A baby cries to get needs met.
Cammy Kao
A 12-year old boy: “I would like to ask you a question.”
Jannik Sinner: “Tell me.”
(“Who’s there?”)
“It’s me.”
Kids’ Math in Sports
A player from Real Madrid (point A) throws a ball into play to Ronaldo (point B). Ronaldo passes the ball to Vini Jr. (point C), after which Ronaldo runs towards point D (orange arrow). The path of the ball is shown by the blue arrows.
When Ronaldo reaches the red line shown in the diagram, Vini Jr. kicks the soccer ball towards point D. Ronaldo receives the ball 2 seconds later and attempts a goal.
What is the distance between point B and point D?
At what speed must Vini Jr. pass the ball for his pass to Ronaldo to be successful?
By SWM at 11 years old in Palo Alto
“Happy 12th Birthday tomorrow! You are getting older. Still I remember when I met you first, when you were 16 months old. I visited California and came to your house, and you, your parents, and I were in your kitchen. Your dad was holding you, so you were elevated way up high. Without saying words (because you couldn’t) but still making sounds, you bent over and pointed vigorously at my socks. We didn’t know what you meant, so your dad put you down on the floor. Standing on your own, you bent down and pointed out the seam that crosses the toes of one of my socks. I thought that that was so funny!”
— Adapted from a text message at 6:58 PM CT on 14 Apr 2025
“Happy Birthday! I will share two more stories to celebrate. When you were maybe 4 years old, before your sister was born, one evening your parents and you were driving me home after we had eaten at Gott’s. I would always sit beside you in the back seat, you in your car seat. When we arrived, you noticed the unusual architecture of my apartment complex, it with a small number of units stacked askew. I said, ‘There are 8 apartments.’ You replied, competitive and maybe referring to imaginary toys at home, ‘I have 11 apartments!’”
— Adapted from a text message at 8:34 AM CT on 15 Apr 2025
“Another evening your parents and you were driving me home from Gott’s. You noticed the steep driveway going underneath my apartment complex to the parking garage. Your dad asked you whether you wanted to see the driveway. So we all got out of the car, and you and your mom laughed at the sensation of being pulled, while walking, down the steep slope of pavement. Inside the small garage there were about 8 cars parked. Referring to your own sizable toy car collection at home, you exclaimed to me, ‘Are these all yours?’ I burst out with a laugh, your creativity surprising me.”
— Adapted from a text message at 8:43 AM CT on 15 Apr 2025
“I remembered another story. Again before your sister was born, I had gone to dinner at your house. You were mad about cars, and I would give you toy cars like the Koenigsegg cars. (Your mom would give you well-constructed cars from Japan, and I could do that only once when I went to Japan myself!) You and I also watched on my phone, with limited permission from your parents, online videos of cars racing.
“That evening after dinner, we were sitting together on your sofa watching a Formula 1 race. At the end, a car started to spin and hit the wall of the racetrack. I gasped, saying, ‘He crashed!’ Quietly — pensively — you said, ‘No, he won.’ I disagreed with you, going home later believing that I was correct about the incident. But the next day I realized that you were right, you having been unable to debate with an adult: The driver was doing a doughnut! I was proud of the certainty that you demonstrated at your young age.”
— Adapted from a text message at 6:01 PM CT on 15 Apr 2025
“During my first visit to meet you, when you were 16 months old, you and I would sit in the back seat of your family’s car when everyone traveled together. Your car seat, and therefore you as well, faced backward. Your car seat was big, so I had little room to sit and would sit close to you. In this configuration, you looked up at me and I looked down at you.
“While your dad drove, with a vehement sound — but no words because you could not yet speak — you would point your arm around at objects of interest in the car and through the back window. Although not knowing your meaning, each time I affirmed you. I would nod my head and say, ‘Mm!’”
— Adapted from a text message at 9:17 PM CT on 15 Apr 2025
“We used to play Uno together. For this story, I wish that I could remember your cards, because they excited you. Although so much younger than your opponent, you loved the strategy of the win. Once during a tight match, you finished the game with a one-two punch, discarding your last two cards in rapid sequence. You jumped from your kneeling position and ran from the family room, where we were, to the adjoining dining room to announce to your parents the logic of your two-step play. ‘It was so cool!’ you declared.”
— Adapted from a text message at 9:27 PM CT on 15 Apr 2025
“‘Cammy changed the rules.’ When you were quite young, the card game ‘War’ upset you. You would keep losing, and your dad and I were unable to explain to you that the game lacks strategy. A win is predetermined by the shuffle of the deck.
“A particularly distraught session caused you to break down crying, with you failing to be comforted by your dad. Then I had an idea. I said, ‘[SWM], let’s change the game so that we can look at our cards beforehand,’ that is, before we made our plays. You agreed.
“The game started to go better for you. You began to always win and were much happier. Of course I was playing my low cards so that you would win them, and during ‘wars’ I would stack my turned-over cards with my kings, queens, and jacks. Your hauls from the ‘wars’ astonished you. Our games would proceed such that I would run out of cards and you would “donate” to me roughly half of your cards, so that we could continue playing.
“After several months of this, you became suspicious. You asked, ‘Are you being nice to me?’ When you had told your dad how we were playing with changed rules, you informing him during an early game of this between you and me, he had responded good-naturedly, ‘That’s cheating!’”
— Adapted from a text message at 9:45 PM CT on 15 Apr 2025