Hi everyone, it has been a couple of weeks, however just the other day a couple
was talking to me about their son. They told me he was having trouble with
division and they did not understand the method they were using. It has been
popular now for a few years as it leads us into Algebra easier.
EXAMPLE: X³ + 2X² – X = X³ + 2X² – X = X² + 2X – 1
X X X X
So how do we change Arithmetic to look like this?
Does it effect the way we learned to do long division?
How can we help our children?
EXAMPLE: 552 ÷ 12 or 500 + 50 + 2 = 500 + 50 + 2
12 12 12 12
We need to recognize how 0 helps us.
48 ÷ 12 = 4, now we ask about 500. 480
is close to 500, thus for our first part
we can use 40. 40 x 12 = 480, and we
have 20 left over to add to the 50. Now
70 ÷ 12, 5 times with 10 left over to add
to the 2. 12 ÷ 12 = 1. Now just add the
3 quotients. 40 + 5 + 1 = 46
552 ÷ 12 = 46
Our answer is the same as if we did it the old fashion way. However,
here the student need to understand multiplication by 10 and the
power of 0 much easier then we needed to understand. But is this being
done in the first 3 years of school. The other day I asked a 3rd grade
class why do we write 10. The best answer I heard was, "its the
number that comes after 9".
They had gotten to the tens place but had no idea why it was the 10's.
They hadn't because they thought the first digit was 1. Nobody had
talked to them about 0, and that our digits start at 0 and go to 9, 0 to 9
over and over. That never changes. When we get to 99 we have to
next have 100 and the 1 is in the hundreds place because 100 is the
1st number in that place.
EXAMPLE: 1494 ÷ 18 or 1000 + 400 + 90 + 4 =
1000 + 400 + 90 + 4 = 50 + 20 + 10 + 3 = 83
18 18 18 18
1494 ÷ 18 = 83
I know this seems new but we are still dividing into multiplying and
then subtracting until we get to our ones place. Parents need not get upset
about the process. Enjoy the process and help your children.
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