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 - May 6, 2026
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In today’s MathStratChat, Pam and Kim discuss the MathStratChat problem shared on social media on May 6, 2026.
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.
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Pam 0:01
Hey, fellow math-ers! Welcome to the podcast where Math is Figure-Out-Able. I'm Pam Harris.
Kim 0:07
And I'm Kim Montague.
Pam 0:08
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
Alright, friends. This week, our problem is nine-halves divided by three-sixths. How would you like to solve this problem? Pause the podcast. Solve it however you'd like, and then come on back to hear how we solve nine-halves divided by three-sixths.
Okay.
Pam 0:37
Yeah.
Kim 0:38
Do you want to go first or do you want me to?
Pam 0:42
Go ahead.
Kim 0:43
Okay. So, nine-halves divided by three-sixths is actually... I know is equivalent to the problem we had last week. So, we had three-halves divided by one-sixths.
Pam 1:01
Okay.
Kim 1:02
Last week. And so, now we have nine-halves divided by three-sixths, and so it's like both the numerator... Oh, no. That's not true. The numerator was scaled up by 3.. Oh, yeah. And the denominator was scaled up by 3. And so, since we scaled both the numerator and the denominator by 3, the relationship between them stayed the same.
Pam 1:25
So, last week's answer was 9. You're sticking to the... You're like, "It's still 9."
Kim 1:28
Yeah.
Pam 1:30
I like it. If we were to stay in division, is it fair to say that if I have a dividend divided by a divisor, and you have 3 times as many things divided into 3 times as many groups, that you'd have the same number of groups.
Kim 1:47
Mmhm.
Pam 1:47
Okay. So, another way of kind of... You did it really fractionally, which is nice. Another way would have been division, cool. So, another way that you could think about it. Nine-halves, I thought that's like 4 and a half. And I wondered how many sixths were in 4 and a 1/2. So, I think 4 wholes would have six-sixths in each of them, so that's 24/6. And then I saw that half that has three-sixths. So, 24/6 and three-sixths would be 27/6. So, I ended up with a problem 27/6 divided by three-sixths. And that's like how many three-sixths are in 27/6, and I think that's 9.
Kim 2:26
Nice.
Pam 2:28
Cool. Alright.
Kim 2:28
Very nice. Alright, we can't wait to see what you do every week. Hey, join us on MathStratChat, and let us know how you're thinking about the problems. And then, while you're there, comment on each other's strategies.
Pam 2:38
Y'all, we'll post the problems on Wednesdays around 7:00 p.m. Central. When you answer, tag me and use the hashtag MathStratChat. Then join us here to hear how we're thinking about the problem. Y'all, thanks for being part of the Math is Figure-Out-Able movement. Math is Figure-Out-Able!