I'm So Fucking Anal About Math (2 Viewers)

[Lovely_Cornchips]

It sucks.

I'm sorry-I can't fathom how frustrating it must be!

 

[Lovely_Cornchips]

I once got a zero on a final question worth ten points because we were supposed to solve it with matrices but i did it by dividing by a common denominator. I was so mad. the damn answer was right, who cares how I got it¡!!!!!!!!

That frustrates me for you-I'm sorry.

 

[Lovely_Cornchips]

It’s kind of wild because I don’t think I’ve ever used fractions to solve for percentages. It just seems like so much extra work But I do understand being used to one method and feeling like the other method is annoying because you’re used to the one you use already. I do have to say though that once you learn this method you may find yourself using for daily tasks just because it’s easier to do with no pen and paper handy because it’s just normal multiplication, any phone can do it in a second for you. Or maybe you won’t, but I can see it being possible

I mean a percentage is a fraction just like it is a decimal.

One is solving for the X which is essentially basic multiplication and division. The other one is conversions and figuring out if the numbers provided are a base, portion or a rate and then figuring out the best formula to use when you figure out what number each thing represents and which one you are solving for. That seems more complicated to me than using fractions and solving for X.

 

[StirFriedPanda]

Devils advocate but maybe it has to do with progression? Idk the context of what you were learning but if it’s a lead up to something using matrices that you can’t do with common denominators, will the method you use advance your ability to understand the basic information needed for the future stuff? But that does depend on the class and what you learn in the next class and such

Your probably right since I got the ones I solved with matrices wrong.

 

[Lovely_Cornchips]

Your probably right since I got the ones I solved with matrices wrong.

This course I'm doing is specifically supposed to be about banking and that part is about ten times worse for me. I wish someone had taught me how to reconcile charges a long time ago-but they didn't.

 

[Ahsoka]

I mean a percentage is a fraction just like it is a decimal.

One is solving for the X which is essentially basic multiplication and division. The other one is conversions and figuring out if the numbers provided are a base, portion or a rate and then figuring out the best formula to use when you figure out what number each thing represents and which one you are solving for. That seems more complicated to me than using fractions and solving for X.

You’re not describing it incorrectly but that doesn’t make it difficult. To me I don’t think about the name for the numbers in question and don’t think about the formulas. I don’t even know those formulas you posted honestly, when I saw them I was like wtf is this supposed to be. But I just happen to know the idea well enough that I intuitively know what multiplication to do with the given numbers. Fractions aren’t a difficult method either but if you’re using the cross multiplication method (which is what I’m assuming) you also have to do the same thing, decide which number goes where in the formula, but there’s more numbers and you have to do 2 operations generally vs 1 and to a lot of people keeping track of 2 fractions in their mind is probably harder than keeping track of one equation (yes I know the equation has a fraction, but for me it’s an easier one because it really can be written in one line more easily than cross multiplying). But at the end of the day which method is picked doesn’t really matter that much because they’re actually the same exact thing written differently, so like you said, the answer ends up the same. To me cross multiplying is just a clunkier version, but I also don’t use fractions much so it may be just that I have less experience with them

 

[StirFriedPanda]

This course I'm doing is specifically supposed to be about banking and that part is about ten times worse for me. I wish someone had taught me how to reconcile charges a long time ago-but they didn't.

Reconciling charges just means spend until the bank says no right?!

 

[Lovely_Cornchips]

Reconciling charges just means spend until the bank says no right?!

I wish!

This confuses the ever living fuck out of me. And I always get them wrong.

 

[RandAlThor]

Yoou can do it, its just a tool.

Math is supposed to be more about tools than answers. i know not the way they teach, but still. :)

 

[RandAlThor]

Look I adore math but literally THIS! If the way we do it SOLVES it why is it an ISSUE!?!?!

They wanted me to figure out how much sales were done if they had increased by 40% from 300,000 the year before.

I literally just made it X/300,000 = 40/100 got 40x=12,000,000 then divided by 40 on both sides to get 120,000 then just added that to 300,000.

They wanted me to turn 40% into a mixed decimal so 1.4 then times that by 300,000. It seems simpler in theory but it just seems annoying to have to convert everything to decimals to solve it when I can use fractions and cross multiplication while solving for X.

I don't want to have to convert and know the proper formula between P=RxB or B=P/R or R=P/B.

cuz fractions scare ppl.

You know i think it was Wendys that had to change there burgers from 1/3lb to 1/4 because ppl thought the 1/3 was smaller and they were getting ripped off....

 

[Lovely_Cornchips]

cuz fractions scare ppl.

You know i think it was Wendys that had to change there burgers from 1/3lb to 1/4 because ppl thought the 1/3 was smaller and they were getting ripped off....

Wait....legit? THAT HAPPENED!?!?

OMFG....but I LOVE fractions.

 

[RandAlThor]

I wish!

This confuses the ever living fuck out of me. And I always get them wrong.

debits
nice both are great record keeprs wee.

 

[RandAlThor]

Wait....legit? THAT HAPPENED!?!?

OMFG....but I LOVE fractions.

Yes but it was A & W


money quote
"Why should we pay the same amount for a third of a pound of meat as we do for a quarter-pound of meat?" they asked.

A&W Restaurants

By now you've probably heard the story: once upon a time, A&W Restaurants released a third-pound burger that failed to catch on thanks to a misunderstanding of fractions. Just how accurate is this tale of math mistakes and fraction flubs? Read on for the scoop. In the 1980s, then-owner A. Alfred...

awrestaurants.com

 

[StirFriedPanda]

Yoou can do it, its just a tool.

Math is supposed to be more about tools than answers. i know not the way they teach, but still. :)

I think I understand why me and math don't get a long. It's lots of scalpels... when I prefer hammers and nukes.