#MathStratChat - September 16, 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 16, 2026

September 16, 2026 • Scott Holmes

0:00 | 4:59

In today’s MathStratChat, Pam and Kim discuss the MathStratChat problem shared on social media on September 16, 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

[00:00:00.820] - Pam
Hey, fellow math-ers! Welcome to the podcast where Math is Figure-Out-Able. I'm Pam Harris.

[00:00:07.570] - Kim
And I'm Kim Montague.

[00:00:08.850] - Pam
And this is a MathStratChat episode because 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.

[00:00:21.030] - Kim
Okay, so this Wednesday, the problem was if I can buy 3 pounds of granola for $10.50, how many pounds can I buy for $47.25? How would you like to solve this problem? Pause the podcast, solve it on your own, and then come on back. If I can buy 3 pounds of granola for $10.50, how many pounds can I buy for $47.25?

[00:00:45.830] - Pam
Okay. So, Kim, somebody might look at this problem and say, "Really? What, are you walking in the store with $47.25, and you have to know how many pounds of granola?" But you really could use this. Like be actually wanting to solve this problem. A, if you were just in middle school math class. But B, if you were looking at two packages, and one of them was 3 pounds for $10.50 and the other one was some pounds for $47.25. And you could say to yourself, if the price was 3 pounds for $10.50, what would that be equivalent to for $47.25?

[00:01:20.460] - Kim
Nice.

[00:01:21.100] - Pam
And that... Right? That could be a way that you could actually compare. And, of course, that would be if the little, what, ticket on the thing was smudged and you couldn't see the price per pound.

[00:01:29.840] - Kim
Yeah, yeah. Mmhm.

[00:01:31.120] - Pam
Okay, cool. You go first this time.

[00:01:34.110] - Kim
Okay. So, I wrote...

[00:01:35.540] - Pam
I guess I shouldn't command you. Would you like to go first this time?

[00:01:38.040] - Kim
I would be happy to go first. I started a ratio table, and I put 3 pounds, and then drew a line and put $10.50. So, 3 for $10.50.

[00:01:49.610] - Pam
Yeah.

[00:01:50.080] - Kim
I then put the $47.25 to the right with some space between. And I thought, "What do I know that is close to $47.25 that I can land on pretty nicely?" And so, I actually did times 4 because

[00:02:12.010] - Pam
.
[00:02:12.430] - Kim
In one fell swoop. Okay. Well, yeah. I probably could have put 6, 12. But it felt really quickly to me to say, "I know..."

[00:02:23.700] - Pam
Well, now that you say it, that's not too bad.

[00:02:26.200] - Kim
Yeah. So, times 2 would be 6 pounds of granola for $21 because I'm just doubling the $10.50. So, you know, maybe I could have put that. But I put times 4 would be 12 pounds of granola for $42. And then I looked at the difference between the $42 and the $47.25 and realized that that was $5.25, which is half of the $10.50 for 3 pounds. So, 3 pounds of granola. So, I only have 1.5 pounds of granola left. So, I added the 12 pounds and the 1.5 pounds to get 13.5 pounds of granola.

[00:03:06.340] - Pam
Nice.

[00:03:07.090] - Kim
Alright, what did you do?

[00:03:09.790] - Pam
Well, I did double. So, I was thinking about 3 pounds for 10.50, then 6 pounds for 21, and then doubled that to get the 12 to 42. And then like you, said, "Okay, I'm close. How close am I?" And I was $5.25 away. And so, yeah, that's half of the $10.50. Yeah, so I just worked up in smaller chunks a little bit.

[00:03:31.710] - Kim
Yeah. And maybe if I was really being accurate to what every single move that I did in my head, it probably would have looked exactly like yours.

[00:03:40.880] - Pam
Ah, interesting.

[00:03:41.800] - Kim
But like as I was starting to write, I was like, "I'm not going to record that because I now know what the next entry is." What do you think about that?

[00:03:49.690] - Pam
Yeah, that's pretty slick. I'm wondering if there's ever a world where I might have seen the $0.25 on the 47.25. And said to myself, I wonder if half is going to play in. And said, "Okay, so I know a dollar..." Or sorry. A pound and a half is going to cost $5.25. And then subtracted that. I would have had the 12 to 42. I don't know, maybe. Yeah. That doesn't work if it's not going to come out evenly, so you have to sort of, you know, have faith that it's going to come out evenly that way.

[00:04:21.540] - Kim
Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. That's worth looking into. Alright, we cannot wait to see what you do every week. Get on the socials, right, and check it out. Join us on MathStratChat and let us know how you're thinking about the problems and comment on each other's strategies.

[00:04:36.880] - Pam
Yeah, y'all, we post the problems on Wednesdays around 7:00 p.m. Central. When you answer, tag me and use the hashtag #MathStratChat. And if you forget either of those just still post it. It's good. 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 movement. Math is Figure-Out-Able!