45 replies to this topic

[Ladida]

I got into a math teacher with it on fb over this one.

 

I broke it down for her the way a logical person would read it and then how a logical person would read the answer (5-2=3+8=11+3=14) and the conversation ended with her telling me that I wouldn't hate math so much if I were taught the common core way initially and the "old way" of doing things is why so many people are bad at or don't like math.

What the actual fuck? Are the people creating the Common Core syllabus specializing in absolute *insert expletive here because I feel I'm using too many lately*?? What kind of moronic question is this?! This makes me so angry, because it's so stupid!

 

...I'm so glad we don't have this kind of crap down here. I'd have lost my mind otherwise!

And anyway, why does the teacher get to decide that you have to add 8+2 instead of 5+5? Arghhh, this is so frustratingly maddening!

[Waser Lave]

I got into a math teacher with it on fb over this one.

 

I broke it down for her the way a logical person would read it and then how a logical person would read the answer (5-2=3+8=11+3=14) and the conversation ended with her telling me that I wouldn't hate math so much if I were taught the common core way initially and the "old way" of doing things is why so many people are bad at or don't like math.

 

It seems to me that they're trying to teach kids the concept of how most people work out additions and subtractions of large numbers in their heads so they get used to it and that can only be a good thing given how useless many people are at maths once they've left school. She did word it a bit strangely though.

 

I have no idea how they're teaching these things over here now.

[NapisaurusRex]

It seems to me that they're trying to teach kids the concept of how most people work out additions and subtractions of large numbers in their heads so they get used to it and that can only be a good thing given how useless many people are at maths once they've left school. She did word it a bit strangely though.

 

I have no idea how they're teaching these things over here now.

That was the point she was trying to make... but I can't work with more than a few numbers at a time no matter how big they are anyway.

[Futurama]

Good god. This crap isn't in common core. It's just publishers being morons and then people go OMG LOOK AT THIS SHIT. It's up to the teachers and principals to choose what curriculum books to use...and the ones with this type of shit are obviously not the popular ones. The goal of common core isnt just so students understand the concept, they want kids to be able to understand the steps and why certain math things do...math things. They want students to know the procedural fluency and they connect it to the real world now with real things instead of saying someone has 545 apples.

[Sirius]

My biggest problem is that the answer doesn't matter. If a test says "32-12=?" and a kid does it the traditional way, putting "20" as their answer, the answer is marked wrong because they didn't do it in the new, convoluted way. I dislike (greatly) that schools are simply teaching kids to be robot-minded. Why does how you got to the answer change your answer? I could understand a teacher correcting how a child got to an answer if that way wasn't going to work 100% of the time (while still giving credit for the correct answer) but telling a kid they're simply flat out wrong because they got from Point A to Point C directly rather than stopping at Point B first is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard.

[NapisaurusRex]

My biggest problem is that the answer doesn't matter. If a test says "32-12=?" and a kid does it the traditional way, putting "20" as their answer, the answer is marked wrong because they didn't do it in the new, convoluted way. I dislike (greatly) that schools are simply teaching kids to be robot-minded. Why does how you got to the answer change your answer? I could understand a teacher correcting how a child got to an answer if that way wasn't going to work 100% of the time (while still giving credit for the correct answer) but telling a kid they're simply flat out wrong because they got from Point A to Point C directly rather than stopping at Point B first is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard.

It was like that a billion years ago when I learned math too. That part hasn't changed.

[Karla]

These types of problems look more like puzzles instead of math. There are strict formulas you need to use when doing math problems, but this shit with apples + bananas and 8+5=10 takes some extra thinking that isn't logical math (IMO).

[Tammy]

Luckily we learn normal people math here .-. this is just stupid.

[data]

This isn't bullshit, and is actually very easy to solve and you should know it if you'd studied basic high school math, which would be taught to 13-14 year old kids where I live, in Canada. 

 

It is a system of linear equations, with fruit as variables, anything can be a variable, not just x or y.

 

As we know, system of linear equations either have no solution, one solution, or infinitely many solutions.

 

Lets rename things to make it easier for ourselves,

Say apple is x, banana is y, coconut is z.

 

Then,

 

3x = 30 => x = 10

x + 2y = 18 => y = 4

y - z = 2 => z = 2

 

Now obviously x + y + z = 10 + 4 + 2 = 16

Edited by data, 15 June 2016 - 12:32 PM.

[Tammy]

This isn't bullshit, and is actually very easy to solve and you should know it if you'd studied basic high school math, which would be taught to 13-14 year old kids where I live, in Canada.  It is a system of linear equations, with fruit as variables. 

 

As we know, system of linear equations either have no solution, one solution, or infinitely many solutions.

 

Say apple is x, banana is y, coconut is z.

