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"Adults Are Arguing About This 3rd Grade Math Problem"
- Thread starter Skwim
- Start date
I thought of addition.....6 times for John.
What was Sue wearing?
Is she hot?
What was Sue wearing?
Is she hot?
Deathbydefault
Apistevist Asexual Atheist
"Times more than" isn't "laps more than."
And 3rd graders taking such a literal interpretation makes little sense to me.
I say it's multiplication, so 8.
And 3rd graders taking such a literal interpretation makes little sense to me.
I say it's multiplication, so 8.
What if it said this: If Sue runs around the track twice, and Jack runs around the track one time more than Sue, how many times does Jack run around the track?
If you do that as an addition the answer is 3. If you do it as a multiplication the answer is 2. But that seems a strange way to say that Jack and Sue ran around the track the same number of times
What if you said this: If Sue runs around the track twice, and Jack runs around the track zero times more than Sue, how many times does Jack run around the track?
I think the addition interpretation makes more sense.
If you do that as an addition the answer is 3. If you do it as a multiplication the answer is 2. But that seems a strange way to say that Jack and Sue ran around the track the same number of times
What if you said this: If Sue runs around the track twice, and Jack runs around the track zero times more than Sue, how many times does Jack run around the track?
I think the addition interpretation makes more sense.
Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
That's where the key lies.
You cannot, grammatically or mathematically, have "zero more" of anything.
"one time more" is not "times," meaning "time" and "times" are two different words that change the operation of the problem.
“Mad Hatter: Would you like a little more tea?
Alice: Well, I haven't had any yet, so I can't very well take more.
March Hare: Ah, you mean you can't very well take less.
Mad Hatter: Yes. You can always take more than nothing.”
Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
By default, when you take you take more than nothing, because if you took nothing you didn't take anything, and you can't take less than nothing because there is nothing less than nothing.
I'd pay any answer a child could justify. Magic 'read the teacher's mind' games are destructive, imo.
McBell
Unbound
Seems to me this thread is nothing more than taking a statement out of context (the math problem) and then opinionating about said problem.
It is in the joke section.
Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
There's nothing magic about it: it's all in carefully and critically reading, and actually having to think about and consider it, something we don't teach enough of or well enough.
A case could be made for ten, but at 3rd grade level it is probably six.
McBell
Unbound
What is the context from which the math problem derives?
I mean, it has been a while since I was in the third grade, so it may have been changed, but I do not recall have a math class where the students were just given math problems to solve.
Back in my day, and we shall not be delving into how long ago that was, math class started with turning in any homework from the previous day, sometimes there would be a short quiz, then the teacher would explain the next lesson to the class....
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
I'd like to see the common core "soultion".
McBell
Unbound
good gawd!
we would need another forum or two to have enough space to show the work!!
Thief
Rogue Theologian
Used to see a fair amount of it when I was a teacher.
Teachers sometimes use questions as a lead in to a prepared lesson. So when they ask their students some sort of open-ended question, it can lead to them rejecting legitimate answers in the hunt for the 'right' answer.
Obviously this is not something great teachers do. But it was fairly common.
