Math is Figure-Out-Able!
Math teacher educator Pam Harris and her cohost Kim Montague answer the question: If not algorithms, then what? Join them for ~15-30 minutes every Tuesday as they cast their vision for mathematics education and give actionable items to help teachers teach math that is Figure-Out-Able. See www.MathisFigureOutAble.com for more great resources!
Math is Figure-Out-Able!
#MathStratChat - November 23, 2022
In today’s MathStratChat, Pam and Kim discuss the MathStratChat problem shared on social media on November 23, 2022.
Note: It’s more fun if you try to solve the problem, share it on social media, comment on others strategies, before you listen to Pam and Kim’s strategies.
Check out #MathStratChat on your favorite social media site and join in the conversation.
Hey fellow mathematicians. Welcome to the podcast where Math is Figure-Out-Able. I'm Pam.
Kim Montague:And I'm Kim.
Pam Harris:And this episode is a MathStratChat episode. What is MathStratChat? Well, every Wednesday evening, I throw in a math problem on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, everywhere we can think of on social media. People from around the world chat about the strategies they use. It is super cool to see everyone's thinking.
Kim Montague:Okay, so this Wednesday, our math problem was 4896 divided by 96. How would you solve this problem? Pause the podcast. Solve the problem any way you want. The problem is 4896 divided by 96. Solve it, then come on back to hear how we solved it.
Pam Harris:All right. So Kim, today, you get to go first. How would you solve 4896 divided by 96?
Kim Montague:Okay, so I gotta be honest with you. I don't love the numbers. So, I am thinking about scaling down or finding an equivalent problem.
Pam Harris:Okay.
Kim Montague:And so I, I know, I see the 48, the 96, the 96, like, kind of just of those pieces. So I'm going to scale down or divide by three and get 1632 divided by 32. And I know, I don't really know why to be perfectly honest.
Pam Harris:That would so not be on my repertoire. Okay, that's cool. I like it.
Kim Montague:Thank you. So then I see.
Pam Harris:Oh, I like that. I'm sorry, I totally had to think about whether 4896 divided by three was actually 1632. And it is Okay, keep going.
Kim Montague:So then I think about the fact that I know that 1600 divided by 32 is 50. And then I just have 32 divided by 32, which is one and so the answer is 51.
Pam Harris:Nice. Nice. That is super cool. Cool. Not how I thought about it at all.
Kim Montague:Okay, well tell us what you did.
Pam Harris:Cool. So I saw 48 hundred and 96. And I kind of ignored the 96, actually. And I thought about 4800 divided by 96. But I recognized 4800 divided by 48. And that 48 was half of 96. And it kind of didn't really pay attention to the half so much. But I thought about, like I literally wrote down the fraction 4800 divided by 48. And I wrote down that that equals 100. So if there's 48. No, if there's a 100 forty-eights in 4800, then I asked myself how many 96s would be in 4800?
Kim Montague:Yeah.
Pam Harris:How many thing, I don't say this very well. But if there's 100 forty-eights in 4800. Then how many of something twice as big would there be? So if the group is twice as big, there can only be half as many? Yep. And that's how I got that there were 50 ninty-sixes is in 4800. So we both got to that place where there's 50 ninety-sixes is in 4800. There's one more 96 So 51.
Kim Montague:Yeah. Nice. Nice. I like it. I do struggle to say that twice as many, and half is, like I struggle with that verbalisation too. You did that really well.
Pam Harris:Well thanks because yes, yeah. I heard your son say it once really, really well. And from then on, I was like, "I want to be able to talk like him." So that was kind of cool.
Kim Montague:Okay.
Pam Harris:Don't remember. I think it might have been Cooper.
Kim Montague:Oh, okay.
Pam Harris:I think, I was trying to remember which kid it was. Okay.
Kim Montague:All right. So we can't wait to see your math strategies. I wonder if you were like Pam or me or something completely different. Represent your thinking, take a picture of your work or screenshot your phone and tell the world on social media. And while you're at it, check out what other people did and comment on their thinking.
Pam Harris:So tag me on Twitter: @PWHarris. Or
Instagram:Pam Harris_math. Or on Facebook: Pam Harris, Author Mathematics Education, and make sure you use the hashtag MathStratChat. And make sure you check out the next MathStratChat problem that we'll post Wednesdays, every Wednesday at 7pm Central Time and pop back here to hear what we are 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.