Math Notations
There are Twice as many girls as boys: 2G=B or G=2B?
03/21/2009
Blog involves math investigations, math challenges, problems of the day, standardized test practice, developing conceptual understanding in mathematics, issues in mathematics education with a focus on standards, assessment, and pedagogy primarily at the 7-12 level through AP Calculus.
The topic of this discussion was on translating words into math. For example, "there are twice as many girls as boys: 2G = B or G = 2B?".
This blog was a discussion about some of the expressions that students find difficult translating from words to math. There was some pointers on what works with some problems such as ratios and the importance of covering this sort of thought as a part of the standards. I agreed with the poster and thanked him for the original question he posted which I plan to use in my class during regents review. I also let everyone know of another translation that my students have diffuculty with, an example of which is "seven less than ten". 90% of my students want to put down 7-10 when it really should be 10-7. They find this one difficult because it has to be worked out backwards when most words can be written into expressions in the order from beginnning to end (assuming the students already know the vocabulary like "more than" is plus, etc.)
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