A math question I need help with

[BarkerChickens]

Quote:

I agree!!

 

[Eggs4Sale]

Quote:
Speak for yourself.

Hand me another sheet of paper, please. I have more cows to draw.

Is it wrong if I draw stick horses? Do I only get half credit that way?

I think stick legs are essential so you can accurately count the legs.

 

[ArizonaNessa]

Quote:
I have to agree with you. I really think that they should teach more real life skills to the kids these days. I wish they had taught me about buying a house. I had no clue and I felt like I was sitting in a room full of people speaking greek. Yes the words were english but they made no sense to me. I distinctly remember being taught how to write a check and balance a check book for an entire month!!! What the heck?!?! I really think that they could have taught us how to do that in about 3 days tops and moved on to use the time to teach us another wonderful skill. Thinking about check writing now is a little bit of a joke because most don't use those anymore. It's all plastic now. There are tons of other real life skills that I could go on and on about but they just insist on teaching us about the life span of a sea cucumber or some weird tidbits that are not going to really help you survive in the world later.


Eggs4Sale~~ How's the drawing going?

 

[seismic wonder2]

It's not really a math question at all...

You have "X" many head of cattle
You have "X" many head of horses

You DON'T have 'head' of chickens you have a flock...

Just kidding.....
So.... How many chickens are on the farm?
Given that the terms of the query are strictly given at the beginning, '".. the farm has chickens and horses..."
The REAL answer is "ALL OF THEM"

It already said the chickens are on the farm..........

(my teachers HATED me in high school...he he he)

 

[WriterofWords]

I don't like it either but it does teach critical thinking skills and reasoning skills. Math has two proofs, correct or incorrect, there isn't much gray area in math. The movie Proof hooked me like Salmon at spawning,, but not many others I know even understood it let alone liked it.

 

[chrissum]

I have to agree with you. I really think that they should teach more real life skills to the kids these days.

No kidding!

I went to my daughters basketball game, a tournament in another town. The concession stand was run by the host teachers, I bought a bag of popcorn and a soda and the teacher gave me the wrong change! I had to correct her and she said she was never any good with "this change stuff" I just shook my head and left, I really wanted to ask if she was the math teacher!

 

[HarlansHollowFarms]

Quote:
I totally agree that kids need to learn real world application, however, I also think the need to learn the basics.
My parents, nor I, got finance, budgeting or retirement planning in school, they learned it from their parents. We learned the real life things by getting jobs (like mowing lawns, paper routes,picking berries ect.) and being responsible for purchasing our own luxuries. We paid for our own cars, our own insurance, our designer jeans or whatever extras we thought we needed. My parents taught me to work, to save for the future, to be frugal and to appreciate the value of money.
Unfortunately, in todays society it is an instant gratification world. Kids no longer have to work for what they want, they no longer have to budget their hard earned finances, nor do they have to plan for the future. We have created a society full of children that believe it is their right to have everything they want, right now. We have taught them that if you don't have the finances at the moment, you can charge it them pay later. We allow them to use our finances to buy what they want. We are not teaching them responsibility.
I think the school systems in our nation are try to provide the basics for well rounded thoughts, and the rest is up to parents and society to provide the essenials of living in the now world.
Just my opinion.................

Jumping off my soapbox!

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

I'm lucky that I had parents that taught me all of that too, but I know that there are millions of parents that weren't taught and are therefore not teaching their kids either. Schools can't substitute for good home teaching, but I also think they should teach the things that will really be used / applicable or at least point kids into a variety of career paths.

WriterofWords, your comment on proofs made me think of one of the most important things I learned in math classes while doing word problems: After doing the math, step back and ask "does this make sense"? example:

I had a friend that was trying to figure the cost in gas for driving from CA to AZ in their head. Factoring cost per gallon and MPG for their car they sat there for 5 minutes doing the math in their head and then said confidently, "$11.82 round trip!"

That really helped during math multiple choice questions... some of the answers just didn't make any sense at all relative to the question being asked.

 

[WriterofWords]

That is an excellent point Nifty! There are always answers on multiple choice questions that just don't make sense if you look at them. At first they might sound good, or if the questions was worded differently even make sense, but it is wrong. You have to be able to use your powers of reason and critical thought to rule out the wrong answer. I always tell my students to cross out the answers you know are wrong first, then ask yourself which one left is the best answer and why.

 

[muddypuddles]

Quote:
THAT is a beautiful thing