Title: Do you think this is a reasonable math prbolem for a 4th grader? Source:
[None] URL Source:[None] Published:May 24, 2016 Author:me Post Date:2016-05-24 16:48:35 by no gnu taxes Keywords:None Views:1893 Comments:30
John saves $1 on day 1, $3 on day 2, $6 dollars on day 3, 10 dollars on day 4 and so on.
Given this pattern, how long will it take John to save $165?
This seems like at the very least a 7th grade problem.
Obama has played at being a president while enjoying the perks … golf, insanely expensive vacations at tax-payer expense. He has ignored the responsibilities of the job; no plans, no budgets, no alternatives … just finger pointing; making him a complete failure as a president
This and other similar problems are on my daughter's 4th grade end of year math test.
I doubt many of the parents could solve this problem.
BTW, this is a public school. Ironically, the private schools here are much easier.
Obama has played at being a president while enjoying the perks … golf, insanely expensive vacations at tax-payer expense. He has ignored the responsibilities of the job; no plans, no budgets, no alternatives … just finger pointing; making him a complete failure as a president
John saves $1 on day 1, $3 on day 2, $6 dollars on day 3, 10 dollars on day 4 and so on.
1,3,6,10?
What is the pattern? Add $3 to the amount saved each day? 6+3 does not equal 10.
***If we really want to be great again, go ask Uncle Sam to get back on our side of the border, get out of our wallets, get out of our papers and property, get out of our bodies, and get out of our way.*** Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality. ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
The public schools here are hard because they expect parents to carry half the water for them.
My daughter has at least an hour of homework every night on issues they expect us to teach her.
Obama has played at being a president while enjoying the perks … golf, insanely expensive vacations at tax-payer expense. He has ignored the responsibilities of the job; no plans, no budgets, no alternatives … just finger pointing; making him a complete failure as a president
So, it would take 18 days to save $165 (or $166, or $169, all the way up to $171).
This is a pretty hard problem. You either "see" the pattern outright (which I did) or you spend endless time trying to find some sort of progression.
Worse, the end-point doesn't land on $165, so you have to have the broader sense to recognize that $165 is within the set of solutions for Day 18.
If the number were set, instead at $16,304, one would have to derive a formula. There is a formula for this sort of repeating sequence it resembles an interest problem), so once again one will either remember that formula, or one will have to derive it. It would take me a long time to do that.
Obama has played at being a president while enjoying the perks … golf, insanely expensive vacations at tax-payer expense. He has ignored the responsibilities of the job; no plans, no budgets, no alternatives … just finger pointing; making him a complete failure as a president
That depends on the child and good teachers apparently some adults here didn't quite get the question which might mean comprehension isn't being taught.
The sum of numbers starting with 1, 1+2=3, 3+3=6, 6+4=10, 10+5=15, etc. etc. That is an inelegant way for solve the problem that was proposed using just arithmetic. There is a more elegant algebraic approach using mathematics. Both are well above 4th grade level expectations.
The sum of numbers starting with 1, 1+2=3, 3+3=6, 6+4=10, 10+5=15, etc. etc. That is an inelegant way for solve the problem that was proposed using just arithmetic. There is a more elegant algebraic approach using mathematics. Both are well above 4th grade level expectations.
I'm certainly not going to through the algebraic manipulations it would take to form an equation. My guess is you would have to solve it like forming the equation for figuring each period payment to pay off an interest loan. You form a general equation, multiply by a factor, and then subtract the original equation. You eliminate all the middle terms, allowing you come up with an equation based on the number of terms.
That is at the very least high school level math.
Obama has played at being a president while enjoying the perks … golf, insanely expensive vacations at tax-payer expense. He has ignored the responsibilities of the job; no plans, no budgets, no alternatives … just finger pointing; making him a complete failure as a president
This is calculus and is advanced math more suitable for college students. In order for one to understand calculus you have to understand the basic concept of algebra and the FOIL method before you can integrate this into calculus. Therefore, it is not suitable for a fourth grader.
Thinking like a 4th grader I would wonder what the question was getting at. They have their head filled with so much other crap that extrapolating a pattern out of a seemingly random (at first) set of numbers... seems like insanity. And with no algebraic background to back up the higher level of thinking, I would assume they have little basis to solve the problem with.
No wonder they go on to political science or psychology; at least then they can make stuff up and no one will call them out on it!
***If we really want to be great again, go ask Uncle Sam to get back on our side of the border, get out of our wallets, get out of our papers and property, get out of our bodies, and get out of our way.*** Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality. ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
This is a common question on the SATs -- determining the pattern of numbers. But if the kids were being taught patterns in class, this problem isn't that bad.
But throwing this problem out of the blue at a ten-year-old would stump him.