Scott got a little nutty one evening and wanted to figure out the possibility of ever getting a duplicate worksheet. So he crunched some numbers.

He crunched the numbers for our popular worksheet entitled Telling Time. It has 9 problems on the page. He included only these selection options:

• What time is it?
• Draw the hands on the clock.

• 1 minute increments.

Speaking in round numbers, there are 9.89 x 10²⁵ different worksheets that could be generated. That is a 9 followed by 25 zeroes, or 98,900,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 different worksheets.

If you’re interested in the math behind that figure, I can give you the details. There are 720 minutes on a 12-hour clock. So there are 720 possibilities for the first problem. Since duplicate problems are removed by the software, we have 719 possibilities for the second problem. Then 718 possibilities for the third problem. Continue that for 9 problems. Then multiply that by 2 for the options of ‘What time is it?’ vs. ‘Draw the hands on the clocks.’ That gives us:

720 x 719 x 718 x 717 x 716 x 715 x 714 x 713 x 712 x 2 =

(I’m thankful for calculators!)

98,905,804,935,121,008,618,393,600 different worksheets.

Just for Telling Time.

Another popular worksheet is Multiplication: Single-Digit, Vertical. If you only select one factor on the left (say, a 7) and you leave 0-9 selected on the right (so the student is practicing “the sevens”), there are 1.216 x 10¹⁷ or 121,645,100,408,832,000 different worksheets that could be generated just with “the sevens.”

The odds of you ever seeing a duplicate worksheet?

I’d say they’re pretty small.

–Denise

It’s time to grow our business to the next level. Word-of-mouth has been spreading news of our product fairly well, but it’s time to open a sales rep program.

Who are we?

We are The Math Worksheet Site, which is both a web site that is the brainchild of Scott Bryce, and also the name of the company co-owned by Scott and Denise Bryce. The Math Worksheet Site began as a hobby more than 9 years ago and became a business in March of 2004.

What is The Math Worksheet Site?

With The Math Worksheet Site you can create an endless supply of printable math worksheets. The intuitive interface gives you the ability to easily customize each worksheet to target your student’s specific needs. Every worksheet is created when you request it, so they are different every time. The Math Worksheet Site is not a collection of worksheets. It is a web site that creates the worksheets you want when you want them according to the criteria you specify.

This way you can add the drill that your student needs to a curriculum you already like, or you can be freed from the constraints of a workbook or textbook that gives either too much or too little practice if you’d rather direct the studies yourself.

How does the sales rep program work?

This sales rep program is for specifically targeting schools, both public and private. Reps work within geographic territories. Territories will be expanded for enthusiastic and productive salespeople. We pay on a straight commission basis. Salespeople get credit for a sale if all three of these conditions occur: 1) the salesperson did a demonstration (even if over the phone), 2) the school is in their territory and 3) the school subscribes to our service. Therefore if the salesperson didn’t actually close the sale, but instead a school signed up later online, the salesperson will still get the credit. (The worker is worthy of his wages.)

What has been the sales experience thus far?

The Math Worksheet Site is “priced to sell” as the lingo says. After people learn just how robust and flexible our service is, when they learn our price, they usually say, “That’s nothing!” I spent a couple of months selling specifically to schools in my area. I first got a recommendation from a district math department head and his name opened many doors. Then I found that when I was able to demonstrate the product to the principal and/or teachers, I had 93% success in closing a sale (specifically, 14 out of 15 schools) Those are really good numbers in the world of sales!

Is training provided?

Yes, training is provided, usually via telephone.

Do I need to be a real computer geek to sell The Math Worksheet Site?

No. We believe in simplicity. The site is simple to navigate, simple to use and simple to demonstrate. You do need to be quite familiar with the site, in order to answer questions about specific topics covered, “Is such-and-such on the site?”

Do I have to be a math whiz to sell The Math Worksheet Site?

You need to have enough mathematics knowledge to be conversant about the topics covered on the site. Since most topics covered on the site are taught in K-8, the primary market will be elementary schools. You don’t need to be a math major or be able to do calculus. You should be comfortable discussing K-6 level math with elementary school teachers and principals, and not be totally lost if a basic algebra topic is mentioned.

Can the reps earn residual income?

Yes. If the rep contacts the school within 90 days preceding the renewal date, the rep earns credit for the subscription renewal.

Who can qualify to be a sales rep for The Math Worksheet Site?

Because the rep program itself is still in the building process, character, integrity, and good communication skills are more important to us than actual sales experience. We need quick and honest feedback from the reps when we contemplate policy or paperwork changes. And we welcome suggestions also, especially if they’re tactfully phrased.

If you’d like more information about becoming a sales rep for The Math Worksheet Site, please contact me via e-mail at:
Denise (at) TheMathWorksheetSite (dot) com (change the obvious).

–Denise

As I look at the user logs, I notice that some people are logging in to The Math Worksheet Site multiple times within 5 minutes. I’m guessing that they’re logging in for each worksheet they want. That isn’t necessary.

