Both kids gave nice examples of the problem solving process in the two videos we did last night, so I wanted to highlight those videos with a short blog post.
First up was my younger son. He’s learning algebra this year and has a really nice way of thinking and talking through problems. I love how deliberate he is and how he discovers his own mistakes. The problem that he’s working on here is to find 3 solutions to the equation 3A – 5B = 9.
Next up was my older son. The problem he’s working on is an old Mathcounts problem, and it is pretty challenging:
What fraction of the first 100 triangular numbers are divisible by 7?
His work is a nice example of, for lack of a better phrase, the discovery process. Initially he does not see how to solve the problem, but I love his path to the solution.
After he finished I showed him two other approaches to solving the problem, just to help him see how a few other ideas in math can connect to this problem:
I wanted to share these examples to show that problem solving in math isn’t all about speed. A slow, deliberate process is a great way to get to the solution of a problem.
Mike's Math Page 