8 Year Old's Maths Question

[srw]

Hi there! I’m a teacher and you’re right to be using ones rather than units :-)

Strictly speaking it ought to be "multiples of b^0", where b is the base under consideration. How else are the little buggers going to get grips with whole numbers of arbitrary length and in bases other than 10?

And if anyone gets confused with dots instead of commas in long numbers, avoid working for a European company, and particularly avoid working with Indian colleagues who think in lakh and crore.

 

[slowmotion]

Oi it's Math. Don't put an 'S' on it with a Math Teacher around. I still call it MathS at work - drives the MathS team mad.

How about sending the Math teachers to an English class? Their illiteracy doesn't set a good example to the pupils.

 

[fossyant]

How about sending the Math teachers to an English class? Their illiteracy doesn't set a good example to the pupils.

Hah. We've been arguing with a Maths Prof the last few weeks about 'funding' - yeh, I'm a lowly Chartered Accountant, that can add up with a computer ! They understand the numbers, but not the fact that this current situation means job losses if not carefully managed.... so yup, they do just numbers.....

 

[Deleted member 26715]

How about sending the Math teachers to an English class? Their illiteracy doesn't set a good example to the pupils.

Never heard of a Math teacher, only a Maths teacher

 

[DaveReading]

As an old fart I have never even heard of place values.

Maybe not. But you still understand how they work, and that 1846 isn't the same as 1864 or 8146.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

In 1864

• 15 May – under the leadership of Prime Minister Robert Peel, the House of Commons votes to repeal the Corn Laws by passing an Importation Bill, replacing the old colonial mercantile trade system with free trade.[4] On 25 June the Duke of Wellington persuades the House of Lords to pass the Act, which will take full effect from February 1849.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Maybe not. But you still understand how they work, and that 1846 isn't the same as 1864 or 8146.

In the context of the question 1846 & 1864 are the same but agreed 8146 isn't

 

[Shut Up Legs]

I think the Maths and English teachers should have coordinated on that question. The 8 is not a number, it's a digit within a number. A more pertinent question would have been something like: what is the value that the underlined digit adds to the number?

 

[DaveReading]

A more pertinent question would have been something like: what is the value that the underlined digit adds to the number?

Well yes, but we're not talking about how to ask the question, but about how to explain the answer to a student.

For my sins, I teach both Maths and English (though not at the moment, obviously) and the idea of "place value" isn't really that difficult to explain to students. Well not until you start talking about the value of places after the decimal point.

 

[MartinQ]

Well not until you start talking about the value of places after the decimal point.

and is 1 the same as 0.999999......

 

[Profpointy]

and is 1 the same as 0.999999......

Yes, assuming you mean the 9s go on for ever

 

[MartinQ]

Yes, assuming you mean the 9s go on for ever

Yes, thats what I meant. It is initially surprising that decimal (place value) numbers are not necessarily unique.

 

[Profpointy]

Yes, thats what I meant. It is initially surprising that decimal (place value) numbers are not necessarily unique.

The countable vs uncountable infinities thing was one of my "wow" moments.

The other was when e^i pi + 1 = 0 dropped out of a result we were shown on the blackboard. I think we all gasped out loud when we first saw that

 

[Paulus]

Yes, assuming you mean the 9s go on for ever

Surely not. No matter how many recurring .9's you get in the number, it will always be smaller than 1.

 

[Archie_tect]

Surely not. No matter how many recurring .9's you get in the number, it will always be smaller than 1.

In the same way that fractions and recurring decimals don't mean the same: eg. 1/3 + 1/3 + 1/3 = 1 whereas .33 recurring x3 doesn't equal 1, but we all know it means the same, unless it is critically important.