what the hell is mental math?

[GeorgeG.]

Any of you folks have grade school kids? Our 3rd grader has some new bs called mental math? I googled it and still can't figure it out. Seems more like fuzzy math to me.

discuss.

[black2002ls]

Is this the crap with using friendly numbers to get the answer? Looks damn near like they are using matrices to do basic arithmetic

[ELVIS]

yeah, Jr is in 2nd grade. wtf is this shit? these motherfuckers trying to dumb us down.

god bless.

[talisman]

Mental math is when you're seven drinks in at the bar and you're trying to figure out how many hours of sleep you will get if you decide to keep going.

[GeorgeG.]

I don't know what it's about...

I vaguely remember one of the problems last night. It was something like -

Tyrese is wants to know the answer to 36 - 10 using mental math. The first step has been done for you using 36 + 4 = 40.

So rather than subtracting 10 from 36, they're suppose to round up, then subtract the difference at the end....crazy talk!

Maybe Leah can chime in and enlighten us.

[black2002ls]

Yeah. I have seen some crap explaining it. Saying that it is supposed to give tjem a better understanding of how math works. They use "friendly" numbers to alter the problem to get to easier numbers to work with. I don't get it. Supposedly carrying and borrowing are scary or some shit like that. I saw someone post a problem on facebook and I had to consult the google before I could figure it out. I would be sitting there asking, if I am trying to take 10 away from 36 why in the hell am I adding 4 to it.

[helosailor]

36-10...
36 + 4 = 40
40 - 10 = 30
30 - 4 = 26
So, 3 steps to get a 1 step answer.
Something like that?

[Cooter]

[Denny]

It's actually a good exercise for them. They figure out why the answer is what it is, rather than memorization of tables and other tactics.

[BoostedD1]

Candy Crush?!?!

[black2002ls]

It's actually a good exercise for them. They figure out why the answer is what it is, rather than memorization of tables and other tactics.

This is the explanation I keep seeing. What is so hard to undertand. 10 - 3 = 7 or ten minus three equals seven.

I have 10 units, I give away, lose, destroy (however you want to put it) 3 units, how many units do I have left? 7

Billy has 10 fingers. Billy bets Robbie $20 and loses the bet. Billy refuses to pay the bet so Robbie cuts off 3 of Billy's fingers. How many fingers does Billy have left? 7

Then again, I always understood math easily.

[GeorgeG.]

This is the explanation I keep seeing. What is so hard to undertand. 10 - 3 = 7 or ten minus three equals seven.

I have 10 units, I give away, lose, destroy (however you want to put it) 3 units, how many units do I have left? 7

Billy has 10 fingers. Billy bets Robbie $20 and loses the bet. Billy refuses to pay the bet so Robbie cuts off 3 of Billy's fingers. How many fingers does Billy have left? 7

Then again, I always understood math easily.

LMAO!!! but exactly!! Math, the way most of us learned it, works just fine. Besides, we're talking about basic grade school math... addition, subtraction, etc. Why over complicate it?

What ever this crap is, it must have just started because my 5th grader wasn't familiar with it.

[Ruffdaddy]

Sounds like teaching to the lowest common denominator...

[GrayStangGT]

They didn't teach that when I was in school, but I do something similar to figure out larger numbers in my head. I was always the kid in school that wrote down the answer and then went back and showed the work to keep the teacher happy. I remember doing the same thing with reading/writing things, go back an do the highlighting BS after I had already answered all the questions.

[Denny]

It's not teaching to the LCD. It's explaining why an answer is what it is, instead of "just because."