Little question for you

[moved]

When you say it was a mental arithmetic question do you mean it is one that is supposed to be read out loud to the child and they answer it without ever seeing it written down or writing anything down?

I think if they were given it to work out with a pencil and paper and they had been taught fractions and division well (and not to work things out too early for nothing) they would not struggle -- but that's a lot of ifs and buts. I see a lot of children just looking at 53 divided by 7 and thinking they can't do it .. when they could.

Not a question read to them aloud but an example of what they should be able to use a mental method for. This is yr 4 curriculum but once my poor children have learnt their order of operations well, something like this will floor them.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... DFA_V3.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[moved]

I'm an ex LaTeX user, pronounced lay tech as it represents the Greek. It's a typesetting language that uses programming code, excellent for maths. I used to typeset and edit for the academic presses.

[PurpleDuck]

Thank you, moved.

[mystery]

A formula is always written in 'fraction' form - it is easier to typeset.

It was a shocking statement wherever they taught - teaching at a GS does not mean they are 'better' teachers - far from it sometimes.

I am still fascinated by these teachers you spotted who could not see that / means divide. What do you think they held degrees in?

[booellesmum]

Have just given this to DD1 - year 10 and DD2 - year 7. Told them first one to get the answer can have £1! They have no clue. I am genuinely surprised. DD1 got a gold certificate in the junior maths challenge 2014!
Let you know if they work it out by the end of the day.

[booellesmum]

DD2 just figured it out!

[moved]

DS year 14 and taking further maths converted it to fractions or suggested it would be much easier with y after the numbers,
e.g.
53y ÷ 7 + 3y ÷ 7 =

DD year 13 and quite bright didn't have a clue but announced that she was tired before flouncing!

[PurpleDuck]

We had a similar situation to booellesmum's here - my y10 drew a blank ('we were never told how to factorise with a division'), y6 had a look and wrote down (53+3)÷7. When I asked why, he said that both 53 and 3 were followed by ÷7, so he just got rid of the first ÷7 because 'you don't really need it'. I wasn't quite sure about his thinking process, so just in case run through the question writing it down in a fractions form (as in Proud_Dad's post) ...

[PurpleDuck]

DS year 14 and taking further maths converted it to fractions or suggested it would be much easier with y after the numbers,
e.g.
53y ÷ 7 + 3y ÷ 7 =

DD year 13 and quite bright didn't have a clue but announced that she was tired before flouncing!

Well done to your DS! And I really like your DD's 'get out clause', I might try using it myself.

DD2 just figured it out!

How did your DD2 solve it, booellesmum?

[booellesmum]

She added the 53 and 3 to get 56. Then divided by 14!!!.Then realised she shouldn't have added the 2 7's and came up with 8.
DD1 who had given up said "How did you get 8?" and then went "Oh yeah!".