The Compute-A-Color math system is simple because it was designed to be simple. ‘About us' gives insight to a steadfast journey through the creation and implementation of this innovative math system.
Like it or not, math is a fact of life. We think little about that, except when math skills may suddenly be lost. It can happen. And it did.
Compute-A-Color math arose from this kind of happening more than twenty years ago. The originator, Ann Preus, suffered sudden head trauma from a car accident. Life changed. Skills in math, memory and music were diminished. She could not read music or play her violin. Retraining was necessary.
During this period, family life continued with her husband and five children. Ann responded to a request for volunteer monitors at her daughter's school. She watched kids squinting and bent over their math papers which were (then) faintly reproduced in a kind of smelly jelly purple ink. Ann asked if she could try to add a little fun with color; and was given a go-ahead. Math came alive. Color was the catalyst! She knew what the kids needed; she needed it, too. COLOR!
Preus says her good fortune in that accident was keeping an unfailing response to color and patterns. This became the strategy for rehabilitation in both math and memory. She remarks “It is out of this unlikely background that I originated and published the Compute-A-Color Math System.”
Is it simple? Ann answers “Yes, simple is better.” Fun? “Sure…if you like color.” Logical? “This system originated to demystify math,” Is it user friendly? Preus says
Ann M. Preus holds a Master of Arts degree in the Psychological Foundations of Education from the University of Minnesota , 1982.
“Compute-A-Color math is like no other. My patent was a ‘first'. This system is unique in the use of only four colors to demonstrate number relationships. Basic prime numbers 2, 3, 5, 7 are coded in the familiar colors red, green, yellow, blue; composites are related in color to their prime factor(s). This simple color- code visualizes and fortifies mass, space and length to see, feel and understand number facts, concepts and relationships. World-renowned mathematician Paul Erdos, now deceased, called prime numbers the ‘building blocks' of mathematics. CAC materials are designed for pre-school through basic adult education,” says Preus.
CAC BOARD MEMBERS
President and originator, Ann M. Preus
Board member Esther Morrow is a former Minneapolis public school resource math teacher.
Other board members are:
David Preus, Presiding Bishop Emeritus of the American Lutheran Church
Richard Bujalski, president of Redwood Industries (manufacturer of numerals)
Robert S. Thomas, PhD neuropsychologist;
William M. Bart, PhD, University of Minnesota advisor to Ann Preus.