Catherine D'Aguiar's Math For All

10/08/2026

Comparing to wintertime, I practically increased my step count tenfold.

So, does that mean walking more is the reason I lost weight?

Not necessarily.

There’s a difference between correlation and causation.

Two things can happen at the same time without one necessarily causing the other.

There are many factors that can affect weight, including food intake, activity, sleep, stress, and more.

Just because two things are connected doesn’t automatically mean one caused the other. Although, I have a feeling it still helped.

Want to build your math skills one concept at a time?

Start with my free 5-Day Math Series.

Five days.

One short lesson each day.

A small step toward stronger math foundations.

👉 https://mathforall.fun/5-day-series

10/07/2026

If only there was a solution for this? 🤔
https://mathforall.fun

Professors at UC Berkeley have been raising concerns about students arriving on campus without the mathematical foundations expected for college-level work.

And some of the gaps aren't small.

Faculty have described students struggling with material normally learned years earlier, including fractions and basic algebra. Berkeley has even introduced additional foundational math instruction to help students who aren't ready for the courses their college education requires.

But this raises a much bigger question about what happens BEFORE college.

How does a student move through middle school and high school, earn passing grades, graduate, and gain admission to a highly selective university while still carrying significant gaps in fundamental math?

At some point, we have to ask whether moving students forward is being confused with actually preparing them to move forward.

Grades should mean something.

A diploma should mean something.

Completing a course should mean a student has demonstrated a reasonable understanding of what that course was supposed to teach.

Because when gaps are repeatedly carried into the next grade, they don't disappear.

They compound.

And eventually, someone has to confront them.

This isn't about blaming students or individual teachers. There are serious questions about pandemic learning loss, grading practices, curriculum, attendance, technology, academic integrity, support at home, and whether schools have enough freedom and resources to intervene when students fall behind.

But whatever the causes, universities shouldn't be the first place we discover that a student never mastered the fundamentals.

Something has gone seriously wrong when students can reach college before anyone addresses gaps in basic math.

If students can progress all the way from middle school to college without mastering basic math, where is the system failing to catch them, and why is it happening?

10/07/2026

My scale is telling me that my body fat percentage fluctuated wildly, anywhere between 21% and 31%, over the course of a month.

Does that mean my body fat is actually continuously changing drastically in a month?

Probably not. 😂

It’s a reminder that we can’t always take every number we’re given at face value. We need to understand where the data came from, how reliable it is, and what other information might be missing.

And the same thing happens in math.

Sometimes a problem gives you a lot of information, but it’s not enough to answer the question.

You might need to:

🔹 Ask your teacher for more information
🔹 Look carefully at the diagram
🔹 Figure out what information is missing
🔹 Question whether the information you have is actually relevant

Good math isn’t just about plugging numbers into a formula.

It’s about understanding the information you have and recognizing when you don’t have enough.

Want to build those foundational math skills?

Start with my free 5-Day Math Series.

Five days.
One short lesson each day.
One small goal at a time.

https://mathforall.fun/5-day-series/

10/06/2026

Statistics isn’t just something you learn in math class. It’s something we use to understand real life.

Here’s a recent example from my own life:

Over the past 3 months, I’ve lost 8 lbs. 🎉

But what does that number actually tell us?

The overall average can tell us one thing, while the numbers week to week might tell us something very different.

This is where statistics become interesting. A single number doesn’t tell the whole story. We can look at averages, changes over time, trends, percentages and variability to better understand what the numbers are actually telling us.

That’s the kind of thinking I want students to develop through my Math Fundamentals Course.

Not just how to calculate an answer, but how to understand what the numbers mean.

Want to see how I teach grade 9 students?
Try my free 5-Day Math Series, with a short math lesson each day:

👉 https://mathforall.fun/5-day-series/

10/05/2026

Sometimes you don’t know you can reach a goal until you look at the numbers.

At the beginning of September, walking an average of 10,000 steps a day for the entire month wasn’t a goal I had set for myself.

But as the month went on, I noticed something.

It was achievable.

So I started paying a little more attention.

And I did. 🎉 With a little help from Melanie Duettchen Hagn's Fierce In 5.

You don’t have to work on every goal at once. Pick one. Work on it. See what the numbers tell you. Then choose your next goal.

Statistics can help us see patterns, measure progress and make decisions based on information rather than guesses.

And that’s why I love teaching students how math connects to everyday life.

Have a child in Grade 9?

Let them try my free 5-Day Math Series.
Five days.
One small goal.

Let’s see what they can accomplish, one step at a time.

👉 https://mathforall.fun/5-day-series/

10/03/2026

This is a great representation of the vertex form of a parabola.

10/03/2026

I once joked with a friend, we become masters of what we can tolerate. For instance, I don’t tolerate sewing machines.

10/02/2026

🗺️ Tip #5: Old-School Skills Worth Keeping Alive

I love GPS.
I use it all the time.

Especially when there's traffic and I need to find another route!

But I still think there's value in knowing how to read a map.

Reading a map helps children develop an understanding of:
🗺️ Distance�
🗺️ Direction�
🗺️ Location�
🗺️ Routes�
🗺️ Spatial relationships

Instead of simply following a blue line on a screen, they have to create a mental picture of where places are and how they connect.

They can also practise thinking ahead:
"Which route should we take?"
"How far is it?"
"Are there other ways to get there?"

GPS makes getting somewhere easier.

But knowing how to read a map helps children understand where they are and where they're going.

And that's a skill worth keeping alive.

Want to learn about the other old-school skills worth keeping alive?

Read the full blog post: https://mathforall.fun/the-old-school-skills-worth-keeping-alive/

10/01/2026

📖 Tip #4: Old-School Skills Worth Keeping Alive

Remember when looking something up actually took some work?
You opened an encyclopedia.
You searched through pages.
You looked up unfamiliar words in a dictionary.
You had to decide which information was useful.

Today, we can type a question into Google or ask AI and have an answer in seconds.

And that's an incredible convenience.

But there's value in making children do some of the searching themselves.

When they have to find, read, compare, and evaluate information, they're practising:
📖 Reading comprehension�
🔎 Research skills�
🧠 Critical thinking�
🎯 Attention�
🗂️ Organization

The answer is important.
But sometimes the process of finding the answer is where the real learning happens.

Want to learn about the other old-school skills worth keeping alive?

Read the full blog post: https://mathforall.fun/the-old-school-skills-worth-keeping-alive/