#MathStratChat - October 28, 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 - October 28, 2026

October 28, 2026

0:00 | 4:45

In today’s MathStratChat, Pam and Kim discuss the MathStratChat problem shared on social media on October 28, 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

[00:00:00.340] - Pam
Hey, fellow math-ers. Welcome to the podcast where Math is Figure-Out-Able. I'm Pam Harris.

[00:00:06.850] - Kim
And I'm Kim Montague.

[00:00:08.130] - 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.

[00:00:20.480] - Kim
Okay, so this week our math problem is 2.5 divided by 4. How would you solve the problem? Pause the podcast, solve it on your own, then come on back to hear how we're going to solve it. The problem is 2.5 divided by 4.

[00:00:34.210] - Pam
Okay, Kim, I'm super curious. Did you write 2.5 divided by symbol 4? Did you write 2.5 and a housetop with a 4 on the outside?

[00:00:44.210] - Kim
Oh no.

[00:00:44.450] - Pam
Did you write 2.5 "over" 4, like the fraction format?

[00:00:51.690] - Kim
I wrote 2.5 division symbol 4.

[00:00:54.210] - Pam
Okay. I was just curious about that.

[00:00:55.810] - Kim
I hadn't decided how I wanted to solve it yet. So.

[00:00:59.680] - Pam
Yeah.

[00:00:59.780] - Kim
That might change though.

[00:01:01.460] - Pam
Okay.

[00:01:02.290] - Kim
Do you want to go first?

[00:01:03.320] - Pam
I do want to go first. So, I'm going to write it as 2.5 "fraction bar" 4. So, like 2.5/4. And as soon as I think about 2.5/4, that makes me want to think about eighths. And so, if I scale up to get 8... Well, 2.5/4 would be five-eighths. And then if I have to have a decimal answer, I can think about eighths because I know that four-eighths is like 50%. That's funny. I went to percent instead of decimal. And one-eighth is 12.5%. So, I'm at 62.5% or 0.625.

[00:01:42.110] - Kim
Look at you with the fractions, decimals, and percents. I like it. I like it.

[00:01:46.840] - Pam
I like this problem. That was a good problem.

[00:01:48.390] - Kim
Okay. I won't do what you did. So, I'm going to think about...

[00:01:56.030] - Pam
Did you want to?

[00:01:57.000] - Kim
It's okay. I'm going to think about 2... This is like $2.50 divided by $4.

[00:02:08.080] - Pam
Ah.

[00:02:08.310] - Kim
And I'm going to say $2.50 has five $0.50s. And 4 has eight $0.50s. So, five $0.50s and eight $0.50s. So, five-eighths.

[00:02:26.630] - Pam
Oh, that took me a minute to think about. So, it's almost like you wrote 4 as eight $0.50s. And you wrote 2.5 as five $0.50s. And then it's like the $0.50s divide out.

[00:02:39.020] - Kim
Mmhm.

[00:02:39.370] - Pam
That's not what I thought you were going to do. As soon as you said money, I thought you were going to do $2.00 divided by 4 plus $0.50 divided by 4. And that would be like $0.50 or 0.5. Plus. And then $0.50 divided by 4. We're kind of back to eighths again.

[00:02:56.450] - Kim
Back to eighths, mmhm.

[00:02:57.250] - Pam
Yeah, like 25 and then 2.5.

[00:02:58.630] - Kim
I have the four-eighths and the one-eighth, mmhm.

[00:03:00.310] - Pam
Yeah. Ooh, nice problem. That's nice.

[00:03:02.350] - Kim
Alright. We can't wait to see what you do for real, for real. We like to see them. Join us on MathStratChat and tell us how you are thinking about the problems and then comment on each other's strategies.

[00:03:12.310] - Pam
We post the problems on Wednesdays around 7:00 p.m. Central all across the social media sphere. So, wherever you are hanging out, check out around Wednesdays around 7:00 central. You can search the hashtag #MathStratChat. When you answer, tag me and use that hashtag and 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, y'all. Math is Figure-Out-Able!