From Fractions To Exponents: How Mathematics Teaches Us Kindness

Stories of kindness always make people happy and inspire hope amongst humanity. Irrespective of age, gender, political differences, or race these acts of kindness bloom in different ways across the world. For some these acts are attributed to the values that parents, teachers, and friends ingrain in individuals, however more recent research also states that kindness is learnt while learning mathematics.

While the claim may seem baffling, there is a logical explanation for it. And the explanation lies in comparing the process of learning fractions a decade ago vis-à-vis how it is learnt today. A decade ago, children were taught about numerators and denominators and least common multiples. But today, with teaching techniques constantly evolving, fractions are taught in such a way that you learn other things as well, and this can be understood by taking a glimpse into an easy math problem – You are given 3\4th of a cake, while your friend receives 1\4th of the cake. How much cake will you give your friend to ensure you have equal portions? If you said you will have to give 1\4th of your slice, well done! You got the math. However, the problem also teaches you the wonders of sharing.

While mathematics does not directly explain the relationship between fractions and sharing, there is a subtle message that a child always picks up.

Kindness and adults

For adults, kindness is a more complex mathematical equation compared to fractions. This can be explained through observing the link between exponents and the acts of kindness that are being seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The pandemic, no doubt, has affected the entire country directly or indirectly. However, a WhatsApp forward or a retweet calling for help is how a message can be sent exponentially. Person A is in need of oxygen and puts out an SOS on Twitter. The message is retweeted by a follower, who has 1,000 followers. Of these 1,000 followers, one person with a million followers retweets it, and the message spreads far and wide, and within the next few hours, Person A has a tank of oxygen at home and is able to ensure that their loved one is safe.

While this has been the norm during the second wave, it also explains how it is exponentially possible to spread kindness - even if it is to help a random stranger.  The beauty is that there are no expectations either. 

Can kindness be taught?

Interestingly, people are also using the way they teach mathematics to teach kindness to children. Australian Kath Koschel, who established the Kindness Factory in 2015 to make the world a kinder place, in a blog titled ‘Why we should teach kindness like we teach maths’, said, "The Kindness Curriculum not only intends to seamlessly exist alongside the current Australian Curriculum, it seeks to play as much of a role in children’s development as other key educational subjects, like maths.”

Koschel has in fact developed a curriculum that is intended for K-10 audiences. If that curriculum could also explain mathematical concepts, then we have an absolute winner.

Teaching more than kindness

Besides kindness, math problems teach a series of values that make better people. It teaches one how to be thrifty when the going is tough through lessons in budgeting, profit and loss, as well as simple and compound interest. It teaches one how to be resourceful by finding the best routes while travelling, showing us the time taken from Point A to Point B.

If both, parents and teachers, explain the concept of kindness and other values using mathematical examples, it will teach the child both empathy and logical reasoning, thereby training them to be resourceful and empathetic individuals. A combination of both makes the ideal problem solver.

Manan Khurma

Guest Author The author is the Founder and Chairman of Cuemath