
Math is Figure-Out-Able!
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 - July 23, 2025
In today’s MathStratChat, Pam and Kim discuss the MathStratChat problem shared on social media on July 23, 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
Instagram: Pam Harris_math
Facebook: Pam Harris, author, mathematics education
Want more? Check out the archive of all of our #MathStratChat posts!
Pam 0:00
Hey, fellow mathers! Welcome to the podcast where Math is Figure-Out-Able. I'm Pam Harris.
Kim 0:08
And I'm Kim Montague.
Pam 0:09
Somebody.
Kim 0:11
I'm fine. I'm fine.
Pam 0:12
And this is a MathStratChat episode because we chat about our math strategies when we realize we're here. Every Wednesday evening, I'll 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 0:26
Alright, so this Wednesday, our problem was if 18 is nine-tenths of a number, what is one-tenth of that number? I'll say it again. If 18 is nine-tenths of a number, what is one-tenth of that number? How would you solve this problem? Pause the podcast. Take some time to solve it however you want, and then come on back to join us.
Pam 0:47
Hmm.
Kim 0:47
You want to go first?
Pam 0:51
Yeah, kind of.
Kim 0:52
Okay.
Pam 0:52
So, if 18 is nine one-tenths,
Pam 0:58
I only need...
Pam 1:00
No. Then I want to find out what? Not nine 1/10s. I only want one of those 1/10s.
Kim 1:05
Mmhm.
Pam 1:05
So, if I divide nine-tenths by 9, I'd get one-tenth, so I'm going to divide 18 by 9. And that would give me 2. So, I think if 18 is nine-tenths of a number, then 2 is one-tenth of that number.
Kim 1:19
Mmhm.
Pam 1:19
Is that right?
Kim 1:21
Mmhm.
Pam 1:21
Okay. You got anything else.
Kim 1:23
I'm not
Kim 1:24
sure how I know. I'm trying to think about what I know, why I think this.
Pam 1:31
Okay.
Kim 1:31
If 18 is nine-tenths, then I thought 20 is ten-tenths. But surely there's something underneath that that I know because then I'd scale down from ten-tenths to one-tenth and 20 scales down to 2.
Pam 1:48
So, you're saying you didn't need to know one-tenth to get the 20.
Kim 1:52
Yeah, I don't know. Yeah.
Pam 1:53
Well, maybe you thought nine-tenths is equivalent to 18 somethings. Nine-tenths is equivalent to eighteen-twentieths. I could maybe represent what you did that way.
Kim 2:05
I don't know.
Pam 2:08
If 9 is to 18, then its thing is going to have to be double.
Kim 2:14
Oh, I
Kim 2:14
definitely didn't think about that, but that would make sense. Sometimes you don't know why you know what you know.
Pam 2:18
Yeah. So, you're saying you knew that twenty-tenths.
Kim 2:20
I knew that 20 would be ten-tenths.
Pam 2:23
20 would be ten-tenths.
Kim 2:25
But it's got to just be that like I know 18 and 9. It's got to just be that I kind of already knew one-tenth.
Pam 2:34
Maybe.
Kim 2:35
But I was definitely thinking about Over. Ha. Shocking. And so, then I went 20 is ten-tenths, therefore 2 is one-tenth.
Kim 2:42
Or one-tenth is 2.
Pam 2:43
Cool. I like your thinking.
Kim 2:45
Alright.
Pam 2:45
Alright.
Kim 2:46
Okay, so
Kim 2:49
join us.
Pam 2:49
We can't wait. 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. And we love it when you comment on each other's strategies.
Kim 2:58
Pam posts the problem on Wednesdays at 7:00 pm Central. When you answer, tag her and use the hashtag MathStratChat.
Pam 3:05
Then
Pam 3:05
you can join us here 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!