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Things Required In Math Class I Find Retarded.

Agent11

Agent11

Diamond Member
Every morning in math my professor requires us to write a phrase, "What we do to one side of an equation we do to the other side."

D*50= 1150

Find D.

Anyone with two brain cells to rub together knows that you just have to divide 50 into 1150 to find D, as division is the inverse of multiplication, however I am required to work on both sides of the equation and so I must also divide D*50 by 50, showing work for such as well.

Otherwise she is pretty cool.
 
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I tutored math to high school students for a few years, and unfortunately what might be obvious to you is not obvious to everyone.

I had students that when given a problem such as:

x + 2 = 5

Would try to divide 5 by 2 to isolate x. At least if you write it out:

(x+2)/2 = 5/2

Seeing an addition being divided might make them realize that division doesn't cancel the 2 on the left hand side.

This was a high performing school in a wealthy suburb, too. I don't even want to know how poor mathematical skills are at the low performing schools D:
 
Out of curiosity, why is someone with two brain cell TO rub together taking mathematics at that level in college?
 
Agent11 said:
Every morning in math my professor requires us to write a phrase, "What we do to one side of an equation we do to the other side."

D*50= 1150

Find D.

Anyone with two brain cells to rub together knows that you just have to divide 50 into 1150 to find D, as division is the inverse of multiplication, however I am required to work on both sides of the equation and so I must also divide 50 by D*50, showing work for such as well.

Otherwise she is pretty cool.
Click to expand...

First of all, you are presumably in training to solve more difficult equations than that someday, where it may not be so obvious as that equation is and they are trying to train you in the mechanics of what to do early on with simple equations.

Secondly, you said it wrong. I know what you meant to say, but you actually said the inverse.

"and so I must also divide 50 by D*50"

No you're dividing D*50 by 50 not dividing 50 by D*50 which is the inverse.
 
Agent11 said:
Every morning in math my professor requires us to write a phrase, "What we do to one side of an equation we do to the other side."
Click to expand...

How long has this been going on? I would bring the same piece of paper every day, if she indeed checks...
 
Should have brushed up on my algebra more prior to taking the placement test. I did a quicky familiarization for pemdas and thought I could handle it, now I get to trudge through prealgebra. It's been a decade or so since I had to do algebra, although it's coming back the more I do it. I placed out of having to do any reading, and only have to take one writing class for my transfer degree, so meh.

Berliner said:
How long has this been going on? I would bring the same piece of paper every day, if she indeed checks...
Click to expand...

It's our proof of attendance, and stays in the classroom.

disappoint said:
First of all, you are presumably in training to solve more difficult equations than that someday, where it may not be so obvious as that equation is and they are trying to train you in the mechanics of what to do early on with simple equations.

Secondly, you said it wrong. I know what you meant to say, but you actually said the inverse.

"and so I must also divide 50 by D*50"

No you're dividing D*50 by 50 not dividing 50 by D*50 which is the inverse.
Click to expand...

d / 50 or 50 / d is nonsense until you do the other side, and then is useless, and 50 / 50 is the same either way, I did write it incorrectly, testament to the number of f*cks given I suppose. She makes us draw the bar and write 50 regardless though to show our work. This rule applies to tests, homework, and quizzes as well. Even if there is no work to be done on that side of the equation, if you don't you lose points.

When there is work to be done I'm fine with it, because I would do it anyways. It's wasting time and mental energy trying to remember to do it when I don't need to that I find annoying.

She's pretty cool with deadlines for work and stuff though, just has an odd way of doing things sometimes. About the entire class was lost in space as she tried to explain how subtraction is commutative in algebra. That was fun.
 
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that's middle school maths.

The point is that even if you find it easy, you get used to the mechanics and so when it becomes more complicated and involves variables, you can apply the same behaviour as always and the complexity is overcome more easily.
 