 

Then,

 

3x = 30 => x = 10

x + 2y = 18 => y = 4

y - z = 2 => z = 2

 

Now obviously x + y + z = 10 + 4 + 2 = 16

 

Except the answer is 15. Because apparently when a new variable is introduced (the banana pic has 1 less banana) you're supposed to assume that changes the value of "bunch of bananas" by -1.

 

I also did it your way, xyz variables and that makes the most sense to me...

Edited by Tammy, 15 June 2016 - 12:33 PM.

[data]

Except the answer is 15. Because apparently when a new variable is introduced (the banana pic has 1 less banana) you're supposed to assume that changes the value of "bunch of bananas" by -1.

 

I also did it your way, xyz variables and that makes the most sense to me...

 

It looks like I made a mistake by not noticing the bottom banana has 3 bananas, while the rest have 4 bananas.  If we say that g = 3/4y [g being the new variable in the bottom equation] then we do indeed get 15, since

 

x + g + z = x + 3/4y + z = 10 + 3/4 * 4 + 2 = 10 + 3 + 2 = 15

 

EDIT: We don't assume that we subtract 1 from the value of bananas, that assumption is incorrect and will only work for select values of y.  A more correct assumption is that each banana has equal weight of y/4 (because y is 4 bananas), then 3 bananas has the value 3*y/4

 

Even this assumption could be incorrect [weight of bananas, etc], but in my opinion it is the most correct one I can think of

Edited by data, 15 June 2016 - 12:39 PM.

[Waser Lave]

This isn't bullshit, and is actually very easy to solve and you should know it if you'd studied basic high school math, which would be taught to 13-14 year old kids where I live, in Canada. 

 

It is a system of linear equations, with fruit as variables, anything can be a variable, not just x or y.

 

As we know, system of linear equations either have no solution, one solution, or infinitely many solutions.

 

Lets rename things to make it easier for ourselves,

Say apple is x, banana is y, coconut is z.

 

Then,

 

3x = 30 => x = 10

x + 2y = 18 => y = 4

y - z = 2 => z = 2

 

Now obviously x + y + z = 10 + 4 + 2 = 16

 

Welcome to the 95% club.

 

I also didn't notice the number of bananas.

[Tammy]

Well to me it seems nitpicky and not really teaching math, what's wrong with normal algebra? Cant the question just say 3/4y instead of showing me a picture of bananas and saying "spot the difference"?

[Waser Lave]

Well to me it seems nitpicky and not really teaching math, what's wrong with normal algebra? Cant the question just say 3/4y instead of showing me a picture of bananas and saying "spot the difference"?

 

If we want to take a positive lesson from it perhaps it can be that people should take their time working things out and double checking everything rather than rushing to an answer, especially in exam situations?

[Tammy]

If we want to take a positive lesson from it perhaps it can be that people should take their time working things out and double checking everything rather than rushing to an answer, especially in exam situations?

 

Okay okay, I can't argue with that logic

[Sirius]

If we want to take a positive lesson from it perhaps it can be that people should take their time working things out and double checking everything rather than rushing to an answer, especially in exam situations?

Taking time to work things out is one thing. The question was set up to doom people (read: kids) to failure. 

 

Either it's a new variable (and, really, when presented with a math problem using pictures for variables, I'm not studying those pictures for slight differences, because I'm going to assume that a teacher doesn't want to set me up for failure), or it's the same as the others in the equation. If the goal is to teach children (or adults) to take your time and work things out, isn't that what word problems were designed to do?

[Waser Lave]

Taking time to work things out is one thing. The question was set up to doom people (read: kids) to failure.

 

I don't know the full history of the image but I'm guessing it's a puzzle rather than an actual maths question given to kids to solve (at least judging by the Google results for it which pretty much all describe it as a 'puzzle' or a 'brainteaser').

[WarezHaxor]

If it's a brain teaser that would make sense. I personally don't like the new common core method because I feel it's long winded compared to the old method, but I never showed my work with the old method because I can do those large equations and formulae in my head. After proving that I could do that my teachers allowed it but I had to show work for the state exams.

[Sirius]

I don't know the full history of the image but I'm guessing it's a puzzle rather than an actual maths question given to kids to solve (at least judging by the Google results for it which pretty much all describe it as a 'puzzle' or a 'brainteaser').

Hey, if it's a puzzle or brain teaser, then it's a damn good one and thumbs up to the author. I would hate it if it was passed off as a math test/homework question, due to the misleading nature.

[Daria]

This is the most stupidest thing I've seen.

My little sister sometimes gets these common core questions and my mum makes me sit with her and solve everything for her.

 

I never used to get so much homework in primary school as she does. And she is in year 1. I didn't even get that much homework in my final years of highschool lol.