Re: [Edu-sig] Order of operations confusion
In a message of Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:51:40 MST, Charles Cossé writes:
So, the equation we were dealing with was something like: 82+b*c-51=d-13, and the thing that surprised me was that he didn't think it was legal to take 82-51 before having dealt with the b*c term
I suspect that he thinks your notation is sloppy, and you should have written this as 82 + (b * c) - 51 The interesting question (to me at least) is whether he would be willing to rewrite a + b + c as a + c + b and then if he would be willing to rewrite a + b as a - (-b) Can you ask him? How old is he, anyway? Laura
On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 2:52 PM, Laura Creighton <lac@openend.se> wrote:
In a message of Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:51:40 MST, Charles Cossé writes:
The interesting question (to me at least) is whether he would be willing to rewrite a + b + c as a + c + b
and then if he would be willing to rewrite a + b as a - (-b)
Yes, I confirmed that it was definitely due to having been repeatedly told the simple rules for order of operations; he observed that "there was something to be multiplied" and believed that he couldn't proceed until he had carried out that multiplication, which immediately led to a gridlock situation for him ... and he would have been okay rewriting like you did there since there was no multiplication. Guess it's just one of those many things that you don't realize kids think until you come across it ... and then it's a surprise
Can you ask him? How old is he, anyway?
Laura
He is 11, in 6th grade. Charles -- AsymptopiaSoftware|Software@theLimit http://www.asymptopia.org
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Laura Creighton