In a particular condominium community 2/3 of all of the men are married to 3/5 of all of the women. What fraction of the entire condominium community are married?
My initial thoughts about this problem were yay, I get to use Singapore math (model drawings) and so I followed the instructions below. I have taught Singapore math for the last few years and really enjoy teaching it. It helps my students understand the problems better and most of the time they answer the problems correctly.
My first step was to think about the LCM between 3 and 5. In this case the LCM would be 15. Then I drew 15 boxes to represent the total men and then 15 boxes to represent the total women. Next I took 2/3 and converted using my new LCM 15. This would equate to 10 boxes to represent married women.
Then I did the same thing with 3/5 . I converted 3/5 using my new LCM of 15 and that equated to 9 boxes to represent the total amount of married men.
Finally, I added 9 plus 10 to equal 19/15. Of course that is am improper fraction so then I turned it into a mixed number by taking 19 and dividing it by 15.
The final answer is 1 and 4/15
* After completing the problem, I reread the question and then started to second guess my answer because I had actually not read that the problem said that these men were married to 3/5 of the women. I thought the variables were separate. Therefore at this point I am not really sure.
Next, I took 3/5 and converted it to a decimal and got .60 and then I said what is 2/3 of .60 and I got 40. Now to write 40 as a fraction...hum... I think I am doing this wrong.
Ok kids that is all I have...
Stephie,
ReplyDeleteI sympathize. I had to draw pictures to make any sense of it and am still not certain that my answer is correct...
Hi Stephie,
ReplyDeleteThis process reinforced the idea that it is just fine to arrive at the "wrong answer" to a problem. More important is the process of grappling with a problem, collaborating with others, and comparing processes. This process develops critical thinking and problem solving skills that are useful in every industry and situation.
Hi Stephie,
ReplyDeleteThis exercise was a reminder for me that the process of problem solving is a valuable tool for students. Grappling with the problem and collaborating with others to compare processes was an enlightening experience. I think that this is an important takeaway for math educators that can be applied through instructional practices and assessment. Imagine if we (educators) spent more time allowing students to focus on risk-free/safe problem solving processes that demonstrate that critical thinking and problem solving is just as important as arriving at the 'right answer' in class.
Amatullah, I wanted to look at other people work, but decided I should try to answer this alone. I was even going to call my husband and ask for his direction. Ha! After reading your answer, I was way off!
ReplyDeleteWow after watching the power point slides I was terribly off. I was looking for the LCM instead of the LCN.
ReplyDelete