About TradeForge
TradeForge is a day on the job with twelve trades for ages 9–14. Each tradesperson is one piece of real math — and the loop is always the same: you see a real job with real numbers, take your best guess, then the worker does the maths and explains why. Guessing first, then checking, is how the maths sticks (predict → compute → explain).
It is applied arithmetic and a look at real careers, in the spirit of NorthQuest: nobody is told what job to want — you just meet twelve people whose work runs on numbers.
The twelve workers, and the one calculation each of them is:
- ⚡ Volt the electrician — Power = Volts × Amps.
- 🔧 Pipes the plumber — Drop = length × ¼ inch per foot.
- 🥐 Rolla the baker — Sugar = flour ÷ 3 (a 3-to-1 recipe).
- 💊 Cara the nurse — Dose = mg-per-kg × kilograms.
- 🪚 Cutter the carpenter — Area = length × width.
- 🎨 Bristle the painter — Cans = area ÷ 400, rounded up.
- 🧵 Needle the tailor — Fabric = yards-per-item × items.
- 🌱 Sprout the farmer — Seeds = seeds-per-foot × row feet.
- 🚗 Gear the mechanic — Miles-per-gallon = miles ÷ gallons.
- 🌳 Fern the landscaper — Fence = 2 × (length + width).
- 🏪 Penny the shopkeeper — Sale price = price − (percent of price).
- 🚚 Dash the delivery driver — Time = distance ÷ speed.
And 🦺 Rivet, the site foreman who never hands you the number — she asks what OPERATION the job needs. She helps you check which kind of maths a job needs — she never gives you the answer.
Honest note for grown-ups: TradeForge is applied-arithmetic practice with a friendly career frame. It is a practice tool, not a promise of a test score, and it does not tell a child which career to choose. Everything runs on this device; there are no accounts, no ads, and nothing a child does leaves the device.