science

Mottainai Bāsan

Mottainai Bāsan is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mottainai Bāsan rather than just read about it. In short: Mottainai Bāsan (もったいないばあさん; English-Japanese and English-Hindi bilingual editions published under the translated title Mottainai Grandma, and also known as The Waste-Not-Want-Not Grandmother or No-Waste Grandma) is the first book from the "Mottainai Grandma" series written by Japanese author Mariko Shinju. The book was published in 2004.

Key takeaways

Mottainai Bāsan belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mottainai Bāsan to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mottainai Bāsan from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mottainai Bāsan (もったいないばあさん; English-Japanese and English-Hindi bilingual editions published under the translated title Mottainai Grandma, and also known as The Waste-Not-Want-Not Grandmother or No-Waste Grandma) is the first book from the "Mottainai Grandma" series written by Japanese author Mariko Shinju. The book was published in 2004. The Japanese word mottainai means "don't be wasteful" or "what a waste!" On January 13, 2018, it was released in Hindi and English translation in New Delhi, India, by the Japan International Cooperation Agency. An earlier Japanese-English bilingual edition (pictured) was published by Kodansha in November 2005. Shinju started having ideas about writing the book while trying to explain wastefulness to her child.

References

External links

Official website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mottainai Bāsan

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mottainai Bāsan claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mottainai Bāsan before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mottainai Bāsan ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mottainai Bāsan

In research: Mottainai Bāsan appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mottainai Bāsan in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mottainai Bāsan is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Geography book stubs, Japanese children's literature, Japanese history stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mottainai Bāsan outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mottainai Bāsan in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mottainai Bāsan means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mottainai Bāsan out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mottainai Bāsan in simple terms?

Why does Mottainai Bāsan matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mottainai Bāsan?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mottainai Bāsan.