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 Montague with my lovely pencil. 

Pam  00:11

And this episode is a MathStratChat episode. You know why I said that? It's because I hear you writing. I can hear your pencil writing. 

Kim  00:18

Do you really? 

Pam  00:19

Yeah, totally. Not all the time. Not all the time. I think he just blocks it out. Craig's our editor. Anyway. 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  00:34

Okay, so this week, our problem was 28 times 32. How would you solve this problem? Pause. Solve the problem however you want. It is 28 times. 32.

Pam  00:47

Alright, Kim, I'm going to let you go first. 

Kim  00:48

Okie, doke. I'm going to write with my pencil. You probably hear me. I'm going write (unclear). 

Pam  00:53

I can!

Kim  00:54

Can you really?

Pam  00:55

Maybe we should tell Craig to let it stay, so people can... Like, write right now, write, write. 

Kim  01:00

Can you hear that? 

Pam  01:01

I mean, I heard one. I didn't hear a lot. Your microphone is probably cutting some of it out. Anyway, go ahead.

Kim  01:06

Well, I think that 30 times 32...

Pam  01:11

Oh, nice. Mmhm. 

Kim  01:12

...is 960. But that's too many 32s, so I'm going to subtract 2 times 32. Which is 64. And 960 minus 64. I'm going to to go back 60 to get 900. Back 4 more is 896.

Pam  01:34

Okay.

Kim  01:34

I do like Over.

Pam  01:35

That's nice. 30. Instead of twenty-eight 32s, you found thirty 32s, and then got rid of two 30 twos. 

Kim  01:41

Yep.

Pam  01:42

Nice, nice, nice. 

Kim  01:43

What you want to do? 

Pam  01:46

I thought for a second about doing thirty 28s. 

Kim  01:50

Okay.

Pam  01:51

And then adding two more 28s. But the reason I wrote this problem is I wanted to play around with a strategy that people have been talking about in my circles for a hot minute, which is I'm noticing that 28 and 32 are both 2 away from 30. So, I'm going to rewrite 28 times 32 as 30 minus 2. That's the 28. Times 30 plus 2. That's the 32. Now, I have 30 minus 2 times 30 plus 2. And if I multiply all those pieces together, I get 30 times 30 is 900 I get a -2 times 30 and a positive 2 times 30. Those add to 0. And then I get a minus or -2 times a 2, and that's subtract 4. So, now I've got 900 minus 4, which is also 896. 

Kim  02:40

Nice. 

Pam  02:40

Yeah. I'm kind of having fun with that thinking a little bit.

Kim  02:43

Very good. 

Pam  02:44

Cool. 

Pam and Kim  02:45

Alright. 

Kim  02:45

Well, we can't wait to see what you ever... 

Pam  02:48

(unclear).

Kim  02:48

Do the problem people. Join us on MathStratChat, and let us know how you think about the problems. And comment on each other's strategies. 

Pam  02:56

We love it when you comment on each other's strategies. Ya'll, we post the problems on Wednesday 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. We love having you as part of the Math is Figure-Out-Able... What day is today? Math is Figure-Out-Able movement because Math is Figure-Out-Able Whoo!