While I worked in education I found that problems like these were nearly incomprehensible for a lot of kids. I taught 3 periods of Algebra II at the high school level, and we spent some time on "word problems" so the kids could decipher the parts they needed to in order to apply the math concepts.
The biggest stumbling block I found for most kids (and these weren't dumb kids, either) was the ability to filter and comprehend. Not to mention that on a lot of the standardized test questions they tossed in irrelevant things that derailed their ability to understand the core question. Dan --- On Wed, 6/17/09, Jim Cathey <j...@windwireless.net> wrote: > From: Jim Cathey <j...@windwireless.net> > Subject: Re: [MBZ] one reason it's bad to have a girl > To: "Mercedes Discussion List" <mercedes@okiebenz.com> > Date: Wednesday, June 17, 2009, 10:26 AM > > the problem with solving this > question is that people who look at it as a > > math problem might only see two variables, A and C. > there are, however, 4 > > variables: > > Formally it's just basic algebra, couched in word terms. > Two equations in two unknowns, therefore it's solvable. > It's kind of weird how many students who could do the > math just can't seem to extract the math from story > problems. > That, of course, is its whole utility (such as it is) > for the general public. I can't wait... > > -- Jim > > > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
