KinderCalculus/Nouns & Verbs

Nouns & Verbs

Vocabulary

variables: are "blank numbers", or containers for amounts such as your age or test score. Variables are written as letters or shapes, such as

${\begin{aligned}x&={\textrm {Gwen's\ height}}\\y&={\textrm {Heather's\ age}}\\\heartsuit &={\textrm {Heather's\ older\ brother's\ age\ }}=x+3\\\square &={\textrm {Chandler's\ testscore}}\end{aligned}}$

simple nouns are numbers and variables.

verbs are operations like +, -, *, /, ^, 0--, --0, cos(), etc.

compound nouns, aka layers, are combinations of verbs and nouns, and they are usually written with parentheses or shapes.

Examples of nouns (simple and compound) are: 1, x, $\heartsuit$, x + 1, y * ( x + 1 ).

anti-verbs are minus, divide, log() and root(,)

anti-nouns are negative, reciprocal, log, and root

forward-verbs are plus, times, powers

forward-nouns are positive numbers, integers (not reciprocals), and leaves

phrases are mathematical expressions. We prefer this term for syllabic brevity.

The table below shows that most arithmetic traces back to the + verb.

symbol	verb	common names	example
−	anti-plus	minus, subtract	5 − 3 = 2
*	self-plus	times, multiply	5 * 3 = 15
/	santi-plus, short for "self-anti"	divide	15 / 3 = 5
^	self-times, or self-self-plus	power, exponential	5 ^ 3 = 125 the symbol ^ is only seen in computer programs. In math, this is written as 53 = 125
$\circ \!{\frac {\quad }{\quad }}$	left-divide, or anti-self-self-plus left (no acronyms :-)	logarithm	$\circ \!{\frac {125}{5}}=3$
${\frac {\quad }{\quad }}\!\circ$	right-divide, or anti-self-self-plus right	root	${\frac {125}{3}}\!\circ =5$

The Blead section of this book explains these verbs in detail.