Those concerned about new-fangled math instruction should be aware that new math isn’t so new. Here’s a classic Tom Lehrer song on the topic — from 1965!
Jay P. Greene's Blog
With Help From Some Friends
Those concerned about new-fangled math instruction should be aware that new math isn’t so new. Here’s a classic Tom Lehrer song on the topic — from 1965!
Jay P. Greene's Blog 
1) This is how I learned math…I didn’t know there was any other way.
2) He got different numbers in his math problem.
3) What is base 8.
4) Yes I started my formative learning years in California.
I grew up on this stuff; my mom is a huge Tom Lehrer fan.
To answer your question: base 8 is just like base 10, if you’re missing two fingers. 🙂
Patrick–maybe this schoolhouse rock song/cartoon will help. I never could understand why this song dealt with base 12, it is simply in the shoolhouse math series–I think there is a song for every number 0-12, but none of the other ones get into bases. It is also one of the coolest tunes in the schoolhouse rock series.
The new Bond girl was born with 12 fingers, does that mean she gets to do base 12?
Did everyone know that 6 fingered hands are the dominant gene? 🙂
new math = teaching algebra to 1st graders with the unfortunates side effect that the teachers don’t understand it so that they give the students credit for wrong answers 🙂