Fri, Sep 29, 1995
Who is Eddie, and how were his files born? It's the first week of school in math teacher Kay Toliver's class. The assignment: find out about jobs that people have and how they use math. Eddie's father happens to give him a camera and Vincent, the local photo shop owner, takes Eddie under his wing. Eddie takes his camera along as he tackles his math assignment, and his files "take off." Along the way he meets a judge, a dancer, a restaurant owner, a telephone technician, a sunglasses designer and a TV director. He also consults his Aunt Rosa. Eddie's work brings glowing praise from "Miss T," and a real awareness that math is everywhere.
Fri, Sep 29, 1995
Sometimes you just have to estimate, as Eddie learns in an episode that starts out with Miss Toliver appearing as an Egyptian queen and ends up with a pretty good guess as to the dog population of New York City. The "queen," it turns out, needs to find out how many cat biscuits she has in a large bin, and the only way to find out is to estimate. At the end of this class assignment, Eddie is given the task of coming up with the number of dogs in New York City. With advice from photo shop owner, Vincent, and from his friend Johnny, a bike messenger, Eddie gets to work. He gets some tips from professionals who use estimation: a veterinarian, a bug farmer, and a bat expert. With all this in mind, and after some amusing experiences, Eddie discovers how to make a smart guess.
Fri, Sep 29, 1995
After Miss T talks about polygons in class, Eddie starts seeing them in everything he looks at---the blackboard, notebooks, windows, the clock----and even in some humorously scary daydreams. As he explores the subject, construction workers, an inventor, an engineer and an architect demonstrate the ways polygons are used to create everything from skyscrapers to collapsible spheres.
Fri, Sep 29, 1995
Kay Toliver's story about the history of pizza sends Eddie on a trail that leads to Sal's pizzeria, where the self-proclaimed best pizza maker in the world reveals a trade secret. In the kitchen of executive chef, Dennis Burrage, and the studio of renowned percussionist, Ndugu Chancler, Eddie discovers surprising things about fractions. Eddie's growing fascination with photography gets the attention of pros at the photo shop, and top sports photographer Tracey Frankel explains how understanding fractions can improve his picture taking.