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THE FLYING ON THE CEILING: RENÉ DESCARTES
​Author: Julie Glass
​Illustrator: Richard Walz

Number of pages: 48
Publisher: Random House (USA)
First published in: 1998
Format: Picturebook

Is the mathematical focus explicit in the story? Yes
Is this story part of a mathematics story series? Yes (Step into Reading Math)

Click here to preview and/or purchase this book via the Amazon (UK) website ​

Synopsis by the author/publisher
Recognized as the father of analytic geometry, René Descartes was a French mathematician and philosopher. Kids will love this funny and very accessible tale - based on one of math's greatest myths - about the man who popularized the Cartesion system of coordinates.  ​

“Réne watched the fly on the ceiling. When it landed, he counted the lines over to that spot. He wrote down the number of lines: 2. Then he counted the lines up to that spot. He wrote down the number: 5. Together, the two numbers - 2 and 5 - told him exactly where the fly was!”

Recommended age range: 
8+ years old 

Relevant mathematics topics: 
​Positioning & Mapping; Mathematicians​

​Possible teaching activities:
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