. Be careful: what he decides may not feel natural at first (it's a new habit to learn).
posted by volpe at 9:46 AM on March 13, 2010
left handed but I can't say that I've encountered much of anything in this thread.
black palm sure, but that's about it.
Do right handed people seriously read what they've written as they write the next letter/number? I have a hard time believing that. Writing an equation should be much like writing a sentence, no? You have a though in your head, you put it on paper. If you're not sure about it you stop, take a step back and correct if need be.
The only lefty-ism I ever had was writing on the backside of my looseleaf - no one wants to see what my handwriting looks like when draping my arm over the rings in a binder.
posted by mce at 12:01 PM on March 13, 2010
black palm sure, but that's about it.
Do right handed people seriously read what they've written as they write the next letter/number? I have a hard time believing that. Writing an equation should be much like writing a sentence, no? You have a though in your head, you put it on paper. If you're not sure about it you stop, take a step back and correct if need be.
The only lefty-ism I ever had was writing on the backside of my looseleaf - no one wants to see what my handwriting looks like when draping my arm over the rings in a binder.
posted by mce at 12:01 PM on March 13, 2010
New lines! It cannot be stated enough. If he's writing more than he can easily (easily) hold in working memory on one line, it's way too much.
I always put each little piece on a new line, and skip a line between the ones I write on.
Also, getting a graph paper notebook and flipping it upside down so that you can write up to the spiral is really helpful. Alternatively, one that's bound at the top is useful too, but they're more of a pain to find.
posted by solipsophistocracy at 2:06 PM on March 13, 2010
I always put each little piece on a new line, and skip a line between the ones I write on.
Also, getting a graph paper notebook and flipping it upside down so that you can write up to the spiral is really helpful. Alternatively, one that's bound at the top is useful too, but they're more of a pain to find.
posted by solipsophistocracy at 2:06 PM on March 13, 2010
hmm. Never had this problem with equations, or never noticed it. I do all work below the equation- it makes it much easier to simplify, anyway.
posted by oneirodynia at 3:24 PM on March 13, 2010
posted by oneirodynia at 3:24 PM on March 13, 2010
Best answer: Lefty mathsy (soon to be teacher) here:
has he considered/tried writting the equation from the right to left?
It's still the way I think about numbers and operators (summations, functions etc.). Just leave a margin for the teacher comments/equation referencing.
posted by 92_elements at 3:46 PM on March 13, 2010
has he considered/tried writting the equation from the right to left?
It's still the way I think about numbers and operators (summations, functions etc.). Just leave a margin for the teacher comments/equation referencing.
posted by 92_elements at 3:46 PM on March 13, 2010
Best answer: Learn Hebrew.
Joking aside, I understand the 2 o'clock idea, but I tend to turn my paper 90 degrees, and write from top to bottom, with my hand pointing straight up and down, the way a righty would write. Believe it or not, it takes very little time to acclimate to this style of writing, and your handwriting looks unique and really cool.
(My poor grandmother was a Jewish, redheaded lefty. She was completely ostracized at school, and her teachers tied her left arm to her body to force her to write right-handed. She never learned to write well with either hand. Sinister, indeed.)
posted by tzikeh at 4:01 PM on March 13, 2010
Joking aside, I understand the 2 o'clock idea, but I tend to turn my paper 90 degrees, and write from top to bottom, with my hand pointing straight up and down, the way a righty would write. Believe it or not, it takes very little time to acclimate to this style of writing, and your handwriting looks unique and really cool.
(My poor grandmother was a Jewish, redheaded lefty. She was completely ostracized at school, and her teachers tied her left arm to her body to force her to write right-handed. She never learned to write well with either hand. Sinister, indeed.)
posted by tzikeh at 4:01 PM on March 13, 2010
Response by poster: thank you for all the suggestions,
My son is a teenager who has just moved from a terrible high school to pretty decent one, and is struggling a bit to catch up with all the maths that the other kids already know.
At his former school, pretty much all writing was done on computer, they rarely had tests, maths always seemed to be on worksheets, and they always had class handouts which meant they didn't take notes in class. I'm not critical of his former school for using computers, but it did mean that he rarely wrote anything by hand. Whatever the future holds for handwriting, my son needs it now and has discovered he's not very good at it.
In addition, he writes crab style, and his hand covers not just the current line but previous lines as well. When working on algebra, which he is finding quite difficult to keep in his head, he can't get into a flow because he has to lift his hand to move between considering the problem and writing the next part of the answer.
I'm a rightie, but i also write with my hand below the line, I suggested last night that he try it, he was dubious, tagging my suggestion as misguided rightie thinking. He did attempt it, as you can imagine initial handwriting results were discouraging.
Working in my son's favor is his fascination with 'olden days stuff' and he is very keen to learn to write with a quill and ink, or at least a fountain pen. So if I were to suggest to him that writing from below the line might help him learn to write with out smudging the wet ink, I think could count on a concerted burst of intense effort going into learning to write that way.
I've marked a few answers best.
I've tried to tick everyone who was the first to make a particular suggestion
thanks
mathew
posted by compound eye at 4:52 PM on March 13, 2010
My son is a teenager who has just moved from a terrible high school to pretty decent one, and is struggling a bit to catch up with all the maths that the other kids already know.
At his former school, pretty much all writing was done on computer, they rarely had tests, maths always seemed to be on worksheets, and they always had class handouts which meant they didn't take notes in class. I'm not critical of his former school for using computers, but it did mean that he rarely wrote anything by hand. Whatever the future holds for handwriting, my son needs it now and has discovered he's not very good at it.
In addition, he writes crab style, and his hand covers not just the current line but previous lines as well. When working on algebra, which he is finding quite difficult to keep in his head, he can't get into a flow because he has to lift his hand to move between considering the problem and writing the next part of the answer.
I'm a rightie, but i also write with my hand below the line, I suggested last night that he try it, he was dubious, tagging my suggestion as misguided rightie thinking. He did attempt it, as you can imagine initial handwriting results were discouraging.
Working in my son's favor is his fascination with 'olden days stuff' and he is very keen to learn to write with a quill and ink, or at least a fountain pen. So if I were to suggest to him that writing from below the line might help him learn to write with out smudging the wet ink, I think could count on a concerted burst of intense effort going into learning to write that way.
I've marked a few answers best.
I've tried to tick everyone who was the first to make a particular suggestion
thanks
mathew
posted by compound eye at 4:52 PM on March 13, 2010
Another good lefty tip is to put a small square of paper under the palm/side of your hand whilst writing. This way, you avoid smearing the heck out of whatever you just wrote (I know this isn't math specific, but it definitely helps me when I'm doing math to not make the work I just wrote completely illegible).
posted by solipsophistocracy at 5:27 PM on March 13, 2010
posted by solipsophistocracy at 5:27 PM on March 13, 2010
Best answer: Have you seen Dexter Kozen's method? Last paper on this page:
http://www.cs.cornell.edu/~kozen/papers/papers_collapsed.htm
posted by at at 5:31 AM on March 15, 2010
http://www.cs.cornell.edu/~kozen/papers/papers_collapsed.htm
posted by at at 5:31 AM on March 15, 2010
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posted by eccnineten at 4:08 AM on March 13, 2010 [1 favorite]