A user stays logged in for up to 20 minutes of inactivity. This means that after seeing a new worksheet you can click the “Back” button on your browser to go back to the selection page and subscribers area home page to select and create another worksheet. Each time you move around the site, the cookie on your computer is re-set for 20 minutes. You do not need to log in for each worksheet you want.

Just log in once, and you’re IN for 20 minutes after the last time you moved around the site.

I hope this information streamlines your use of The Math Worksheet Site.

–Denise

Observant subscribers may have noticed that some of our worksheets are now available in French! As of this writing, 41 types of worksheets in the subscribers area are translated and re-programmed to include French as an option for you.

My goal is to make all the English on the Number Problems student worksheets “turn into” French when you select French as the language. (Translating and re-programming the Story Problem worksheets is an entirely different project.) So on worksheets where the only English is the Name and Date line, the French version will show simply Nom and Date. (Date is spelled the same in both French and English, however the French pronunciation is closer to “dat.”)

Our translator, Jane, is a bi-lingual Canadian subscriber whose daughter attends a French school. Jane uses our worksheets to supplement the math practice her daughter receives at school. Jane wanted to be consistent with the school in using French for all her daughter’s academic instruction. So she volunteered to supply us with translations, assured me that she’d ask her husband–a native French Canadian–to double-check all her translations, I got really excited about it, and we’re on our way!

To toss in a personal note, my children enjoy choosing Spanish or French for their math worksheets, even though they’re not ‘officially’ studying either language. In fact, they prefer their worksheets in Spanish or French instead of English! A small acquaintance or exposure to other languages is certainly good for them, and this is a very easy way to give them such an exposure.

For subscribers who are teaching students in French, others who are teaching their students to speak French, or those like myself who would like their students to at least have some exposure to French, I trust you’ll find the new French language option useful.

–Denise

The Math Worksheet Site saves time, both for the parent and the child. Our children have spent a lot less time at their desks with math in the younger years than they would have spent with a textbook, because with the flexibility of The Math Worksheet Site, when they’ve mastered a concept, they can move on immediately. Or if they’ve reached a development plateau, we can let them take a break from math and let them mature a little more. Then they can pick up where they left off and it will be easier to continue.

My third daughter, Anna, thought that doing her daddy’s worksheets was fun at age 6 or so. But she really didn’t do anything of substance with paper-and-pencil math until she was 7. In August of what could have been called her “second grade” year, I taught her how to add with carrying. Comparing her to the school system, one might have thought she was “behind.”

In October of that same year, she asked me to teach her how to subtract with borrowing (or regrouping). She continued to select, print and complete more worksheets, even if I didn’t get them corrected and returned to her in a timely manner. The layout of The Math Worksheet Site made it obvious to her how to increase the difficulty level just a little, and she did so when she felt the worksheets were becoming too easy.

In January of her “second grade” year, I rather awoke to the fact that she was figuring out the multiplication tables by herself. If compared to her schooled peers, one would then have decided that she was “ahead.”

By February, she reached some sort of burn-out or perhaps a need for some more growth and development. She set math aside for what turned out to be about a year.

When she picked it up again, she quickly finished up the multiplication tables. She had accomplished in about 8 months of effort what classroom-schooled children do in 3 years.

Of course our ultimate goal is for the children to master the material. If they can do so in fewer hours actually spent at a desk, leaving more time to build fantastic Lego creations and watch birds build nests, I think that’s great.

I’m very pleased with the flexibility of The Math Worksheet Site to save time for the children.

–Denise

One of the key benefits of The Math Worksheet Site’s worksheets is that they’re freshly generated every time. One type of worksheet, Number Recognition, chooses the artwork from a pool of possibilities every time you click “Create It.”

However, our daughter, Joy, then 3 years old, didn’t want just any piece of art. If she wanted puppies, she definitely wanted puppies. Sometimes she wanted apples. So Scott would click “Create It” a dozen or so times until our daughter finally got the one she wanted.

Repeatedly clicking “Create It” got tiresome! So he made a “back door” of sorts to specify the illustration he wanted.

For our subscribers who work with young children with definite preferences, I would like to share the “back door” with you.

Log in to The Math Worksheet Site and go to Number Recognition. Choose your selections and click “Create It.” If you did not happen to get the illustration you wanted, put your cursor at the end of that long URL and type a semicolon, the letter p, and an equal sign, thus:

;p=

then the name of the illustration, and hit the “Enter” key. It will give you a new worksheet that includes the artwork you specified.

For example, if you want apples, type:

;p=apple

then click “Enter” and you will be given a worksheet with as many apples as the number you selected.

Here are the options:

(If you wonder why you haven’t seen the worm before, he’s new. He was added tonight. Isn’t he cute?)

(Later update: The tortoise was drawn by my daughter, Anna, and added on July 31 of 2006. The tortoise’s story is entitled “New Tortoise Artwork.”)

I hope this insider’s trick makes life a little easier for you while working with the opinionated children in your life.

