I'm helping my 3rd grader with his math homework this week, never my strong suit in school, try as I might, and came across a word problem that, SURELY was either a misprint or was intended for a 12th grade advanced placement student. His teacher did tell us that that they were starting out with rediculously hard problems, but I may have thought she was pulling our legs just a bit. This was the problem....
Stella has 6 cousins more than Megan who has 5 cousins and Anne has 3 less cousins than Stella. Bridget has 2 less cousins. How many cousins does Bridget have?
WHAT? WHO is Bridget? I was pretty much with them until Bridget jumped in and ruined everything. The teacher had a hard time explaining this one to me. This is why I like art.
11 comments:
LOL!
I love it! Feelin' your pain.
I'm right there with ya...
Art is waaaaay more fun :D
Ummmm. 6?
yea, no idea.
i'll stick to art.
i think that what is missing is the 'than' in bridget's piece of the puzzle... if so, i get 6... you know what makes me crazy? there's a new way to teach math, so while i am trying to give homework help, all i hear from my son is 'that's not how the teacher does it!' ugh... i am trying here! :0)
I agree - something is missing...Bridget has two less cousins than whom? Megan has 5...Stella has 11, Anne has 8...So, depending on who has 2 less than, you could have 3 different answers...
Sounds like a bad problem to me :o)
hiLARious!
That is why I was an English teacher!
I have a 3rd grader with the same ridiculous word problems... I think that the 3rd grade word problems (that we had in like 5th grade you know) would be the real reason why I tuned out of math at that age and started burying my nose in a book!
I can't even fathom an answer...
how about....
peaches?!?
Enjoy the day!
Erin
LOL!!! Peaches! I even had the teacher go over it with me and then in the middle (as if I didn't feel stupid enough!) one of the kids comes up and says the answer! Cute.
Math blows! In first grade, I made a deal with a classmate where she did all my math homework and I did all her spelling and reading homework. It worked great for both of us until we got caught, but by then I'd figured out the trick of how to hide a novel inside my math book so all the time the teacher thought I was reading math problems, I was really following hobbits around Middle Earth. In college, I solved the problem by fulfilling my "math" requirements with classes like Atmospheric Science (aka Weather) and I majored in French. Of course, this is all probably why I can't price my jewelry correctly LOL!
Ugh, my brain hurts just thinking about all those cousins.
I will admit it...I was a math major in college (I <3 Calculus...scary, I know...)...But, I also love literature and reading books - I was almost an English major...
So, while I don't quite understand the horror you all have about math problems, I do understand that it's not something that comes easily to everyone (I tutored for a couple of years for a work study job)...We can do it!! :o)
Numbers aren't scary, I promise!
I bet if you replaced the word 'cousins' with 'beads' that you would like the problem better. Then who cares about Bridget, I want to be Stella - she has the most!
I think you are right about the word replacement! I do that with my son all the time! "Just use Jedi's instead of apples...." Yah. Bridget can bite me! ; )
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