Pam  00:00

Hey, fellow mathers! Welcome to the podcast. That's where we are. We're Math is Figure-Out-Able. I'm Pam Harris.

Kim  00:09

And I'm Kim Montague.

Pam  00:11

And this episode is a MathStratChat episode where we chat about our math strategies. And laugh a little bit. 

Kim  00:16

Oh, my gosh.

Pam  00:17

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  00:25

Hey, can I just tell you real quick before we get to the problem? 

Pam  00:27

Yeah.

Kim  00:28

Sometimes I think about this. When you say, "I'm Pam Harris." I immediately go, "Okay, then I'm supposed to say my last name this time." But when you say, "I'm Pam," then I just say, "I'm Kim." So, sometimes I don't know what name I'm going to use that day. So dumb.

Pam  00:41

You're not sure who you are? 

Kim  00:43

(unclear). 

Pam  00:43

From last week, your I Have, You Needy,

Kim  00:46

We're still laughing about that. Okay, so this Wednesday, the problem that you threw out was 351 divided by 9. How would you guys solve this problem? Pause. Solve the problem however you want. It is 351 divided by 9.

Pam  01:04

Bam. Okay. So, when I first looked at this problem when we were hitting go on recording, I said to you, "Wait, I haven't thought about this problem." And then I said, "No, let's just go. Let's not. Let's don't think about it." And as I was clicking go, I was like, "Oh, yeah. Okay, I'm good."

Kim  01:19

Yeah. 

Pam  01:19

And let me just tell you what I thought about. I thought to myself divided by 9. And I said, "What do I know about nines and multiples of nines. And 351 just screamed 360. 

Kim  01:30

Yeah. 

Pam  01:32

So, 360 divided by 9 I know is 40 because 36 divided by 9 is 4. So, if 360 divided by 9 is 40, but I have a little bit too. I have to get rid of a little extra. I have to get rid of 9 to get to 351. So, that's like 9 divided by 9 is like 1 of them. So, 40 minus 1 is 39. Thanks for letting me go first because I know that (unclear). And I know you're like the Over girl, so I hope you got something else. 

Kim  01:59

Okay, so I'll admit that...

Pam  02:02

Is that what you saw too? 

Kim  02:03

I did. But when you said, "I haven't seen it yet." I was like, "Okay, let me think of something else." So, as you were talking, I have no idea if you got the right answer. I was not listening to you at all. 

Pam  02:14

Thanks. Thanks for that.

Kim  02:15

Sorry, sorry. Because, you know, the first thing I saw also was the 360. But then when I looked again, I saw the 300 and the 51. And I was like, "You know what? I think I'm going to scale down. I'm going to see if an equivalent ratio would be okay." And hear me out. So, if I wanted to scale down divided by 3, then the 9 scaled down is easy.

Pam  02:46

Okay.

Kim  02:46

You know, for me. But also, if I think about the 300 and the 51. I know that scaled down by 3, divided by 3 is a 100 and a 17. Because I just...

Pam  02:59

You know 17 times 3 is 51. 

Kim  03:01

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Pam  03:02

Nice.

Kim  03:02

So, that one was not horrible. But then, I did end up with 117 divided by 3, which was not amazing. But I know 120 divided by 3 is 40. So, 117 divided by 3 would be 39. 

Pam  03:20

So, I got tell you.

Kim  03:21

So, I also Overed I just got (unclear).

Pam  03:22

You did. You know, as soon as you said that you were thinking about dividing both of those numbers by 3, I actually wrote them as a fraction. So, I wrote 351 "over". Which is not a mathematical word, but just so everybody can like as a fraction form. 351.

Kim  03:35

Yeah.

Pam  03:36

to 9 equals. And then the  117 to 3. And then I thought, "Well, I know what 90 divided by 3 is. And that would be the 27. So, the 90 and... Yeah, that's another way to get 39.

Kim  03:49

So, maybe I saw the 351 that way because I also wrote it down as a fraction.

Pam  03:56

Oh, you wrote it down as a fraction. (unclear).

Kim  03:57

(unclear). right. 

Both Pam and Kim  04:00

Yeah.

Pam  04:00

Cool, cool, cool. 

Kim  04:01

Because I circled the 3 and I circled the 51. Okay, anyway. We can't wait to see what you all do. We love it when you join us on MathStratChat and tell us about how you solve problems. And we especially love it when you comment on other people's thinking.

Pam  04:14

Totally. Hey, ya'll, we post the problems on Wednesdays around 7pm Central time. When you answer, tag me, and use the hashtag MathStratChat, then join us here to hear how we're thinking about the problem. We love having you as part of the Math is Figure-Out-Able movement because Math is Figure-Out-Able!