One fifth of one eighth

[BucksBornNBred]

I haven't been to pizza hut since I was in my teens, when after an energetic squash game we would celebrate with a pizza and garlic bread Unfortunately I learnt maths the old fashioned way so so didn't appreciate how calculating the innocent pizza was!!

[yoyo123]

I haven't been to pizza hut since I was in my teens, when after an energetic squash game we would celebrate with a pizza and garlic bread Unfortunately I learnt maths the old fashioned way so so didn't appreciate how calculating the innocent pizza was!!

Beware, knowledge lurks around every corner..

[olucares]

And you are right, my concern was that a year 8 top set child is STILL being taught using pizzas (or pies, or whatever)... surely now is the time to start moving on to explaining in more depth as they already understand the concept of slices (having learnt about them since yr 5 at least). The description of pizza slices that I was given made sense but ... but... I just feel it is time to move on at this stage in their education; or maybe that is why not all children are achieving GCSE maths.[/quote]




You are absolutely right. it is one of the reasons why some students are not achieving to their potential. They understand the pizza method and can do "easy" questions but once the question is slightly trickier, they get confused. For instance if given 1/240 of 1/2, they might start wondering how to divide the pizza into 240 slices. There are several topics in Maths that you just need to do it and ensure the student knows how to do it.. that's where the teaching comes in.

[Catseye]

How many here know how long division or multiplication works,for the more mathematically minded why differentiating a function and making it equal zero one can work out max or min of a function or integrating a function between two limits gives you the area under the curve or integrating it further and revolving it 360 degrees give the volume ????????

In fact how many of erudite forum members really understand the nuances of pythagoras,Euclidian Geometry ,Newton's laws or thermodynamics or a 'simple' concept as zero or infinity????

I, as heck don't-and I got distinction in S level maths and physics.

g55 is right- a little understanding if better than rote learning!

If you can't be bothered then just 'shut up and calculate' but you will never be a mathematician or computer scientist.

[Guest55]

There are several topics in Maths that you just need to do it and ensure the student knows how to do it.. that's where the teaching comes in.

I totally disagree with you.

Every topic in maths needs understanding - the 'just do it like this' approach is why chidren don't achieve in Maths and why some children [and adults] hate it. If you understand why then you remember and can apply your knowledge.

[olucares]

There are several topics in Maths that you just need to do it and ensure the student knows how to do it.. that's where the teaching comes in.

I totally disagree with you.

Every topic in maths needs understanding - the 'just do it like this' approach is why chidren don't achieve in Maths and why some children [and adults] hate it. If you understand why then you remember and can apply your knowledge.

y = mx + c m represents the gradient

Guest55, can you please explain to me how and why m is the gradient?


M is the gradient, end of!

[Catseye]

The gradient has real meaning,essentially it defines how sloppy some variable(x.y) againt another is.It so happens, straight lines are somewhat boring and m is always constant ,i.e the rate of change of the vairable of x related to y is constant.

But for a curve, m, is constantly changing,i.e m, indicates the rate of change-this is one of the most improtant concepts in maths and physics.

There is' no end of it' about it.

When explaining the improtance of the gradient you need to frame it in terms of rate of change then calculus is better understood further down the line.

[russet]

There are two ways of doing maths, you can learn formulae by rote or you can try and understand the formulae. Maths is much more interesting if you try and understand it. To give an analogy, no one would come out of a Shakespeare play saying it was acted excellently because all the actors remembered their words.

I think the main sticking point for the students in the question given is separating multiplying and dividing by fractions. When in everyday talk we might say, "divide that into fifths", it can become confusing. I would start with much simpler fraction of say quarters and thirds. Once they have the concept, you then do not have to bother about cutting circles into 40 slithers as they can do this in their imagination. I always used plain circles when teaching dd. I could not see the point in cluttering up the concept with culinary concoctions.

Dd was also given a good understanding of why m is the gradient. Begin by looking at y=2x and look at how for every 1 you increase x by on your graph, y increases by 2.

[Guest55]

y = mx + c m represents the gradient

Guest55, can you please explain to me how and why m is the gradient?

M is the gradient, end of!

Easy!

When I introduce this concept we do lots of graphs - usually using IT as the focus is not on drawing the graph but what it looks like. The starter would remind them of this and gradient as prior knowledge.

So we'd draw y = x + 1, y = 2x + 1, y = 3x + 1, ... what do we notice?

Then, we'd draw y = 2x + 1, y = 2x + 2, y = 2x + 3 .... what so we notice?

Then we'd talk about generalising ... wat does the coefficient of x seem to do? and the constant?

Then we test it ... only then would I introduce gradient-intercept form as a way to express the generalisation in an algebraic form.

[RedPanda]

Our local primary school uses "bar models" to visualise maths. Think of them as garlic bread