Sunday, November 9, 2008

I am about to make Mr. Pinchot really mad!



No, the cat will not anger Mr. Pinchot, unless it makes him think of the Mt. Nittany (spelling?) Lions that his beloved Penn State uses as a mascot! You see Penn State lost to Iowa and ruined their perfect record and their chances of an NCAA football national championship. However, none of that is going to make Mr. Pinchot as angry as he will be when he finds out that I actually published a math piece using the sophisticated math terms "chop-chop" and "double-double"! He absolutely hates these terms even though they are based on sound math principles.


The term "chop-chop", as all of my students know, refers to creating an equivalent fraction by reducing the numerator and denominator at the same rate. Usually, the "chop" implies dividing by 2/2, but we could "chop" by any fraction with a value of 1 whole, n/n, 10/10, 4/4...We would create a fraction that has an equivalent value.


For example: 12/16 divided by 2/2 = 6/8, and 6/8 divided by 2/2 = 3/4 ! Oh, I say chop-chopping is a fine way to create new and equivalent fractions!


You could probably guess that he also hates "double-double", which is just multiplying by 2/2 (the whole number 1). This, again, creates a new and equivalent fraction! For example part deux; 3/4 X 2/2 = 6/8, and 6/8 X 2/2 = 12/16..., but we don't have to settle for using 2/2 all the time. We could go crazy and use 13/13 or 3.5/3.5 to multiply by. We could take 1/2 X 3.5/3.5 and get 3.5/7, and that IS equivalent to 1/2. Boooyahhh!


The key is to remember that what we are really doing is multiplying or dividing by 1!


Please be sure to ask Mr. P. about Penn State, and please tell him that we have been chop-chopping a bunch!

6 comments:

Angela Phillips said...

"Chop Chop" and "Double Double" totally works as a way to reach kids! It's catchy and it reinforces the need to make the same change to numerator and denominator in order to keep a fraction's part-to-whole relationship consistent. I think we should add a few new ones to our list too: "Triple Triple" and "Third Third" for starters. What was that Penn State score again? Maybe we could work in a commemorative catch-phrase for that!

Suzanne said...

Not sure I should ask, but... Why is Mr. Roger so opposed to chop-chop and double-double?

Melanie Holtsman said...

I hope this encourages Mr. P to read your great blog! I bet he would have answers for all of your questions because he knows a lot more about math than I do. Mr. P -check it out!

Anonymous said...

I do have an issue with the vocabulary, but if it helps students understand the concept I'll live with it. All I ask is that the math behind the "catch" phrase is understood. I like the third - third and triple - triple from Mrs. Phillip's post.

Mr. Pinchot

Meli O'Leary said...

All I have to say is...thank goodness for E.L.A. I commend all you wonderful "chop" "choppers" and non "chop" "choppers" out there and promise to never get pulled over to the dark side!

Anonymous said...

Thats a great stratie!





-trey wolfe and jake couclugh