New Math

Song Info:
New Math Was Released In 1965 And Was Featured On The Album "That Was The Year That Was"

Lyrics:
You can't take three from two Two is less than three So you look at the four in the tens place Now that's really four tens So you make it three tens Regroup, and you change a ten to ten ones And you add 'em to the two and get twelve And you take away three, that's nine Is that clear?

Now instead of four in the tens place You've got three Cause you added one That is to say, ten, to the two But you can't take seven from three So you look in the hundreds place

From the three you then use one To make ten ones (And you know why four plus minus one Plus ten is fourteen minus one? Cause addition is commutative, right!) And so you've got thirteen tens And you take away seven And that leaves five

Well, six actually But the idea is the important thing!

Now go back to the hundreds place You're left with two And you take away one from two And that leaves. . .?

Everybody get one? Not bad for the first day!

Hooray for New Math New-hoo-hoo Math It won't do you a bit of good to review Math It's so simple So very simple That only a child can do it!

Now, that actually is not the answer that I had in mind, because the Book that I got this problem out of wants you to do it in base Eight. But don't panic! Base eight is just like base ten really - If you're missing two fingers! Shall we have a go at it? Hang on

You can't take three from two Two is less than three So you look at the four in the eights place Now that's really four eights So you make it three eights Regroup, and you change an eight to eight ones And you add 'em to the two And you get one-two base eight Which is ten base ten And you take away three, that's seven Ok?

Now instead of four in the eights place You've got three Cause you added one That is to say, eight, to the two But you can't take seven from three So you look at the sixty-fours

Sixty-four? "How did sixty-four get into it?" I hear you cry! Well, sixty-four is eight squared, don't you see? (Well, ya ask a Silly question, ya get a silly answer!)

From the three, you then use one To make eight ones You add those ones to the three And you get one-three base eight Or, in other words In base ten you have eleven And you take away seven And seven from eleven is four! Now go back to the sixty-fours You're left with two And you take away one from two And that leaves. . .?

Now, let's not always see the same hands! One, that's right Whoever got one can stay after the show and clean the erasers

Hooray for New Math New-hoo-hoo Math! It won't do you a bit of good to review Math It's so simple So very simple That only a child can do it!

Come back tomorrow night; we're gonna do fractions! Y'know, I've often thought I'd like to write a mathematics textbook someday because I have a title that I know will sell a million copies; I'm gonna call it "Tropic of Calculus"