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Math teacher educator Pam Harris and her cohost Kim Montague answer the question: If not algorithms, then what? Join them for ~15-30 minutes every Tuesday as they cast their vision for mathematics education and give actionable items to help teachers teach math that is Figure-Out-Able. See www.MathisFigureOutAble.com for more great resources!
Math is Figure-Out-Able!
#MathStratChat - February 26, 2025
In today’s MathStratChat, Pam and Kim discuss the MathStratChat problem shared on social media on February 26, 2025.
Note: It’s more fun if you try to solve the problem, share it on social media, comment on others strategies, before you listen to Pam and Kim’s strategies.
Check out #MathStratChat on your favorite social media site and join in the conversation.
Twitter: @PWHarris
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Facebook: Pam Harris, author, mathematics education
Want more? Check out the archive of all of our #MathStratChat posts!
Pam 00:00
Hey, fellow mathers! Welcome to the podcast where Math is Figure-Out-Able. I'm Pam Harris with my trusty pen.
Kim 00:08
And I'm Kim Montague with the best pencil ever.
Pam 00:11
And this episode is a MathStratChat episode because 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 00:25
Alright, this past week, on Wednesday, our math problem was 5 times 29. We're curious how you would solve this problem. Pause. Solve the problem before you listen to us. The problem was 5 times 29. You want to go first or you want me to?
Pam 00:40
I kind of do. Is that okay?
Kim 00:42
Totally fine.
Pam 00:43
Okay, so 5 times 29. You mentioned a couple of episodes ago that sometimes people won't Double and Halve because of odd numbers.
Kim 00:52
Yeah.
Pam 00:53
We got both odd numbers here. 5 times 29. But I'm going to go ahead and Double and Halve. I think.
Kim 00:58
Okay.
Pam 00:58
I think. So, I'm going to double the 5 to get 10, and I'm going to halve the 29 to get 14.5.
Kim 01:06
Okay.
Pam 01:06
Yeah, I had to think about that for a second. Now, I have 10 times 14.5 Bam! 145.
Kim 01:13
Yeah.
Pam 01:13
Particularly happy about that.
Kim 01:15
That's nice.
Pam 01:15
Alright, what are you doing?
Kim 01:16
So, I'm going to double kind of. I'm going to think about ten 29s.
Pam 01:24
Ah, nice.
Kim 01:25
And then I'm going to halve the end. So, I'm going to think ten 29s is 290.
Pam 01:30
Mmhm.
Kim 01:31
And then half of that is 145.
Pam 01:33
Oh, I like it. I like it. If I were to do one more, I might think about thirty 5s to get twenty-nine 5s.
Kim 01:42
Mmhm.
Pam 01:43
That could be another way. Just for fun.
Kim 01:45
29 doesn't seem like I got a lot of fun, but it's pretty close to some nice stuff.
Pam 01:49
Yeah.
Kim 01:50
Oh, I also am thinking about quarters with that one.
Pam 01:53
Whoa! How?
Kim 01:55
Because 5 times 25.
Pam 01:57
Yeah.
Kim 01:59
And then 5 times 4. Those are both nice problems.
Pam 02:02
I totally would have said that twenty-five 5s, and then four 25s. But did you say that that way (unclear).
Kim 02:10
Well, I said it because of quarters. (unclear).
Pam 02:11
Because you were thinking about quarters.
Kim 02:12
Yeah, five 25s is 125. $1.25.
Pam 02:14
Sure wish I knew something about quarters. We have a video of Kim doing work with fourth grade kids.
Kim 02:21
Yeah, mmhm.
Pam 02:21
And in the video, the kid's kind of messing with quarters, and Kim... Or, well... Or at least the problem could be.
Kim 02:27
Yeah, yeah.
Pam 02:27
And you're just like, "Sure, wish I knew something about quarters," and then you walk away. And so that's just a funny line between us because I've watched that video about 49 million times. Maybe 29 because that's our number today. 29 million times.
Kim 02:39
Alright. Well, we love MathStratChat, and we know you do too. We can't wait to see what you do every week. Join us and let us know how you think about the problems. Comment on each other strategies.
Pam 02:49
Yeah, we post the problems on Wednesday around 7:00 pm 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. Ya'll, thanks for being part of the Math is Figure-Out-Able movement. Math is Figure-Out-Able!