Finding the Easy Way!

As mathematicians - YES we all are, we are always looking for patterns and easy ways to solve problems.  The Porritt Maths Blasters know that mathematicians like tidy numbers eg: 10, 20, 50, 100 etc.. and we are just a little bit lazy because we like solve problems quickly and easily.   This all comes down to strategy and number knowledge.

Today we were working on a multiplication problem:
If we have four boxes of chocolate and each box has 24 bars of chocolate inside, how many bars do we have altogether?

1. What is the maths? 4 x 24 (we say 4 groups of  instead of 4 times because it makes more sense to us and we can image (picture) in our heads what that looks like)
2. The next step most of us took was to simplify our problem by breaking 24 into 20 and 4 and multiplying each by 4 so 4 x 20 = 40 (we used 4 x 2 and then multiplied by 10)  and  4 x 4 = 16 (some of us knew the multiplication fact and some used doubling ie: 4 + 4 doubled)
3. Then we added together the answers to 4 x 20 = 80 and 4 x 4 = 16 to get the total 96.  The fancy name for this process is called place value partitioning.
4. Then we put the maths back into the problem and completed the problem by saying: There are 96 bars of chocolate altogether.

Then one clever cookie maths blaster said:

• "Hey 24 is only one less than 25 and I know that 25 is a quarter of 100 so if I have 4 groups of 25 and that makes 100 then 4 groups of 24 must be 4 less than 100 which is 96!"

I got my clever cookie maths blaster to draw a diagram on the white board and it looked something like this:

We were all amazed at how easily and simply she solved the problem by using her knowledge of what makes up 100 as well as rounding and compensating. 

Maths Investigation: How Our Families Use Maths Everyday.

This week we had to find out how the adults at home use maths in their everyday lives.  This was to show us that maths isn't just a subject at school but a part of our everyday lives.

Sylvia's Dad dyes carpet and he has to be very careful about measuring how much dye to use and calculating whether to add more dye or less depending on the shade of colour you want.
Sylvia also discovered her parents use maths to work out:  if they have enough money in their bank before they buy something (subtraction),  how much money to hand over to buy something and how much change you should get back (addition and subtraction),

Kellie's parents use maths when baking, using a tape measure and the distance and time it takes to get somewhere (measuring) and also when shopping (adding and subtracting, multiplying and dividing).

Lashana's, Courtney's and Kassia's Mums use maths when baking, cooking,  using the oven/microwave, filling the jug, making dinner, telling time (measuring), on the computer and money (adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing) . 

Kassia's Dad is a truck driver and Kassia discovered his whole job is about maths! He measures freight to see how much it will cost to transport it as well as how much it will weigh the truck down. He works out how much petrol he needs to get from one place to another so he doesn't run out. (measuring)  He uses addition, subtraction, multiplication and division for paying wages to his staff, paying bills and using the computer.  He also has to work out the right amount of road users charges so he can drive on the road without getting tickets from the police.

Cameron's Dad uses geometry to calculate the radius from a known diametre of product, addition to work out the difference between a full roll and what's left of a roll of product, division to see how much product can be made out of a roll, multiplication to work out how much product you need to cover hours in a day and days in a week.  He also uses lots of measurement.

Isn't it amazing how our everyday lives are full of maths.  A very special thanks to the fantastic parents who took the time to talk about maths in their world.