Pam  0:00  
Hey, fellow mathers! Welcome to the podcast where Math is Figure-Out-Able. I'm Pam.

Kim  0:06  
And I'm Kim.

Pam  0:07  
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  0:20  
Okay, so this week, our math problem is 15,938 plus 9,491. I'm going to say that again. 15,938 plus 9,491. How would you like to solve this problem? Pause, solve it however you want, and then come on back to hear how we were going to solve it. 

Pam  0:42  
Yeesh, who came up with this problem? 

Kim  0:44  
Uh, yeah. That's what I'm thinking. Do you want to go first or do you want me to go first? 

Pam  0:48  
Well, you asked, so I think I'm going to go first. 

Kim  0:54  
Okie doke.

Pam  0:54  
I'll tell you what I'm thinking about. The first thing I thought is 15,938 is closer to 16,000 than 9,494 is closer to 1,000. But then I would have to add 16,000 plus stuff, and I don't know that I want to do that. So, I don't know. Does that make sense? I don't want to go over the 20,000. Which may be stupid. But I'm going to make 9,494. I'm going to play a little I Have, You Need.

Kim  1:24  
Mmhm.

Pam  1:24  
And say to get to 10,000, that would be 506.

Kim  1:28  
Wait, wait, wait. the problem is 9,491.

Pam  1:31  
Oh, 91. Oh, I wrote it down wrong. 

Kim  1:34  
Yeah.

Pam  1:34  
1. Okay, then it would be 509.

Kim  1:41  
Mmhm.

Pam  1:42  
Okay. So, if I add 509 to 9491, I would get 1,000. 10,000. Oof, 10,000. Yes. Okay, so now I need to subtract 509 from the other number. And that would be 15,400...
Oh, snookers. 400... I can do it. 29. Yeah. Okay, so now I got... Is that right? 

Kim  2:12  
No, I'm letting you finish.

Pam  2:15  
15,429.

Kim  2:15  
Yeah.

Pam  2:15  
Plus 10,000.

Kim  2:17  
Mmhm.

Pam  2:17  
Is 25,429.

Kim  2:20  
Yeah.

Pam  2:21  
Okay. Where are you? Yeah, go.

Kim  2:24  
I think the first thing I noticed is that there were some 9s.

Pam  2:28  
Oh, I didn't even think of that.

Kim  2:30  
And so, I wondered if it would be nicer.

Pam  2:32  
Ugh.

Kim  2:33  
So, I wrote the problem down. And then, honestly, I just drew like a little arrow, and I flip flopped the places for the 900 and the 15,938 with the 400. And then I wondered like would it be better to do any more? And so, I kind of swapped the 8 and the 1. So, I rewrote, underneath that, 15,431 plus 9,998. And then I added 10,000 and backed up 2. So, I also got your 25,429.

Pam  3:09  
That's really nice. I didn't even think about swapping. I want my brain to do that next time.

Kim  3:16  
It can. It can. It can. 

Pam  3:17  
That was well done. 

Kim  3:18  
Thanks so much for a good problem. 

Pam  3:20  
Yeah, y'all, we can't wait to see what you do each week. Did I make that problem up? I think you did. Join us on MathStratChat and let us know how you are thinking about the problems and comment on each other's strategies. 

Kim  3:30  
We post the problems every Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. Central and when you answer, tag Pam, and use that MathStratChat hashtag. Hashtag MathStratChat. 

Pam and Kim  3:40  
Join us here

Pam  3:42  
to hear how we're thinking about the problem.

Kim  3:44  
Oh, good heavens.

Pam  3:44  
We love having you as part of the Math is Figure-Out-Able movement. Thanks for keeping it figure-out-able, y'all!