''Math Patrol'' was a children's

educational television Educational television or learning television is the use of television programs in the field of distance education. It may be in the form of individual television programs or dedicated specialty channels that is often associated with cable telev ...

show produced by

TVOntario TVO Media Education Group (often abbreviated as TVO and stylized on-air as tvo) is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario ...

from 1976 to 1978 and aired by the

public broadcaster Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

in the late 1970s and the early 1980s. The series starred John Kozak as "Sydney" – a "

math Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...

" who repeatedly went

undercover To go "undercover" (that is, to go on an undercover operation) is to avoid detection by the object of one's observation, and especially to disguise one's own identity (or use an assumed identity) for the purposes of gaining the trust of an indi ...

as a

kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

("the only disguise ''Math Patrol'' had that would fit him"). Other cast members included

Carl Banas Carl Banas (born January 23, 1929) is a Toronto-born retired radio personality and actor. He is best known for his voice roles in ''Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'' (1964) and '' The Raccoons: Let’s Dance!'' (1985). As a television actor, he ...

, Jessica Booker,

Luba Goy Luba Goy ( uk, Люба Ґой; born November 8, 1945) is a Canadian actress, comedian and one of the stars of ''Royal Canadian Air Farce''. Life and career Goy was born in Haltern, Germany, to Ukrainian parents and raised in Ottawa, Ontario, Ca ...

and

Nikki Tilroe Nikki Tilroe (December 26, 1941 – September 1, 2005) was an American actress, dancer and puppeteer. She is best known for her work as the "Mime Lady" on the children's television series ''Today's Special''. She also operated Muppets on the TV s ...

. Producer/Director Clive Vanderburgh, Production Assistant Jane Downey and Editor Brian Elston. The program was designed to teach basic math skills and

terminology Terminology is a group of specialized words and respective meanings in a particular field, and also the study of such terms and their use; the latter meaning is also known as terminology science. A ''term'' is a word, compound word, or multi-wor ...

in an entertaining fashion to children between approximately 8 and 10 years of age. In each 15-minute episode, ''Math Patrols unseen (

silhouette A silhouette ( , ) is the image of a person, animal, object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the silhou ...

d) boss "Mr. Big" would send the detective on a case or charge him with a task which could only be solved through mathematic deduction. Over the course of 20 episodes, ''Math Patrol'' provided introductory math lessons on topics including

addition Addition (usually signified by the Plus and minus signs#Plus sign, plus symbol ) is one of the four basic Operation (mathematics), operations of arithmetic, the other three being subtraction, multiplication and Division (mathematics), division. ...

subtraction Subtraction is an arithmetic operation that represents the operation of removing objects from a collection. Subtraction is signified by the minus sign, . For example, in the adjacent picture, there are peaches—meaning 5 peaches with 2 taken ...

multiplication Multiplication (often denoted by the cross symbol , by the mid-line dot operator , by juxtaposition, or, on computers, by an asterisk ) is one of the four elementary mathematical operations of arithmetic, with the other ones being additi ...

division Division or divider may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting ...

area Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape A shape or figure is a graphics, graphical representation of an obje ...

fractions A fraction (from la, fractus, "broken") represents a part of a whole or, more generally, any number of equal parts. When spoken in everyday English, a fraction describes how many parts of a certain size there are, for example, one-half, eight ...

length Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Interna ...

shape A shape or figure is a graphics, graphical representation of an object or its external boundary, outline, or external Surface (mathematics), surface, as opposed to other properties such as color, Surface texture, texture, or material type. A pl ...

geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...

and

symmetry Symmetry (from grc, συμμετρία "agreement in dimensions, due proportion, arrangement") in everyday language refers to a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance. In mathematics, "symmetry" has a more precise definit ...

. Because of its highly educational nature, ''Math Patrol'' was often shown to groups of

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

students during

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

time.

External links

A fan site dedicated to classic TVO children's shows of the 1970s
* 1970s Canadian children's television series Canadian children's education television series TVO original programming Television shows filmed in Toronto Mathematics education television series {{Canada-kids-tv-prog-stub