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. Because 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  00:21

Okay, so this week, Pam gave you 22 times 55. How do you want to solve this problem? Pause the podcast, solve it however you want, and then come back and hear how we're going to solve it. I'm already thinking about the problem, Pam.

Pam  00:33

Alright, go for it. I'm going to let you go first. Because I got a couple things I could do. And so, I'm going to let you do whatever you need to. 

Kim  00:42

I'm going to (unclear).

Pam  00:43

And by the way, I'm going to listen to you while you do your strategy.

Kim  00:48

I am a good listener. Just not on the podcast. Okay, so 22 times 55. I'm seeing the 50 inside the 55, and I'm wanting to go 22 times 50. And I'm going to call that 1,100 because I know 22 times 100 is 2,200. So, 22 times 50 is 1,100. 

Pam  01:10

Okay. 

Kim  01:11

And since 22 time 50 is 1,100, that means 22 times 5 is 110. 

Pam  01:16

Nice Five is Half of Ten. I like it. 

Kim  01:18

Mmhm. And so, that means that I have 1,100 and 110, which is 1,210. 

Pam  01:28

Super cool. I like it. Nice. Okay, what I'm going to do is, I've got some 11s screaming at me.

Kim  01:36

Mmhm. 

Pam  01:37

So, I'm going to factor 22 as 11 times 2.

Kim  01:42

Mmhm.

Pam  01:42

And factor 55 as 5 times 11.

Kim  01:45

Mmhm. 

Pam  01:46

And I did those in a specific order because I wanted the 2. On my paper, I have 11 times 2 times 5 times 11. 

Kim  01:52

Yep. 

Pam  01:53

And now, the 2 times 5 are sitting next to each other. 2 times 5 is 10. So, I end up with 11 times 11 times 10.

Kim  02:00

Mmhm. 

Pam  02:02

So, I can figure 11 times 11. I've done that a lot lately. And also using what you just did, I can think about 11 times 11 as 121. And then, just multiply that by 10. And that's 1,210.

Kim  02:16

Nice. I love the factoring. It's great.

Pam  02:20

Hey, so another thing that I wanted to factor. I was thinking about that while you were solving yours. I thought maybe you were going to do twenty 55s. In fact, if I can just do that because I can't do. I'm going to think about 55s. You thought about 22s. I'm going to think about 55s.

Kim  02:36

Okay. 

Pam  02:37

And I'm going to think about 2 of them.

Kim  02:39

Mmhm.

Pam  02:39

And 2 of them would be 110. 

Kim  02:41

Yep. 

Pam  02:41

And then, 20 of them. I can scale up from that. Which is 1,100. And then, I could add those 2 and the 20 together. It's interesting because I ended up with the same numbers. 

Kim  02:54

Yeah, I was just about to say that. 

Pam  02:56

Yeah, you had the 1,100 and the 110. And I had the 110 and the 1,100. (unclear)

Kim  03:02

Yeah. And it's just those same factors that you had just played around, right? So, the 22 times 5 is the 2 times 11 times 5. So, I had 22 times 5 in that way, 2 times 11 times five. And you had 2 times 55 as 2 times 11 times 5. You just grouped the other ones. Factors are fun! 

Pam  03:23

(unclear). Nice. And they're more multiplicative, right? So, it's kind of nice to play around with a multiplicative strategy for multiplication. 

Kim  03:29

Yeah. 

Pam  03:30

Cool.

Kim  03:31

Alright, everyone. We want to see your thinking. I wonder if you played with factors or something else. Represent your thinking, take a picture of your work, and screenshot it, so that we can see it. Tell the world on social media. And while you're there, check out what other people did and comment on their thinking.

Pam  03:45

Yeah, and tag me and use the hashtag MathStratChat. And make sure you check out our next MathStratChat problem that we'll post 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. Thanks for spreading the word that Math is Figure-Out-Able!