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, where we chat about our math strategies. Every Wednesday evening, I throw out a math problem on social media, and people from around the world chat about strategies they use and comment on each other's thinking.

Kim  00:21

Okay, so this past week, our problem was 351 plus 347. We're wondering how you would solve this problem. Pause the podcast. The problem is 351 and 200... Liar. It was 351. 

Pam  00:36

You can do it Kim. You can do it.

Kim  00:39

And 347. Solve it, and then come on back to hear how we solve it.

Pam  00:43

So, both of them were 300s, right? 351 and 347? 

Kim  00:47

351 and 347.

Pam  00:49

Okay, I'm going to pull a Kim, and I'm going to think about 351 and 350. 

Kim  00:56

Okay. 

Pam  00:56

Because I know that 350 and 350 is 700, and so 351 and 350 is 751. And then, I'm just going to back up. I 'overed' by 3, so I got a backup 3. 751, backup 3, is 748. Okay, what's your strategy?

Kim  01:15

I think I'm loving the 350 and 350. I think you did something with that last week. So, 350 and 350 is 700. The first 350 had 1 too much. And the second supposed 350 had 3 too few. So, 1 too much, and 3 too few is negative 2. So, I also got 748.

Pam  01:35

Mmhm. Because negative 2 from that 750. 7... Wait. No. 

Kim  01:54

So, 350 and 350 is 700.

Pam  01:58

Yeah, but I said 748. I said 750.

Kim  02:01

Oh, did you? Did I? Maybe because I said that.

Pam  02:03

Oh my gosh.

Kim  02:04

You know what I didn't do, Pam.

Pam  02:06

I think we have to totally re-record this whole thing. 

Kim  02:10

Oh. Why? 

Pam  02:12

Because I said 350 and 350 is 750.

Kim  02:17

Was I not listening to your whole strategy?

Pam  02:19

Pretty sure not.

Kim  02:25

It's so classic. I was like, "Cool. I'm thinking about what I'm going to do."

Pam  02:30

So, now here's the decision. Do we play this? Or do we re-record because I mean...

Kim  02:34

I mean, I'll own it. I don't care. 

Pam  02:36

Do you want to own it? Alright, I'm going to try that again, everybody. I wasn't listening. That's alright. 351 and 350 is not 751 

Kim  02:45

No, it's not. Everybody's in their car is screaming at us right now.

Pam  02:50

It's 701. Holy, wow. And now, I got a backup 3. And so, that's 698. Wow! Okay. Should we tell people I'm sick? No. Let's just keep going. Keep going. That's my excuse.

Kim  03:05

If we never made a mistake any other time (unclear).

Pam  03:07

Your excuse is that you were thinking about your own strategy. Okay, so do your own strategy correctly now.

Kim  03:11

Okay. So, 350 and 350, if that was the problem would be 700. I just put a checkmark on my paper. The first 351 is 1 too much. But the second 350 that I called it, was 3 too little. So, 1 too much, and 3 too little. And I actually think I said 2 too little before.

Pam  03:39

No, no. You ended up with 2 too little.

Kim  03:40

Okay.

Pam  03:40

Minus 2. You ended up with (unclear).

Kim  03:41

Okay. Alright. So minus 2 would be 698. And here's the thing, I didn't write anything down the first time. I was like, "Oh, I'll hold that."

Pam  03:51

You just bought it when I said 350 and 350 was 750.

Kim  03:55

I totally did.

Pam  03:56

Yeah. You're just like, "Well, I'm going to take that total (unclear)."

Kim  03:58

Well, I was holding stuff in my head. I should have jotted a number down, right? Don't hold it in your head. You don't have to.

Pam  04:05

Yeah. And, you know, that's such an interesting thing because we're hearing so many arguments these days about working memory. And you know what? We can take care of that by just jotting down our thinking, and then we don't have to hold all that stuff in there. And then, hey, maybe we won't think 350 and 350 is 750. Maybe it's 700, like it actually is. Alright. Doubles are important.

Kim  04:26

Okay. Well, we can't wait to see if you've got 698 like we did and what your strategy was. Represent your thinking, take a picture, so that we can see your modeling. And tell the world on social media. And while you're there, write about what you did and write about what other people did too. Comment on their thinking. They love that.

Pam  04:44

Yeah. And while you're at it, tag me on social media and use the hashtag MathStratChat. And make sure you check out our MathStratChat problem that we post every Wednesday around 7pm Central Time, and then hop back here to hear what we're thinking about the problem. Let's keep spreading the word that Math is Figure-Out-Able!