{"id":6940,"date":"2014-04-16T17:31:23","date_gmt":"2014-04-16T17:31:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/?p=6940"},"modified":"2014-12-02T08:25:30","modified_gmt":"2014-12-02T08:25:30","slug":"solving-math-problems-reading-problems-carefully","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/2014\/04\/16\/solving-math-problems-reading-problems-carefully\/","title":{"rendered":"Solving Math Problems: Reading Problems Carefully"},"content":{"rendered":"

Overview:<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is essential to read a math problem carefully before any other steps can be taken to solve the problem.\u00a0 The process of reading a math problem carefully includes understanding the meaning of any unfamiliar words or symbols, paying close attention to directions, sorting out any information that is not needed, and determining if there is enough information to solve the problem.<\/p>\n

Are There Any Unfamiliar Words or Symbols?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Math uses a specialized language of words and symbols to describe expressions and operations.\u00a0 Suppose a geometry problem involved the perimeter of a kite with adjacent sides AB and BC, as well as BD and CD.\u00a0 Before setting up the problem to find the perimeter of the kite, one would need to know what a kite in geometry is a special kind of quadrilateral with adjacent sides of equal length, and that finding the perimeter means adding up the measurements of all the sides of the polygon.\u00a0 Many math books have glossaries which give definitions of terms and operations, as well as specialized math dictionaries and encyclopedias.<\/p>\n

Are There Directions to Follow?<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the keys to reading a math problem carefully is paying close attention to directions.\u00a0 When a problem is written in symbols, 12\/3 means something very different from 3\/12.\u00a0 Similarly (4 + 3)5 means something different than 4 + 3\u22195, because 7 times 5 is 35 and 4 + 15 is 19.\u00a0 When a problem is written in words, the directions are hidden in clues to operations.\u00a0 Clues to addition will ask for the total number to be added or the sum of two numbers, while clues to subtraction include the difference between two items.\u00a0 Clues to multiplication include finding the product, while clues to division include the ratio.<\/p>\n

Is There Unnecessary Information?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Suppose that the word problem states that there are 5 planets and 4 moons in the Halona system.\u00a0 Scientists in the 23rd<\/sup> century think that even though the system is about 900 light years away, that at least 20 percent of the planets might support life.\u00a0 How many planets might support life?\u00a0 In order to solve this fictional word problem, it is not necessary to know that there are 4 moons,\u00a0that scientists are still theorizing in the 23rd<\/sup> century (as opposed to going there at warp speed and checking it out), or even that the system is about 900 light years away.<\/p>\n

Is There Enough Information to Solve the Problem?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the fictional \u201cword problem” in the preceding paragraph, suppose the question were something like \u201cIn what order are the planets in the Halona system from the distance from its star?\u201d\u00a0 Nothing is said in the problem about the order of the planets or their distance from their star.<\/p>\n

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Overview: It is essential to read a math problem carefully before any other steps can be taken to solve the problem.\u00a0 The process of reading a math problem carefully includes understanding the meaning of any unfamiliar words or symbols, paying close attention to directions, sorting out any information that is not needed, and determining if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[2678,2676,2677],"class_list":["post-6940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pre-algebra","tag-following-directions","tag-reading-problems-carefully","tag-unfamiliar-words-and-symbols"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6940\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}