saxon teaching "tricks"

[Pretty in Pink]

do you require your children to master the "stortcuts" that saxon teaches regarding long division? my ds detests learning these tricks and never uses them anyway so i have gotten to the point where i just don't require it. i'm not sure i understand the advantage anyway. i never learned these shortcuts but excel in mathematics.

 

example: yesterday his book had him dividing the tens digit (of a 2 digit divisor) into the hundreds digit (of a 3 digit dividend) then writing the answer above the tens digit in the dividend and going from there. problem is that only works on certain problems (i.e. the ones in that particular lesson). so today the book says that if that shortcut doesn't work, try this one: round both the divisor and dividend to the nearest ten and divide, then use that answer as as starting point.

 

my ds said he'd rather just do the problem and be done that sit there guessing which shortcut he should try and getting all confused, and i must say i agree w/ him. thoughts?

[coffeegal]

No, I never learned the tricks either and I majored in math. I expect my children to do their division correctly but I'm not overly concerned which algorithm they use as long as it is a valid algorithm (works every time) and they understand it. Why make life complicated? :glare:

 

HTH! :001_smile:

[Excelsior! Academy]

No. In fact the D.I.V.E. CD's discourage it. I agree with coffeegal, just have them use one that works!

[Pretty in Pink]

No. In fact the D.I.V.E. CD's discourage it.

 

my ds came out of his room today saying that the DIVE cd told him not to use the trick. i know dive isn't published by saxon but it is odd none the less.

 

the theory was put forth to me that the "tricks" prepare students for timed standardized testing in which they will need to come up with answers quickly. not sure i'm buying that one since as i said before i *never* learned these tricks and i *always* scored highly in math and finished every problem w/ time to spare.

 

thanks for encouraging me to do what is working for us!

[Robin in Tx]

I'm confused. Is this actually being taught as a trick, or is this being taught as a way to estimate where to begin when working with long division/multiple digit divisors? I mean, looking at the equation 158 divided by 32, I automatically think that 3 goes into 15 five times, so that's a good place to start. Is this considered a trick? What is the alternative non-trick way of knowing where to start with long division equations like this? I didn't know there was one! LOL

 

Or did I misunderstand what you're talking about?

 

Robin

[Suzannah]

I found that my son understood the concepts the first time they were presented and didn't have any trouble. Then when all the alternatives were presented he got confused and frustrated. I think they might be useful if the student has difficulty grasping the concept initially.