Please tell me your opinion regarding this math problem

[MicroBrew]

The kids are still being taught the basic form. I too figured out those tricks on my own but not all kids do, obviously. Moreover, being presented with a set of different tricks would allow you to use those you prefer.

I really don't see the problem.

I used the same 'tricks' you guys are talking about , and I don't recall ever being taught to add numbers in such a fashion. I think it is natural for all kids/people .

 

[UpaLoompa]

I used the same 'tricks' you guys are talking about , and I don't recall ever being taught to add numbers in such a fashion. I think it is natural for all kids/people .

Even if it is something that most people figure out on their own, why not teach it before they have to figure it out?

 

[OldGoat]

Yes, you learned to multiple TO 100: a 10x10 multiplication table. You never memorized a table that goes out to 52x52, or 100x100.

To multiply 52 x 2 x 100, you're applying other skills like knowledge of place value.

52x2 is easy because you know how to break it down into 50x2 + 2x2. 50x2 is easy because your knowledge of place value allows you to see it as merely an extension of 5x2.



The same basic multiplication table is still taught. You're talking out of your ass. Your story is about a group of morons, not about anyone being taught improperly.

The 52 x 2 example is an example of the distributive property of multiplication.

The 10s method is a poor method to start with.

 

[Pwent]

i was always in advanced math, (last math class i took in high school was AP trig) i never showed my work and got marked down for having right answers

then when i got to college, they let me just come up with the right answer and i was happy

i do math in weird fucked up ways, i cant memorize formulas, just memorize their logic and then derive the formula when i want to use it. i do math far better than most people for the amount of time ive spent studying, but the downside is i cant teach people. even if i explain each specific problem they just stare at me and say "im not sure thats right"

anywho i dont like standardizing thought if the kid ends up with the right answer

 

[RSmith47]

The kids are still being taught the basic form. I too figured out those tricks on my own but not all kids do, obviously. Moreover, being presented with a set of different tricks would allow you to use those you prefer.

I really don't see the problem.

The point is that not every kid masters the basic form so why force them to learn the basic form plus the advanced forms? It doesn't make any sense from an educational stand point. If the kid is going to struggle with the basic form, not only is he not going to know how to use the advanced forms but he's going to retain even less of the basic stuff because his mind is filled with basic and advanced.

 

[TheBox]

The 52 x 2 example is an example of the distributive property of multiplication.

The point was that solving 52 x 2 x 100 wouldn't be done with memorization of multiplication tables. It's done using other knowledge about numbers.

 

[Bald1]

The answer isn't important. It's the process that matters

...Let that phrase sink in for a moment...

While I regale you with a true story of my first week in command. As a new company commander myself and the 1SG went to check on a machinegun range that one of my platoons was running. We arrive and start looking around. Everything seems safe. Soldiers are shooting. The Platoon leader is able to brief me on the scores, etc. Everything seems good.

So I head over to the ammo shack. I want to see how many rounds we have left to see if we will be doing a night fire or have enough for re-firers. And when I approach I see 2 privates standing there. There is a dry erase board with tick marks on it - but doesn't seem in use. And there it is. The cardboard slab from an MRE box which has become our tracking mechanism. There are some numbers there. Each one being subtracted by 100 repeatedly. Hmmmmmmmm. I sense danger. So I ask the private (His name is Foegelle in case any of your run across the retard - he was chaptered last week):

"How many rounds do we have left?"

Blank stare. Gears whirling in head. No sounds emanate.

"I see we are using the dry erase board there and that cardboard. How many rounds did we start with?

....

"Well. So we don't know how many rounds we have left? Is that correct?"

1SG is now burning a hole in this private's face. His soliders look like fucking idiots to the new commander. And now the Platoon Sergeant has arrived because he has noticed that the commander has been at the ammo shack far too long. Something must be amiss.

"Okay, so we don't know how many we started with. We don't know how many we have. So lets count these crates and figure it out."

Curiously the 2nd Private disappeared somehow - leaving Fogelle alone. So we count. All of us. Me. The 1SG. The PSG. The private.

Fifty two. Fifty two crates. I ask the private to count it again. Yes. 52 crates.

"So if we have 52 crates, and in each crate has 2 ammo cans of 100 rounds each how many rounds do we have here now?"

Crickets.

Time stops.

Fogelle looks at the dry erase board for a moment. Then back at the cardboard. He picks up a pen and stares. Then takes out his phone - certainly to use the calculator function. Or not. Because he stares at the calculator. Unsure of what function to use. So he picks up the cardboard and writes the number 52. And then....nothing.

We all sat in horror as we now knew what everyone had feared. We are surrounded by fucking idiots with machineguns. I had the problem figured out in my head in about .5 seconds because I was taught fucking multiplication tables as a kid. 10400rounds. Less than a second and I am one of the dumbest most non-math motherfuckers I know.

And I walked away. The 1SG followed. And I am certain whoever was the ammo NCO was nuked by the PSG, and the private was kicked directly in the junk. We got back in the truck and left. We didn't say anything for a long while. The 1SG was just as disappointed as I was.

Here is where it gets interesting.

My wife is a teacher. And as such I tell her all the time that she is to blame for all my fucking retard soldiers. She laughs. I laugh. Because it's funny. What isn't funny is when I started talking to one of her fellow teachers at their school one day. A math teacher. A FUCKING MATH TEACHER!

I ask why they aren't taught multiplication tables. Shes goes into a long speech saying you don't need them. Then I relate my tale of woe. I tell her of the failure on the range. I tell her how absolutely irresponsible it is to churn out these kids who can't math.

And she tells me. With a straight face:


"The answer isn't important. It's the process that matters."


....holy fucking shit. We live in a different world. Because it does matter...It determines how many more motherfuckers we can kill before we run out of bullets...

Holy shit this had me laughing my ass off.... Right before it made me sad.