Math is Figure-Out-Able!

#MathStratChat - April 24, 2024

Pam Harris

In today’s MathStratChat, Pam and Kim discuss the MathStratChat problem shared on social media on April 24, 2024. 


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


Want more? Check out the archive of all of our #MathStratChat posts!

Pam  00:00

Hey, fellow mathers! Welcome to the podcast where Math is Figure-Out-Able. I'm Pam Harris.

 

Kim  00:06

And I'm Kim Montague.

 

Pam  00:07

And this episode 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 strategies they use, and comment on each other's thinking.

 

Kim  00:18

So, this Wednesday, our math problem was three-fourths of 12. How would you solve this problem? Pause. Solve any way you want. And the problem was three-fourths of 12. Go.

 

Pam  00:30

three-fourths of 12. Bam. Alright. Kim, you go first. 

 

Kim  00:34

Okay. So, I am thinking about that like three 1/4s of 12.

 

Pam  00:40

Mmhm. 

 

Kim  00:41

So, I know 1/4 of 12 is 3. So, three 1/4s is 9.

 

Pam  00:49

Nice. So, similarly, I thought about a fourth of 12 is 3. And then, I thought four-fourths of 12 is the whole thing. 

 

Kim  00:58

Yep. 

 

Pam  00:58

So, 3 of those one-fourths would be 1/4 less. So, 12 minus 3 is 9. 

 

Kim  01:04

Nice. 

 

Pam  01:04

Cool. Couple different ways to do that. 

 

Kim  01:06

Short and sweet. 

 

Pam  01:07

Yeah. So, I'm wondering. People might do 3 times 12, and then divide by 4, but I'm hoping... And you could do that. That's kind of the way I learned to do it. You could do that. But I'm hoping that you can start, that we can get people thinking about using 1/4, and then scaling up or subtracting that from the whole. Cool.

 

Kim  01:27

Fantastic. Alright, 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 that are posted. And comment on each other's thinking. 

 

Pam  01:37

Yeah, we post the problems on Wednesdays at 7pm Central time. When you answer, tag me and use the hashtag MathStratChat. Then join us here to hear how we're thinking about the problem. Ya'll, thank you for making math more figure-out-able!