Pam  00:00

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

Kim  00:06

And I'm Kim Montague.

Pam  00:07

And this 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 others thinking. Hey, Kim.

Kim  00:22

Hey, we did a problem last week and this week. It was 144 minus 36. What is wrong with me?

Pam  00:29

Hey, Kim. How's it going?

Kim  00:30

Hi. 

Pam  00:33

(unclear)

Kim  00:33

(unclear). I really don't have this many focus issues. Oh, goodness.

Pam  00:38

You're doing great. Hey, we're all human, right? We're all human.

Kim  00:42

144 minus 36. That's the problem. Ya'll, pause and solve it, and then come back to hear how we're going to solve it.

Pam  00:49

Whether you want it or not. That's the problem. Bam. 

Kim  00:52

Alright. 

Pam  00:53

Okay.

Kim  00:54

You want to go first or you want me to? I'm going to go first. I'm going to go.

Pam  00:56

Yep, go ahead, go ahead. 

Kim  00:57

Alright, I... Oh, I kind of like 144. But I'm going to go 144 minus 36 is not super nice. So, I'm going to shift that problem up a bit, and I'm going to shift it by 4, so I can do what you love and have the friendly number be what I'm subtracting. So, I'm going to go my new problem that's equivalent is 148 minus 40. And that's just 108.

Pam  01:25

Nice, nice. Just an equivalent problem. Finding the difference (unclear) shifted up. 

Kim  01:29

Yep. 

Pam  01:29

Very cool. I'm going to think a little multiplicatively. 

Kim  01:32

Okie dokie. 

Pam  01:33

So, I'm thinking about 144 as twelve 12s and 36 as three 12s. 

Kim  01:40

Yep. 

Pam  01:40

And so, twelve 12 minus three 12s is nine 12s. Now, that's a little tricky because at that point do I know nine 12s? Well, I'm so glad that you went first because I can look at your 108, and go, "Yeah, that is nine 12s. Bam." Otherwise, I'll be honest, nine 12s, I have to think about just a little bit. And I usually do something like it's not 84. It's not 96 Oh, it's gotta be 108. 

Kim  02:03

Yeah, yeah. You know what, though?

Pam  02:04

(unclear). Yeah.

Kim  02:06

Some people would say, "Oh, well, students can't do that." There's a lot of kids who, for whatever reason, love the 12. I don't know what it is Cooper, my younger, like was obsessed with the 12. And when he was in third grade, and he was probably not paying attention like his mom. You know, he would like do all kinds of weird things with 12s for, I don't know, is it because it's the biggest fact? I'm not sure. But he owns 12 super well to really high numbers. So, you know, why not (unclear).

Pam  02:34

I mean, there's some super nice things that you can do with them. Yeah, absolutely.

Kim  02:38

Alright, everyone, we want to see your strategy. What are you doing? Bring some new stuff to us. Is it anything like ours or something super cool and different? Represent your thinking. And when you get there on social media to post your thinking, comment on other people's thinking.

Pam  02:53

Yeah, and tag me and use the hashtag MathStratChat. And check out our next MathStratChat problem that we'll post Wednesday evenings around 7, Central Time, and pop back here to hear how we're thinking about the problem. Thank you for being part of the Math is Figure-Out-Able movement. Because Math is Figure-Out-Able!