Agent11 said:
Should have brushed up on my algebra more prior to taking the placement test. I did a quicky familiarization for pemdas and thought I could handle it, now I get to trudge through prealgebra. It's been a decade or so since I had to do algebra, although it's coming back the more I do it. I placed out of having to do any reading, and only have to take one writing class for my transfer degree, so meh.



It's our proof of attendance, and stays in the classroom.



d / 50 or 50 / d is nonsense until you do the other side, and then is useless, and 50 / 50 is the same either way, I did write it incorrectly, testament to the number of f*cks given I suppose. She makes us draw the bar and write 50 regardless though to show our work. This rule applies to tests, homework, and quizzes as well. Even if there is no work to be done on that side of the equation, if you don't you lose points.

When there is work to be done I'm fine with it, because I would do it anyways. It's wasting time and mental energy trying to remember to do it when I don't need to that I find annoying.

She's pretty cool with deadlines for work and stuff though, just has an odd way of doing things sometimes. About the entire class was lost in space as she tried to explain how subtraction is commutative in algebra. That was fun.
Click to expand...

Yet from this post and the previous post it seems that you really don't understand what is being done and why. You obviously have to divide both sides by 50. this is not
d / 50 or 50 / d is nonsense until you do the other side, and then is useless, and 50 / 50 is the same either way
Click to expand...

and it does matter, in order to get D on one side you take D*50 and divide it by 50 which gives you just D on that side. you don't take d/50 or 50/d and 50/50. You then just divide the other side by 50 to get what D is equal to.

You aren't just trying to get the value of D you are learning things that can be done and how they are done. If you were to only divide the one side by 50, you would end up with D*50 = 1150/50 which is clearly incorrect. So all she is asking you to do is show that you are dividing both sides by 50.
 
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No offense but your professor is having to cater to the lowest common denominator. Most people did that math when they were between the ages of 10 and 12. You are a decade or more behind your peers.

I have helped tutor some of my adult friends who are terrible at math and you would be surprised at what is common sense for one person but not another. Odds are that although you find that obvious you are struggling immensely with other concepts that are plainly obvious to everyone else. It's the nature of the beast when it comes to people who have no basic math skills.

Besides that you have to remember that math can be solved in multiple ways and most people do not see things in the same way. For example you might have 8*6 memorized while my brain does 8*3*2. Neither is wrong.
 
I'll take a stab at explaining to you why your teacher is being anal retentive about showing every single step. And, it has a lot to do with testing into remedial mathematics. Now, perhaps things are coming back to you more quickly than they are to other students, but the teacher has no way of knowing that. But, I'll give you an example I experience all the time:

I can ask students in high school to add 2/3 to 5/7. Amazing how much some struggle to get the correct answer, but for those struggling, a simple, "how do you add fractions together" generally elicits a response of "get a common denominator." Okay, go ahead. Those students will then say "multiply the first fraction by 7 and multiply the second fraction by 3." And, they'll stick a 7 in front of the first fraction and a 3 in front of the second fraction, and then write 14/21 + 15/21 = 29/21. Then I ask, "why did you multiply by 7?" "To get a common denominator." "But, if you multiply by 7, wouldn't that make it 7 times as big?" "I dunno, that's how we were taught to do it." (No it wasn't.) But, for these students, they memorized procedures and didn't know the concept that allowed them to do what they're doing. In this case, in case you haven't figured it out, NO, you don't multiply by 7 and 3. You multiply by 1 and 1. Though, 1 is in the form of 7/7 and 3/3. Multiplying by one (identity property of multiplication) doesn't change the value of something (though it might make it look a little different.) So great. They can add two fractions together, have no idea why their procedure works, but JUST LIKE YOU, they get the correct answer, so no big deal, right? Well, when they get to a little higher mathematics and they encounter something like sinx (cosx/tanx) They wind up with (sinx cosx)/(sinx tanx) because when something's out front, don't you multiply it by the top and by the bottom? That's what they've been doing all along! *(Just as in class, the words that come out of my mouth are numerator and denominator, though I write top and bottom as I'm saying those words, out of laziness & for the sake of time. Trust me that I was thinking "numerator" as I typed "top.")

