Transitive Property of Equality
March 24th, 2009So Alex has just turned 3, which means he’s starting to make interesting cognitive connections and jumps. The two which I’ve been impressed by lately were:
He was asking me about the sand people in Star Wars, and I explained that they were nomads, so they lived in tents. The conversation proceeded something like this:
Alex: “Tents are sleeping?”
Me: “Yes, the tents are for sleeping.”
Alex: “Stormtroopers sleep?”
Me: “Yes, stormtroopers sleep.”
Alex: “But…Star Wars…outside dark.”
…by which I realize he’s saying that in Star Wars (once they get off Tattoine), it’s always dark and starry (since they’re in outer space), but the stormtroopers aren’t shown as sleeping, so I guess he figured stormtroopers don’t sleep. So I got to explain the concept of outer space, and how it’s always dark and starry, much earlier than I had expected I would.
The other discussion was much simpler, but I enjoyed how concisely it corresponded to the transitive property of equality (A=B, B=C, therefore A=C):
Alex: “What do dragons eat?”
Me: “Knights”
Alex: “What are knights?”
Me: “People”
Alex: “Dragons eat people?”
