Re: Math is not a memoriter course.

In article <1188146450.703145.149030@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
MrTaylor <brettstaylor@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I was surprised when I first taught 7th grade math to find many,
perhaps most, of my students were not fluent in the multiplication
facts. It may be possible to succeeed in later math using a calculator
or table for simple 7 x 8 answers, but why? It will be very
frustrating and make all math work very slow. I made a web site
( http://www.geocities.com/multiplicationfacts ) to try and help my
students get practice on the facts and learn them. Some students with
learning disabilities have serious and real problems memorizing the
facts but it is possible with continued effort. Many students lack
the motivation and discipline to spent the time memorizing the times
tables.

I also teach adults in an ABE/GED program and many adults are not
fluent in their times tables either.

Brett

Knowing the multiplication facts IN CONTEXT may be useful,
but using them as the definition of how to multiply is
very definitely counterproductive.

The Chisenbop method, highly touted by some, would not
have 7x8 memorized, but it would be done either as
(5+2)*8 or 7x(10-2). The only tables used are by
2 and 5, and as multiplying by 5 is halving the product
by 10, even that can be subsumed.

Speed should not be the goal, but understanding what
one is doing and why it is correct is far more important.

There are quite a few people who think that basic
mathematics is arithmetic in base 10. This is
obviously wrong, as the oldest arithmetic we have
written record of is base 60, and there is no
evidence that base 10 was used by them. I do not
know how they did their addition and multiplication,
but I am inclined to doubt that the entire tables
were memorized.

--
This address is for information only. I do not claim that these views
are those of the Statistics Department or of Purdue University.
Herman Rubin, Department of Statistics, Purdue University
hrubin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Phone: (765)494-6054 FAX: (765)494-0558
.

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