Chapter 11: Grandmother's Quilt

Imagine your grandmother is stitching a quilt out of small square patches. She has 12 patches. How can she arrange them into a neat rectangle? In a row of 12. In two rows of 6. In three rows of 4. Each arrangement teaches us something about the number 12 , its factors.

In this chapter we explore numbers through their building blocks. Factors, multiples, and the neat rectangles they make. By the end you will see numbers as having "shapes" , some are flat, some tall, some perfectly square.

What's inside

• Factors , numbers that divide a number exactly.
• Multiples , what we get when we multiply.
• Common factors and common multiples.
• Even, odd, prime numbers , small and friendly.

How to read this chapter

Read in order. Get a handful of counters (beads, stones, buttons) ready. You will arrange them into rectangles to discover factors. This is the most fun way to learn the topic.