Many elementary teachers don’t understand math, and it makes them anxious

Post by _bxg1 » Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 4:45 AM UTC

pjscott wrote: post #7

_bxg1 wrote: post #2

I still don't know why long-division works. I don't think I even remember how to do it as an adult. I've always had a very intuitive grasp of math, which meant I excelled at solving things in my head but struggled with (and resented) having to show my work in the arbitrary algorithms we were taught. I understand division despite my education. They really should try to come up with algorithms that are more intuitively…

My parents invented a simplified division algorithm so they could teach me the four basic arithmetic operations by third grade, and it was so much easier than long division that I could never remember how to do things the conventional way. I just pretended to follow the teachers' instructions for the next few years. (All these methods had the same asymptotic complexity. Mine was slower by a small constant factor; on…

Post by paleotrope » Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 4:47 AM UTC

ravenstine wrote: post #10

pjscott wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My parents invented a simplified division algorithm so they could teach me the four basic arithmetic operations by third grade, and it was so much easier than long division that I could never remember how to do things the conventional way. I just pretended to follow the teachers' instructions for the next few years. (All these methods had the same asymptotic complexity. Mine was slower by a small constant factor; on…

My mom got in trouble with the teacher for doing that kind of thing with me.

Post by keenmaster » Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 4:50 AM UTC

_bxg1 wrote: post #2

I still don't know why long-division works. I don't think I even remember how to do it as an adult. I've always had a very intuitive grasp of math, which meant I excelled at solving things in my head but struggled with (and resented) having to show my work in the arbitrary algorithms we were taught. I understand division despite my education. They really should try to come up with algorithms that are more intuitively…

Post by _bxg1 » Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 4:50 AM UTC

geomark wrote: post #8

_bxg1 wrote: post #2

I still don't know why long-division works. I don't think I even remember how to do it as an adult. I've always had a very intuitive grasp of math, which meant I excelled at solving things in my head but struggled with (and resented) having to show my work in the arbitrary algorithms we were taught. I understand division despite my education. They really should try to come up with algorithms that are more intuitively…

I don't understand why long division would be a mystery. It's just repeated subtraction - you are finding how many times you can subtract the divisor from the dividend, in a systematic way.

Post by chrisseaton » Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 4:50 AM UTC

geomark wrote: post #8

_bxg1 wrote: post #2

I still don't know why long-division works. I don't think I even remember how to do it as an adult. I've always had a very intuitive grasp of math, which meant I excelled at solving things in my head but struggled with (and resented) having to show my work in the arbitrary algorithms we were taught. I understand division despite my education. They really should try to come up with algorithms that are more intuitively…

I don't understand why long division would be a mystery. It's just repeated subtraction - you are finding how many times you can subtract the divisor from the dividend, in a systematic way.