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 the strategies they use and comment on each other's thinking. By the way, that's the best part. When ya'll comment on each other's thinking. We love that.
Kim 00:25
I love scrolling that evening to see what people are saying. It's my favorite.
Pam 00:30
Yeah.
Kim 00:31
Okay. So, this week, our problem was 458 and 439. 458 plus 439. How would you like to solve this problem? Pause the podcast. Don't listen to us talk until you solve it. Problem, once again, was 458 plus 439. Solve it, and then come on back. Okay, I'm going to go first this time.
Pam 00:53
Oh, man. Alright. And I'm actually going to listen to you. Ha, ha, ha. That's just a little dig because Kim doesn't always listen to me. She just is off doing her own thing. But I will listen. Go ahead.
Kim 01:05
It's so true.
Pam 01:06
Go ahead, go ahead. Just don't take my strategy.
Kim 01:09
Oh. Well. Hmm. Okay.
Pam 01:10
Or do.
Kim 01:11
We'll see. I see 458 and 439. Um, I'm actually trying to decide what I want to do. So, I...
Pam 01:20
Well, then, let me go first (unclear).
Kim 01:21
No, I'm going first.
Pam 01:22
Alright, alright.
Kim 01:23
So, I see the 450-ish with both of them. But I was actually wondering if I want to do a different double. So, I'm going to go 450 because I know 450 And 450 is 900. But they're not 450. So, I wrote on my paper, plus 8 from the 458. And then, I wrote minus 11 on the 439. Like, I kind of made those be partners. And then, I thought, well, I have plus 8 for one of the numbers, and 11 not enough for the other number, so I'm subtracting 3 and getting 897. So, plus 8, minus 11 is minus 3.
Pam 02:02
So, you kind of were looking at how far those numbers were off from 450.
Kim 02:06
Yep.
Pam 02:06
You thought about the double of 450, and then however they were off, you took off of that double of 450. Is that a way to describe that? Cool. So, I did not think about that. Though, I was listening to you, while you were doing your thing. I'm going to add. So, it's kind of something similar. I'm going to add 11 to 439 to get 450. But I'm going to take those... To get that 11, I'm going to take it from the 458.
Kim 02:12
Yep. Okay.
Pam 02:31
And so, I grabbed 11 marbles out of the pile of 458 to put in the 439. So, now, in the 439 pile, I have 450. But in the 458 pile, I have 447 marbles. And then, I'm going to think about 447 and 450 similar to how you did. It's like 450 and 450 is 900. But it's 447. That's 3 less. So, 3 less than 900 is 897. Cool.
Kim 03:03
I like it. Alright.
Pam 03:03
So, you know what neither of us were inclined to do on this problem?
Kim 03:07
What?
Pam 03:07
Was Over. That's just kind of interesting. Because one of the things we're writing about right now in our Problem String books is we're really thinking about Over and what makes the numbers. We were writing some dialogues to kind of emphasize, no exemplify, illustrate, illuminate.
Kim 03:27
Go vocabulary!
Pam 03:28
Bam! Talking with kids about what numbers makes sense for strategies and what numbers don't make sense for strategies. So, in this case, neither of us were feeling inclined to Over. I wondered if you have any. Do you have any thoughts about why?
Kim 03:36
Yeah. Well, when you said over, I thought (unclear). I mean, because you could add 440 pretty nicely to 458.
Pam 03:51
Oh.
Kim 03:52
That wouldn't be horrible.
Pam 03:53
That's true. 458 and 440.
Kim 03:55
You know what? I honestly think is that we've been seeing people thinking about doubles in MathStratChat the past couple weeks.
Pam 04:02
Oh, sure enough.
Kim 04:03
Maybe because we've done that. So, like, I just think it's fresh on my brain. And I think that's a thing to notice, right? The thing that you're thinking about, the thing that you're kind of putting in your own world might help you gravitate towards a particular strategy. Which is why we have said, "If you feel like that one's like more challenging for you, or you don't gravitate naturally towards it, make yourself." You know, put yourself in situations where you do, so that it becomes kind of part of your repertoire.
Pam 04:32
Yeah, something that your brain is inclined to do.
Both Pam and Kim 04:34
Yeah.
Kim 04:35
Absolutely.
Pam 04:35
And thanks for pointing out that we've been doing doubles the last few weeks because that's on purpose. On purpose, we're doing problems in a row to try to give you an opportunity to try to nudge your brain to use those relationships. So, maybe pay attention to the order, the purposefulness of the MathStratChat problems. In other words, MathStratChat is not just a problem talk every week. It's a Problem String over weeks, which is a little intentional on our part. Whoo!
Kim 05:06
Yeah. Well, and I'm going to say one more thing, even though our episode might be getting really long. We know that doubles for younger learners is really important to help with facts and some of the smaller problems. And people might be thinking, you know, I don't know why they would be that big of a deal for larger numbers. But maybe people don't recognize quite yet how important they can be if they don't already own them. Like, if you're not aware of how you can use them, then they might not seem as important. So, we're giving you experience to have some happy experiences with doubles. And doubles are super cool. Yeah. Nice. Alright, alright. We can't wait to see your strategy. It's one of our favorites. Make sure that you take a screenshot and you see what you can do for modeling. And comment on other people's work, please. It's super fun.
Pam 05:59
We love it when we see. Yeah, and then tag me on social media, and use the hashtag MathStratChat. And check out the MathStratChat problem that we post every Wednesday around 7pm Central time. And then, come back here, and we'll tell you 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!
