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 

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 each other's thinking. 

Kim  00:20 

So, this past Wednesday, our problem was one-fourth minus one-tenth. How would you solve this problem? Pause the podcast. Solve it however you'd like. The problem is one-fourth minus one-tenth. 

Pam and Kim  00:33 

(unclear). 

Pam  00:35 

You go first. 

Kim  00:36 

Okay. I am going to think about percents. 

Pam  00:38 

Okay. 

Kim  00:39 

And I'm going to say that one-fourth is 25%. 

Pam  00:42 

Mmhm. 

Kim  00:43 

And one-tenth is 10%. So, 25% minus 10% is 15%. 

Pam  00:50 

And if I made you, on pain of death... No, I'm just kidding. But if I asked you to write that as a fraction, what would you write? 

Kim  00:57 

I would write that as 15/100s. 

Pam  01:02 

And you're like happy to be done there? 

Kim  01:05 

Do I have to simplify it? 

Pam  01:07 

No. I'm asking. Are you happy to be done there? 

Kim  01:10 

I'm happy there. 

Pam  01:12 

Okay, then you're done. Nice. I'm thinking about money. And a quarter of $1.00 is $0.25. And this time, I'm going to write 25 out of 100 cents. So, like a fraction. 25 out of 100. 

Kim  01:28 

Mmhm. 

Pam  01:29 

And then a tenth is a dime. And so, that's 1 dime out of... 1 dime is $0.10 out of one hundred cents. And 25 minus 10... It's very similar to what you just did. But I'm thinking about money. 25 minus 10 is 15. And I end up with 15/100. So, I ended up the same thing you did. But staying in money, I might say how many nickels are in $0.15? And there's 3. And how many nickels are in $1.00? And there's 20. So, I might simplify that to three nickels out of the twenty nickels or three-twentieths. But I could have also... Now, that I'm doing that, I could have also done the the whole problem with nickels. Which, if you could tell, halfway through, I was like, "Ah, I wish I would have done this with nickels. A fourth of $1.00 is $0.25. And that's 5 nickels out of the 20 nickels in $1.00. And a tenth of $1.00 is 2 nickels out of the 20 nickels. So, I've got five-twentieths minus two-twentieths. And that would also give me three-twentieths. So, I was feeling... Halfway through doing pennies, I was like, "Nah, I should have done nickels." 

Kim  02:30 

Mmhm. 

Pam  02:30 

Just because I had a feel that it was going to be more simplified at the end. Could you think about a clock if I made you? 

Kim  02:37 

Mmhm. Yeah. 

Pam  02:39 

Maybe if I asked you nicely? 

Kim  02:41 

Are we doing everything we can possibly do in this problem? So, a fourth of a clock is 15 minutes. 

Pam  02:46 

Is that you saying you don't want to? Just kidding. Okay, 15 minutes. 

Kim  02:50 

And a tenth of a clock is 6 minutes. 

Pam  02:54 

Okay. 

Kim  02:55 

So, 15 minutes minus 6 minutes is 9 minutes. 

Pam  03:00 

Out of 60 minutes. 

Kim  03:02 

Which is equivalent to your three-twentieths. 

Pam  03:04 

Sure enough. Okay (unclear). 

Kim  03:07 

Alright. Well , we've heard everything we've got. We can't wait to see what you think (unclear). 

Pam  03:12 

Actually, can I do one more? 

Kim  03:13 

No, you may not! 

Pam  03:14 

Oh, but I'm thinking now! No? What if we'd done five minute chunks? 

Kim  03:20 

Okay, go for it. 

Pam  03:21 

A fourth of an hour is like the 3, right? I'm like on the 3. 

Kim  03:27 

Okay. 

Pam  03:27 

So, that's like 3 out of 12. 

Kim  03:28 

Mmhm. 

Pam  03:29 

And a tenth of an hour... No, that's not going to work because that's like 6 minutes. That's not... 

Kim  03:40 

You get portions of chunks. 

Pam  03:42 

Yeah, I can't do that out of 12. Never mind. 

Kim  03:45 

So, no, we're not talking about it more. 

Pam  03:49 

But at least I got to think about it. Thanks for letting me think about it. 

Kim  03:51 

(unclear) No problem. We can't wait to see what you do every week. We really do scroll on the socials. (unclear). 

Pam  03:57 

Oh, yeah. 

Kim  03:58 

So, join us on MathStratChat, and let us know how you think about the problems, and then comment on each other's strategies. 

Pam  04:04 

Love it when you comment on each other's strategies! And we post these problems on Wednesdays around 7:00 pm Central time. When you answer, tag me and use the hashtag MathStratChat. Then join us 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!