5th grade math

[Faithless]

So, the following is considered 5th grade math these days?

Some kid has 21 stickers.

She gives half as much to her brother as she gives to her teacher. She gives twice as much to her friend as she gives to her teacher. How many stickers did she give to each person?

Now, it took me about 30 minutes to get the answer, but I think I got it. But not like the math book was suggesting. I'm guessing there's three variables. But I can only come up with two equations. I then had to make and educated guess. :frown:

[snailpoo]

So, the following is considered 5th grade math these days?

Some kid has 21 stickers.

She gives half as much to her brother as she gives to her teacher. She gives twice as much to her friend as she gives to her teacher. How many stickers did she give to each person?

Now, it took me about 30 minutes to get the answer, but I think I got it. But not like the math book was suggesting. I'm guessing there's three variables. But I can only come up with two equations. I then had to make and educated guess. :frown:

brother +teacher +friend =21

t=2f

b+t+2t=21

b=2t

b+2b+4b=21

b=3

brother received 3, the teacher 6, and her friend 12.

[Craig]

Isn't the problem a wee bit on the easy side for 5th graders ?
let B = brother, F = friend & T = teacher
B = 0.5T, F = 2T, B + T + F = 21
=> 0.5T + T + 2T = 21 = 3.5T
=> T = 21 / 3.5
=> T = 6, B = 3, F = 12

[pikachupacabra]

turn in your asian tags chotto, you're kicked out of the asian club lol

[Faithless]

I'm a bookkeeper, not a methmotishun.

Anyway, I did it like Craig. Accept the "hint" in the math book was to use only one variable.

[Adaon]

lol. I just stared at 21 long enough, and figured 12 + 6 + 3. I'm still not sure how I got it. hahaha. craptastic

[Craig]

I'm a bookkeeper, not a methmotishun.

Anyway, I did it like Craig. Accept the "hint" in the math book was to use only one variable.Well, maybe they are trying to condition the children (i.e. future American workers) not to get the right answer, but to blindly follow instructions and do it the way the teacher (i.e. boss) wants it.

I remember my first semester at the university I was taking Vector Calculus, and on of the pop quizzes, I solved a problem using Physics and I got a 2/20 on the quiz. I didn't get credit because I did it that way, and not the "proper way" for the class.

[eos]

i remember not getting credit for problems that i solved the "wrong way". fuck that. you asked for the answer, i got it. way to encourage kids to do something they hate, geniuses.

[Adaon]

i remember not getting credit for problems that i solved the "wrong way". fuck that. you asked for the answer, i got it. way to encourage kids to do something they hate, geniuses.

Woot for thinking out of the box!

[bmwhype]

this is actually an incredibly simple GMAT question. here is how u solve it. define x.

let x = teacher

She gives twice as much to her friend as she gives to her teacher.

so....2x + x
friend has twice as many as teacher


She gives half as much to her brother as she gives to her teacher.

so...1/2x + x
brother has half as many as teacher

so, in total, it is brother + friend + teacher
so it would be (1/2x + 2x + x)
we can multiply this equation by to get rid of the fraction and we will get (x + 4x + 2x)

this adds up to 7x.
7x=21 stickers
x=3

so..
How many stickers did she give to each person?

teacher = 2x = 2(3) = 6
friend = 4x= 4(3) = 12
brother = x = 3

[bmwhype]

***we can multiply this equation by 2 to get rid of the fraction and we will get (x + 4x + 2x)

[applehead]

i took a fifth grade science test online
and got a c-.
it was very eclectic. it involved earth science,
zoology, earth science, astronomy.

[inthesky]

for these type of equations, just define one variable as the smallest amount and you can work from there..

anyways, i thought that it was pretty tough for a 5th grader - word problems with variables seems like a jr high thing to me, but i guess that's just called human progress

[Golden Monkey]

Some kid has 21 stickers.

She gives half as much to her brother as she gives to her teacher. She gives twice as much to her friend as she gives to her teacher. How many stickers did she give to each person?

I used my own idiot technique. Took 2 minutes.

brother gets 1

teacher gets twice brother = 2

friend gets twice teacher = 4

1+2+4=7

21 divided by 7 is three. Multiply each person's amount by 3.

Brother gets 3, teacher gets 6 and friend gets 12.

[Adaon]

I used my own idiot technique. Took 2 minutes.

brother gets 1

teacher gets twice brother = 2

friend gets twice teacher = 4

1+2+4=7

21 divided by 7 is three. Multiply each person's amount by 3.

Brother gets 3, teacher gets 6 and friend gets 12.

Hmmm. Not bad at all.

You figured that brother gets 1 (or X). Teacher gets 2 (or 2X)

And friend gets 4 (4X). You added all to get 7 (7X) and divided by 21. Lol. Cool.

Actually, I remember getting exposed to this stuff in 4th/5th grade.

My grade school teacher called it a weird form of math called Algebra and such, telling us most of our sibs had struggled through it before, so he might as well teach us a lil bit of it. Heh. >_<

[sageb1]

more kids should learn algebra.

i failed calculus in math 12 only because THERE ARE TOO MANY FORMULAS TO MEMORIZE.

to help us, the math teacher sold us a circular slide rule with crib notes on it.