Pam  00:00

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

Kim  00:06

And I'm Kim. 

Pam  00:07

This episode is... You're already laughing. 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  00:21

Okay, so this past Wednesday, our problem was another compare problem. Compare three-sevenths and five-ninths. How would you solve this problem? Pause the podcast. Solve it however you'd like. The problem is compare three-sevenths and five-ninths.

Pam  00:34

Dun, dun, dun. So, I would love to use the strategy that you kind of helped me think about a long time ago.

Kim  00:43

Mmhm. 

Pam  00:43

Which is compare to one-half. So, if I think about three-sevenths, one half for sevenths is three and a half 1/7s. so three-sevenths is less than three and a half 1/7s. Half of 9 would be four and a half 1/9s. I should say half of a ninth. No, I don't know how to say that. Half of 9 is 4 and a 1/2, so four and a half 1/9s is one-half. Five-ninths is greater than four and a half 1/9s, so it's greater than one-half. So, five-ninths is greater than three-sevenths or three-sevenths is less than five-ninths.

Kim  01:15

Mmhm. Yeah, so I like that. 

Pam  01:20

I probably should have switched those when I put them on MathStratChat. You know, like I have the smaller number on the left and the larger number on the right. Anyway. Oh, well. Oh, well. What are you thinking? 

Kim  01:31

It's fine. I'm thinking about how they're both 4 unit fractions away from their whole. So, like, five-ninths, you would need four-ninths to get to a whole. And for three-sevenths, you need four-sevenths to get to a whole.

Pam  01:51

How do you think of stuff like this? Wow! 

Kim  01:55

Well, honestly, when you were... I was like, "Oh, man, she stole what I want to do first." So then I was like, "Hey, do I know any? Do I need decimals? No. Do I know any percent? Those are the kind of funky." So, I just started tinkering. Because, you know what I didn't do? I said, "Ugh, I guess I might have to like scale them both up." And I kind of went like, "I don't want to. It's kind of boring." Anyway, anyway. So, the fact that four-sevenths is four-sevenths away versus four-ninths away then I can compare the denominators. 

Pam  02:25

Yeah.

Kim  02:25

And four-ninths is smaller which means five-ninths is bigger. 

Pam  02:29

Is closer to the 1.

Kim  02:30

Yeah.

Pam  02:31

Oh, that is so sweet! I hope I remember that next time. I want my brain to think like that next. 

Kim  02:37

Excellent. And it can. It can. Alright, well we can't wait to see what you do each week. Join us on MathStratChat and let us know how you think about the problems that are posted. And be sure to comment on each other's strategies. 

Pam  02:47

Ya'll, we post the problems on Wednesdays around 7:00 pm Central. When you answer, tag me and use the hashtag MathStratChat. Then join us to hear how we're thinking about the problem. Ya'll, thanks for being part of the Math is Figure-Out-Able movement and making math more figure-out-able.