Pam  00:00
Hey, fellow mathers! 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 episode is a MathStratChat episode where we chat about our math strategies. Every Wednesday evening, I throw out a maths problem on social media, and people from around the world...around the world, maths...chat about the strategy that they use and comment on each other's thinking.

Kim  00:22

Okay, so this week, on Wednesday, our math problem was 874 minus 13.9. How would you like to solve this problem? Pause the podcast. Solve it however you want. The problem is 874 minus 13 and 9/10.

Pam  00:39

Bam. 

Kim  00:40

You went first last time, so I'm going to go first this time. 

Pam  00:42

Alright, go ahead. Except if I know what I want to do, I think, but..

Kim  00:46

Well, I'm going to go first anyway.

Pam  00:48

Okay.

Kim  00:49

I'm going to say 874 minus 14 is 860. And then I'm going to add a tenth because I subtracted one-tenth too much. And I got 860.1

Pam  01:05

Okay, I was kind of listening while I was doing my own strategy.

Kim  01:08

Okay, that's fair.

Pam  01:09

So, I'll compare at the end. How's that? Okay? 

Kim  01:12

Alright.

Pam  01:12

Okay, so I'm looking at 13.9 on the number line and 874 on the number line. I'm doing what you did last time. And I'm shifting both of those numbers up 6.1. So, if I'm shifting both up 6.1, the 13.9 goes to 20. The 874 goes to 93.1... Wait, 893.1. Right? Yeah. No. 883. Good heavens. 883.1. No, (unclear).

Kim  01:45

What did you? How much did you shift up?

Pam  01:47

Hang on a second. 874 plus 6.1 is 880.1 

Kim  01:55

Yeah.

Pam  01:55

I don't know what I was doing, but I knew it was wrong when I looked at it. Alright, 880.1 minus 20 is 860.1. Is that what you got?

Kim  02:05

It is. It's funny that you would shift to...

Pam  02:09

20?

Kim  02:10

20. Which, you know like, I think a lot of people want to shift to, like, a nice round number that you're going to subtract. 

Pam  02:17

What would you have shifted to? (unclear).

Kim  02:18

I actually would have just shifted to 14 because I see the 74 and 74 and 14 is nice.

Pam  02:24

Oh, sure enough. So, if I shifted it to 14, then it would be 874.1 minus 14. Haha. Alright, this is probably the least efficient strategy I've ever done on MathStratChat, but there you go. Hey, maybe that will give everybody permission to be less efficient your first go around, and then mathematical behavior. Look back at what you did and decide, "Hey, I want my brain to do that next time."

Kim  02:50

You solved the problem and you know how to use lots of relationships. I call it a win. 

Pam  02:56

Thanks. I appreciate that, Kim.

Kim  02:57

Alright, we can't wait to see what you do every week at MathStratChat. We hope you join us and let us know how you think about the problems. And we love it the most when you comment on everyone else's strategies.

Pam  03:08

Oh, we love it when you do that. Yeah. And 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. Thanks for being part of the Math is Figure-Out-Able movement and making math more and more figure-out-able.