This past week we were given a math problem. There was a paperclip on the sheet in a graph with the graph measured in centimeters. It was not drawn to scale. The longest length of the paperclip was 4 centimeters. We had a problem to solve. It was if you had 10 meters of metal how many paperclips could you make out of it. After that everyone sat and tried to figure it out. My train of though immediately went to doing the 10 meters divided by 4 cm and that would make 250 paperclips. I did that and to me it didn't seem right so I went back to try to find out what I did wrong. After going back I realized what I did wrong. Using the 4 cm was wrong. You had to add up all the side and bend lengths. By looking at the different sides I used the graph to figure out the length of each side. I added all the sides and got 15 cm. As soon as I found that out I wanted to find out how many paperclips you could make with the 10 meters. You can make 66 paperclips with with the 10 meters of metal. In the end I ended up finding the correct answer or what I assumed was the right answer. I also learned that I can't jump to conclusions because I first thought it was 10 m/4 cm but that was wrong. You need to focus and take each possibility into account then from that make your best guess on what the answer is based on the information you have. I made the mistake of jumping to conclusions, I learned that there are many ways to solve a problem, I have grown by now focusing on each way to solve the problem and use the answer that I think answers the question the best.
|
AuthorI'm a 9th grade math student at HTH. Archives
December 2015
Categories |