Pam 00:00
Hey, fellow mathematicians! Welcome to the podcast where Math is Figure-Out-Able. I'm Pam.
Kim 00:06
And I'm Kim.
Pam 00:07
And this episode is a MathStratChat episode. What is that? Every Wednesday evening, I throw out a math problem on social media, people from around the world chat about the strategies they use. MathStratChat. It's super to see everyone's thinking.
Kim 00:20
Okay, so this Wednesday our problem was 2,718 divided by 36. How are you thinking about this problem? Pause the podcast. Solve it any way you want. 2,718 divided by 36. Solve it, and then come back to hear how we solve it.
Pam 00:35
Alright, cool. So, I'm thinking about 36s. So, I'm going to go to my tried and true ratio table, I'm thinking 1 to 36. And I'm thinking about how many 36s can get me up to something like 2,700. And so, I just started playing. So, I said, "I know 100 of them is going to be too much." And sure enough, 100 is 3,600. That's too much. So, then I thought, "Well, I'm going to do 50 because that's easy to do half of that. That's 1,800." I'm starting to feel like some numbers that feel like 9s in here. I'm just like, 3,600, 1,800, 36 are all kind of feeling that 9s. And 2,700 is kind of in between that 3,600. Like, 27 feels in between 36 and 18 to me. And so, I thought, Well, I'm going to go 75. So, seventy-five 36s is going to be in between 36 and 1,800. So, 25 is 2,700. Or sorry, 75. Seventy-five 36s is 2,700. Now, I'm really close. Now, I'm saying to myself, "How close is 2,700 to 2,718?" That's just 18 away. Mmm, 18. So, now I need 18. That's less than one whole 36. 18 is half of 36. So, in the ratio table, I've written 0.5 to 18. So, if I add the 2,700 plus 18, I get 2,718. And if I add the 75 and the 0.5, I get 75.5. So, my final answer 75.5.
Kim 02:07
Nice. We had some similar ideas bouncing around our head. And I'm going to play with this problem a little bit more because I think there's a lot to do here. But I was thinking about 2,700 divided by 36. And I know that if the problem was 2,700 divided by 3,600, then it would be 75%.
Pam 02:30
Oh, that's interesting.
Kim 02:32
But it was only 2,700 divided by... What? Sorry.
Pam 02:35
Sorry, to make sense of that. I'm just going to scale down. So, 2,700 divided by 3,600 is equivalent to 27 divided by 36.
Kim 02:43
Yeah.
Pam 02:43
Which is equivalent to three 9s divided by four 9s, which is three-fourths. Which is where you got your 75%. Okay, thanks.
Kim 02:51
Yep.
Pam 02:51
Okay.
Kim 02:52
So, but the problem wasn't 2,700 divided by 3,600. It was divided by 36, and so it can't be 75%. It has to be 75.
Pam 03:04
Yep. Scale back up to it by 100. Mmhmm.
Kim 03:06
Yep. And then, I have that 18 divided by 36, which you said, was 0.5. So, I also got 75.5.
Pam 03:14
And it sounds to me like you again wrote those as fractions. Is that right?
Kim 03:18
I didn't actually this time.
Pam 03:19
Oh, that time you didn't. Interesting.
Kim 03:20
Yeah.
Pam 03:20
How did you write it, then?
Kim 03:22
I just wrote an equation 2,700 divided by 3,600, and then I wrote 75%. And that's all I wrote on my paper.
Both Pam and Kim 03:33
(laughs)
Pam 03:34
I love it. I love it.
Kim 03:35
I'm not sharing my thinking on paper.
Pam 03:37
Whoa, well, I can't wait to hear how other people are solving the problem. Alright, ya'll, we can't wait to see your math strategy. I wonder if your strategy was like one of ours or something entirely different. Represent your thinking, take a picture of your work or screenshot your phone, and then tell the world on social media. And while you're there, check out what other people did and make sure that you comment on their thinking, so we can spread this idea that it's about the thinking, the way your reasoning, not just answer getting.
Kim 04:04
And it's fun for people to see you comment, right?
Pam 04:07
Absolutely.
Kim 04:07
Alright tag Pam on Twitter @PWHarris... Did I just say that? I don't know your... @PWHarris on twitter. And on Instagram, PamHarris_math.
Pam 04:19
I'm taking over. Or Facebook, Pam Harris, author mathematics education. And use the hashtag
Both Pam and Kim 04:25
MathStratChat.
Pam 04:26
And then, check out the next MathStratChat problem that we'll post sometime around 7pm On Wednesdays. And then, come back here to hear how we're thinking about the problem. We love having you as part of the Math is Figure-Out-Able movement. Let's keep spreading the word that Math is Figure-Out-Able!
