Pam  00:00

Hey, fellow mathematicians! Welcome to the podcast where Math is Figure-Out-Able! I'm Pam Harris.

Kim  00:07

And I'm Kim Montague.

Pam  00:08

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.

Kim  00:23

Okay, so this last Wednesday, our math problem was 249 plus 252. How are you thinking about this problem? Pause the podcast, solve it however you want. Remember, the problem was 249 plus 252. Solve it, and then come on back to hear how we're going to solve it.

Pam  00:41

Alright, Kim, today I am writing with a cactus pen. 

Kim  00:46

Oh.

Pam  00:46

"What is a cactus pen?" you might ask. So, my daughter-in-law is about to have baby. I'm about to be grandma! And so, we had a baby shower for it, and it was super fun. And she is a succulent person. 

Kim  00:57

Oh.

Pam  00:57

Meaning she loves cactuses, cacti. How do you say that? I don't even know. Anyway, so for the party, we had cactus pens. It's this brilliant green... You don't care. But it writes very nicely. It's actually a really nice. The only bummer is the lid doesn't fit. Like it's a... Anyway.

Kim  01:16

Would she... If I brought her some of my planters in the back, would she fill them with succelents? Oh my gosh, I...

Pam  01:21

She would love that! 

Kim  01:22

Okay, we'll talk. Alright, solve the problem. Solve the problem.

Pam  01:25

Alright, 249 and 252. So, when I look at that problem...I'm just going to go first because...it feels a lot like 250. 

Kim  01:33

Yeah.

Pam  01:33

Like, it's just screaming at me. 249, 252, I just like can hear 250. So, I'm thinking if I was just going to double 250, that's 500. But 249 would be down 1, so that would be 499. But 252 is then up 2, so that's 501. 

Kim  01:55

I like it.

Pam  01:56

That's how I'm thinking about it. What were you thinking about?

Kim  01:58

Yeah. Maybe everybody should know we don't... We haven't seen the problems, right? 

Pam  02:02

Yeah, these are cold. 

Kim  02:04

Yeah, cold problems. So, I see the 250, 250 also. But then, when you started talking, I looked at it, and the other thing I thought was... I kinda thought 490 and 11. Which is kind of weird, maybe. But you know, I do...

Pam  02:21

Kind of weird? That's super weird. What do you? Where? (unclear). 

Kim  02:25

So, I kind of stripped away the 240 and the 250 and called that 490. 

Pam  02:30

240 and 250 is 490. Okay, okay. 

Kim  02:34

And then, I know the 9 and 2 is 11. So you know, like...

Pam  02:38

Huh. 

Kim  02:39

Kind of before I had a ton of ways to verbalize, what I would describe is I often did left to right. You know, before I got maybe more sophisticated? 

Pam  02:49

Mmhm.

Kim  02:49

So, I was okay with the 240 and 250 being 490.

Pam  02:53

Mmhm. And then, you just tacked on the 11 after that?

Kim  02:56

Yeah, there was no difficulty with place value left, right. And then, I just added the 11.

Pam  03:02

And 490 and 11 is also 501. Okay, that totally works.

Kim  03:05

I think I would have done Over if the 249 was the second add in.

Pam  03:11

Ah. What would that have looked like? Like 252 plus 250? 

Kim  03:16

Yeah. 

Pam  03:17

So, that's 502. 

Kim  03:18

502. And then, backup 1. Yeah. 

Pam  03:20

And then, backup 1. 

Kim  03:21

Yeah.

Pam  03:22

Oh, that makes a lot of sense. If that one. Yeah, nice. Cool.

Kim  03:26

Alright, we can't wait to see what you guys are thinking. If your strategy was like my weird strategy, or you saw the 250 like Pam, we'd love to hear that. Or you might be thinking of something entirely different. Represent your thinking because we'd love to see the modeling. Take a picture and screenshot your phone. Tell the world on social media. And while you're there, do the very important work of checking out other people's thinking and comment on their work.

Pam  03:51

Yeah, and tag me on social media. And make sure that you use the hashtag MathStratChat. And make sure you check out the next MathStratChat problem that we'll post on Wednesdays around 7pm Central Time. 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!