#MathStratChat - September 09, 2026 Artwork

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!

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Math is Figure-Out-Able!

#MathStratChat - September 09, 2026

September 09, 2026 • Scott Holmes

0:00 | 5:19

In today’s MathStratChat, Pam and Kim discuss the MathStratChat problem shared on social media on September 9, 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.

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

[00:00:00.740] - Pam
Hey, fellow math-ers! Welcome to the podcast where Math is Figure-Out-Able. I'm Pam.

[00:00:07.400] - Kim
And I'm Kim.

[00:00:08.590] - Pam
And this 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.

[00:00:21.430] - Kim
Okay, so this week the problem is if I can buy 4 pounds of peaches for $7.00, how many pounds can I buy for $38.50? How would you solve this problem? Pause the podcast, solve it, and come on back to hear how we are going to solve it. If I can buy... Oh, you want me to read it again?

[00:00:40.500] - Pam
Sorry. Yeah, sorry. Go ahead.

[00:00:41.860] - Kim
If I can buy 4 pounds of peaches for $7.00, how many pounds can I buy for $38.50?

[00:00:48.990] - Pam
Okay. So, I wrote down 4 "fraction bar" $7.00. I did not put pounds, but I could put pounds. 4 "fraction bar". 4 pounds "fraction bar" $7.00. So, I'm thinking about the ratio of 4 pounds to $7. And let's see, what'd you say? It was $38.50.

[00:01:08.640] - Kim
Yeah.

[00:01:09.200] - Pam
So, I want to scale up that $7.00 to get to $38.50. So, that's not a whole number. Like, that's not a... What am I trying to say? Multiple of 7. It's not a multiple of 7. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Words. So, I'm going to think how close I could get to that. So, I'm going to scale times 5 because 7 times 5 is 35. So, $35.00 is pretty close to $38.50. So, I scale the 4 times 5. 4 times 5 is 20. So, now I know I could buy 20 pounds for $35.00. How far is $35.00 from $38.50? That is $3.50. Ah, which is super handy because $3.50 is half of $7.00, so that would buy me 2 pounds because half of the 4 pounds. And so, now I can add the $35.00 and the $3.50 together to get $38.50. So, then I add the 20 pounds and the 2 pounds together to get 22 pounds.

[00:02:06.200] - Kim
Nice.

[00:02:07.170] - Pam
Cool. Is that the only way? What were you thinking about?

[00:02:11.860] - Kim
I also wrote 4 fraction bar 7, 4 pounds for $7. And then I don't know if he said this. But I'm willing to bet that you then like moved down the ratio table and wrote $38.50. Like, to put where you're going. Did you do that?

[00:02:27.790] - Pam
I did actually.

[00:02:28.850] - Kim
Okay, yeah. I kind of figured that's a helpful thing for (unclear)

[00:02:32.410] - Pam
So, you have your goal, right? It's like how can I scale $7.00 to $38.50? There it is. $38.50 goal. Yeah. In fact, it's kind of far on the right of my paper.

[00:02:41.090] - Kim
Yeah. I figured.

[00:02:42.750] - Pam
Too far actually. I didn't have to make it that far.

[00:02:45.480] - Kim
That's okay. But when I saw the $38.50, for whatever reason, I didn't want to go Under, so I wrote...

[00:02:54.230] - Pam
I should have guessed.

[00:02:55.080] - Kim
....$42.00 You know, I do like the Over. So, I scaled times 6, and so then my new entry was 24 pounds of peaches for $42.

[00:03:05.680] - Pam
Nice.

[00:03:06.390] - Kim
And then I also did the same thing that you did and say, how far away am I, and realized I was $3.50 away, which was 2 pounds. So I have 24 pounds minus 2 pounds is the 22 pounds.

[00:03:18.270] - Pam
Sweet.

[00:03:18.910] - Kim
A lot of peaches.

[00:03:20.520] - Pam
I like it.

[00:03:22.360] - Kim
Alright. Well, we can't...

[00:03:23.450] - Pam
Awesome.

[00:03:24.110] - Kim
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 comment on each other's strategies.

[00:03:31.650] - Pam
Y'all, we post the problems on Wednesdays around 7:00 p.m. Central. When you answer, tag me and use the hashtag MathStratChat, then join us to hear how we're thinking about the problem. Thanks for being part of the Math is Figure-Out-Able movement. Math is Figure-Out-Able!