–Denise

I would really love to hear some feedback from you.

Sometimes Scott will develop a new type of worksheet, but for some reason it doesn’t quite work. He has several partially completed worksheets that he hopes to finish.

We currently have two types of worksheets that are very near completion, and we would love some input from people who might use them.

One is posted here: Put the Numbers In Order. Make some selections and click “Create It.” The worksheet technically “works,” but it seems flat. Are we finished with it? Is there more that should be done with it? In which category does it belong? Counting? Greater Than/Less Than? Something else?

The other is posted here: Function Tables. Does the selection page make sense? What should the instructions say on the worksheet? The instructions will be vary depending what is selected. How can we make it clear to the student what he is supposed to do with this worksheet?

As soon as we get some good answers to these questions, these two types of worksheets will be added to The Math Worksheet Site. I look forward to hearing your suggestions. Thanks!

–Denise

Update

We received good input, finished Function Tables and added it to the subscribers area. Now you need to be a subscriber and logged in in order to access the Function Tables worksheets.

We’re still interested in more input about the other type of worksheet, Put the Numbers In Order. Constructive criticism, loud accolades, or something in between… I’m interested in your thoughts.

Some of the types of worksheets on The Math Worksheet Site have stories behind them. The stories are interesting to me, so I would like to share one today, thinking that maybe you’ll like it too.

Scott had the idea for Adding Dice. It would assist children to bridge the gap between counting concrete things and the abstract concepts involved with working with numbers on paper. Also, most children play with dice, so on this worksheet they’d be working with something familiar to them.

Scott worked and worked to get the dice to look right to us. It took about two full days of work just to get good-looking dice. (Those are not just graphics that are dropped in place. There are complicated mathematical formulae involved in drawing those “simple” little dice every time they are placed on a worksheet.)

In the course of testing, Scott produces a lot of scratch paper. Try this, print. Try that, print again.

Our son Paul, then age 8, picked up an Adding Dice worksheet from the large scratch paper pile. This particular worksheet involved adding just two dice. He answered all the problems. Then he went back and erased his answers.

Paul “did” the worksheet again, but this time he wrote an ‘x’ between the dice on each problem, and gave the answer for multiplying, instead of for adding.

As I processed laundry in the laundry room, Paul brought the worksheet to me, to proudly show his recent acquisition of the skill of multiplying, as well as the way he’d changed his daddy’s worksheet. I looked at it, something “clicked” inside me, and I told him to go show his dad. He ran to do so, and two hours later Scott had taken Adding Dice and modified it to become Multiplying with Dice.

Paul now proudly calls Multiplying with Dice HIS worksheet.

–Denise

You may have noticed that a handful of types of worksheets on the subscribers side now include the option: Worksheet Instructions in Spanish. Yes, we are adding that option to all the Number Problems worksheets. After all, there is not a lot of English on the page anyway, so I thought it would be pretty easy to add Spanish as an option. Well, as with many things I propose, it turned out to be more complicated than I first thought, but we’re proceeding anyway.

I’m really excited to make Spanish instructions available. This will make the worksheets more useful to bi-lingual classes, add an interesting twist to math instruction for children who are learning Spanish, and of course, assist the math instruction of Spanish-speaking children.

The translation is being done for us by a 12 year old young lady. She’s bi-lingual, but doesn’t really appreciate that skill. Her father’s first language is Spanish, and I know how very articulate and well-spoken he is in English, so I’m confident that he’s just as articulate and well-spoken in Spanish, even if I don’t have the skill to verify that for myself. So the young lady is doing the translation, her parents are checking her work, and we’re getting an excellent translation.

I’m really excited about this opportunity from her perspective, too. She has the opportunity to contribute to a commercial web site (won’t that look good on a résumé?), using a skill she rather takes for granted (I’m hoping she’ll appreciate that skill more), and getting paid more than she’d earn for babysitting. As she’s homeschooled, her mother is giving her school credit for the work, too. It’s a great deal all the way around!

We’ll be adding the Spanish worksheet instructions option to each type of worksheet as we 1) receive the translation, and/or 2) get Scott’s help, as some of the additions will require more complicated programming changes than those he’s taught me thus far.

I’m excited to increase the usefulness of The Math Worksheet Site for a broader variety of people.

Thank you for your interest in the events “behind the scenes” at The Math Worksheet Site.

–Denise

I’m absolutely thrilled to open the new blog for The Math Worksheet Site!

I, Denise, have long wanted a means to communicate with our subscribers, as well as to the users of the free side of The Math Worksheet Site. The FAQ and tips pages I tried just didn’t sound good, and they also didn’t indicate that I would add new information frequently. They never got past the proposal stage. Now I’ve discovered blogs! It looks like blogging will give me an outlet for all the things that are bubbling up inside of me to share with you.

I’m also very interested to hear from you, including your experiences using The Math Worksheet Site and your assistance when we need clarification in the design of a new type of worksheet.

Thanks so very much for reading and rejoicing with me!

– Denise Bryce