ARTIST: Tom Lehrer
TITLE: New Math
Lyrics and Chords
{Spoken}
You can't take three from two
Two is less than three
So you look at the four in the tens place
Now that's really four tens
So you make it three tens
Regroup, and you change a ten to ten ones
And you add them to the two and get twelve
And you take away three, that's nine
Is that clear?
Now instead of four in the tens place
You've got three
'Cause you added one
That is to say, ten, to the two
But you can't take seven from three
So you look in the hundreds place
From the three you then use one
To make ten tens
And you know why four plus minus one
Plus ten is fourteen minus one
'Cause addition is commutative, right?
And so you've got thirteen tens
And you take away seven
And that leaves five
Well, six actually
But the idea is the important thing
Now go back to the hundreds place
And you're left with two
And you take away one from two
And that leaves
Everybody get one?
Not bad for the first day
{Refrain}
Hooray for new math
New-hoo-hoo-math
It won't do you a bit of good to review math
It's so simple
So very simple
That only a child can do it
/ F - - - / C7B7 Bb7A7 A7 - / Dm - Dm7 G7 C - A7 - /
/ Dm - / - - Eb - - - / G7 - - - C - - - /
Now actually, that is not the answer that I had in mind because the book that I got this problem out of wants you to do it in base eight. But don't panic. Base eight is just like base ten really, if you're missing two fingers. Shall we have a go at it? Hang on...
{Spoken}
You can't take three from two
Two is less than three
So you look at the four in the eights place
Now that's really four eights
So you make it three eights
Regroup, and you change an eight to eight ones
And you add them to the two
And you get one-two base eight
Which is ten base ten
And you take away three, that's seven
OK?
Now instead of four in the eights place
You've got three
'Cause you added one
That is to say, eight, to the two
But you can't take seven from three
So you look at the sixty-fours
"Sixty-four? How did sixty-four get into it?" I hear you cry. Well, sixty-four is eight squared, don't you see? Well, you ask a silly question, and you get a silly answer.
From the three you then use one To make eight eights And you add those eights to the three And you get one-three base eight Or, in other words In base ten you have eleven And you take away seven And seven from eleven is four Now go back to the sixty-fours And you're left with two And you take away one from two And that leaves
Now, let's not always see the same hands. One, that's right. Whoever got that one can stay after class and clean the erasers.
Hooray for new math
{Refrain}
Come back tomorrow night, we're gonna do fractions.
How to read these chord charts