Sunday, October 19, 2008

May seem so simple, but......WOW!


Sometimes the simple things in life are better! This student used simple multiplication problems to help solve his/her division situations. I am so pleased to see students working "smarter not harder"! Obviously, he/she really understands that division depends on a real understanding of the relationship between multiplication and division. After all, in division you start with a known product and a known factor, and you simply try to figure out logically what the unknown factor is. 745 divided by 16 is the same as 16 X n = 745 .
So, why not start out with 16 X 1 = 16 ? It's easy and it leads directly to figuring out 16 X 10 = 160 , and 16 X 2 = 32 , and 16 X 20 = 340 , and 16 X 40 = 680... (being able to double and halve is sooooo important!). By the way, I'd probably throw in a 16 X 5 = 80 , as it is just half of 16 X 10!
At any rate, this work really does show great "smart" thinking! Even with the error in problem number two, this really is great mathematical thinking. Can you find and fix the error in problem number two? I bet the student that did this will see it quickly and be able to revise this problem easily!
T-Cubed

2 comments:

Sherrie Rabe said...

What a great idea to post student work. And they are so easy to click on and so easy to read.

Way to go Mr. R.

:) Ms. Anderson

Anonymous said...

what a good piece of work!!!

-nilya