"What you do to one side is what you do to the other side" is perhaps the MOST important rule in mathematics. It's amazing how often people do not apply it, because they're attempting to memorize procedures, rather than apply such a simple concept. For example, take the equation (log meaning log base 10):
log(x+2) + log(6x+2) = 2. I can't count the number of times I see (x+2) + (6x+2) = 100. "What did you do?" "Don't you do 10^ to get rid of log?" "No, what you do is always this: 'what you do to one side is what you do to the other side.'" So, it's 10^[log(x+2) + log(6x+2)]=10^2. Inevitably, I show them that it's easier to combine logs first, then eliminate the logs, though they can do it their way which still results in a product, but that's a bit beyond the OP's needs, suffice to say, OP, while you may think it's trivial, and while you may be well beyond the ability of the students in class but you were simply rusty during the placement exam, you tested into a course that's generally dominated by students who do NOT understand the concepts & are thus limited in their ability to do any higher level mathematics correctly.
 
Paul98 said:
Yet from this post and the previous post it seems that you really don't understand what is being done and why. You obviously have to divide both sides by 50. this is not

and it does matter, in order to get D on one side you take D*50 and divide it by 50 which gives you just D on that side. you don't take d/50 or 50/d and 50/50. You then just divide the other side by 50 to get what D is equal to.

You aren't just trying to get the value of D you are learning things that can be done and how they are done. If you were to only divide the one side by 50, you would end up with D*50 = 1150/50 which is clearly incorrect. So all she is asking you to do is show that you are dividing both sides by 50.
Click to expand...

I get what you are saying, its about communicating the work, and reducing D*50 to just d. However that is analogous to being forced to show work for single digit addition, subtraction or multiplication, division. As long as I write D=23 and show the work of the division it infers that D*50 was reduced, being as it has no more work to be done.

She makes us draw little lines when combining like terms as well. 🙁

I should have studied harder for my placement test.
 
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Agent11 said:
I should have studied harder for my placement test.
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So you placed like someone who can't do math, and you're surprised when you get treated like someone who can't do math?

Prove that you can do math, and you won't have this problem in the future.
 
I think it was sign usage and nested parentheses that landed me here, they can be quite devious in how they engineer the problems.
 
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Agent11 said:
I get what you are saying, its about communicating the work, and reducing D*50 to just d. However that is analogous to being forced to show work for single digit addition, subtraction or multiplication, division. As long as I write D=23 and show the work of the division it infers that D*50 was reduced, being as it has no more work to be done.

She makes us draw little lines when combining like terms as well. 🙁

I should have studied harder for my placement test.
Click to expand...
Perhaps you should read my post again as well. You're in a classroom full of people who don't have a clue what they're doing or WHY they're doing it. It's not about communicating your work, it's about a teacher making sure that you understand what that work is doing.

So, you know that division is the inverse of multiplication -
Then, if you start with 50d + 100 = 4500, can you divide by 50 on the first step?
 
First you have to subtract 100 from both sides. That would be a better example of working on both sides imo.
 
Agent11 said:
I think it was sign usage and nested parentheses that landed me here, they can be quite devious in how they engineer the problems.
Click to expand...

If you find these devious then maybe you're not as good at math as you think you are. I would probably approach that class with one of two attitudes. Either accept that you're a bit behind and learn as much as possible so that you can get through this smoothly, or prove to the professor that you do not belong in there and get them to test you out of there quickly. When I was in college and found myself in a class that I was obviously overqualified for the professors would see that I got a perfect score (or higher in some math classes where extra credit was on tests) and they would allow me to skip a test or even the final and just give me the A. I had this happen in everything from Math to History. Professors are people too and are not there to bore you to death or give themselves extra work grading your work if you do not belong in there.

If you need math for a potential degree than having a solid foundation is a godsend. This class might be just what you need. It will make the next class easier and ultimately your degree much easier.
 
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