Must-see Common Core math problems of the day [pics]

In the end you have to/ just plain will memorize stuff. But there’s ways to memorize. Notice I generally use the term “rote memorization” which is a very specific type of memorization as learning, which I think lacks the real learning part.

We really only used the number line long enough to grasp the concept of what happens when you add or subtract, like your sticks. It really wasn’t a tool to DO the math for very long, because the goal is to be able to work the numbers, not to tick the line (or stack sticks, or call of a table).

It’s not that memorizing 1+3=4 is detrimental, it’s that ROTE memorizing 1+3=4 without any grasp what those things MEAN means you didn’t learn anything about math, you learned to chant. Data recall has it’s place, but it isn’t learning. It’s the old “the Nile is the longest river in Africa” sleep learning conundrum. You shouldn’t be picturing a table, or a number line, or sticks, you should KNOW what 1 is, what 3 is, what addition is, and how that makes a 4. That’s knowing math, that’s the foundation of being able to look at the prices of the things in your cart, estimate the sales tax and know if you’re over or under budget before getting in the checkout line.

See I think it’s a great method. Largely because with variations it’s the method I taught myself over a quarter century ago and still use to this day. If you catch me needing math that’s how I do it, sometimes sitting in front of a computer not touching the calculator app because I don’t need it.

There seems to be a huge misconception that us folks entering public schools in the 50s learned mathematics by” rote memorization.” I can assure you that isn’t how we learned mathematics. Once I learned the principle of multiplication and the symbolic language, what difference does it make how I learned to solve 10x11? I don’t have to picture a table and I really don’t know what you mean by “work the numbers.” My guess is we both get the same answer, practically without any thought involved at all and regardless of how we memorized that answer.

Referring back to the examples that started this thread, what is being taught? That a simple subtraction problem can be broken down into two more simple subtraction problems? The second illustration is just a convoluted way to arrive at an answer that can be solved with three simple additions. Both seem to run contrary to that old maxim of “simplify and solve.”

I’ll stick to the old math. It helps me solve word problems that stump most of later generations, and it did get me up to PDEs as well. If our world ranking on math scores is any indication, the sooner we dump these pretentious new math methods invented by retards, the better off we will be.

Saxon Math 5/4 and grid notebook.

Can teach it with kids up to sixth grade who just don’t get math.

or quickly in the lower grades to smart ones.

never forget to do the mental math section.

It is the best straightforward math program in the world for average kids

Working the numbers is what they did in this example. It’s a matter of understand what the numbers are and how they can be manipulated for easier operation. For small numbers you do frequently memorization just happens, but for bigger numbers it’s about method.

What’s being taught is that NON-simple subtraction problems can be broken down into two or more simple subtraction problems. Also what’s being taught is an algebraic method of attacking problems, seeing them all as equations that can be manipulated for the solution. You learn to use this tool with simple problems because it’s easy to make sure you got the right answer, since they know what 15-7 is they can check for themselves that their method of breaking it up was correct. But by flexing that muscle with a simple equation it puts the basic thought patterns in place to be able to handle larger more complex.

Our world ranking in math scores has been crap for a very very long time. And it’s not being helped by people that assume everything different is bad. This is a good way to do math. Not only does it train them to be able to do a much more complex level of math in their head, it puts the building blocks in place for algebra and beyond so they don’t have to relearn math.

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