Dishes Problem

-

To solve this problem without algebra, I used proportional reasoning. Specifically, I re-interpreted the givens as the average fractional amounts of each dish that one guest would eat, and then constructed a ratio of those values. By extension, this ratio also represents the relative proportions of each type of dish for the whole dinner party. Since there must be an integer number of dishes of each type, we simply scale up the lowest whole number expression of that ratio until the total number of dishes is equal to 65. The number of any one of the types of dishes can then be used to determine the number of guests.


I think that culturally diverse examples with rich imagery have the potential of engaging a broader swath of students, and there is little to know disadvantage of using such examples so long as the teacher makes sure to not appropriate other cultures or reduce examples to a sort of tokenism. 

Comments

  1. Susan Gerofsky5 October 2020 at 12:35

    Very nice solution approach! (You'll see this in Ancient Egyptian math too... the method of false position)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mathematical Understanding and Multiple Representations

-
What convinces (or doesn't convince) you in the authors' argument? I would have to say that the authors’ arguments were quite convincing to me personally, not only because of the points made and studies cited, but also because I am predisposed to agree based on my personal experience and observation. The main conclusions—that students must practice using multiple representations, that representation is a fundamentally social activity, and that instruction must use varying techniques—are in general agreement with what I have personally realized in my time as a student and my limited time as a teacher. Furthermore, the way that the authors used not only examples, but also real case studies, to support their points was effective in convincing me of their position. For example, Tchoshanov’s pilot study where three groups of students were taught trigonometry with controlled levels of representation (one group with just an analytic approach, one with just a visual approach, and one w...
Read more

Homework Writing - Sept 23

-
  1. Writing about your favourite and least favourite math teachers -- and why. Favourite Teacher: I am quite lucky to have had many great math teachers over the course of my academic career, and perhaps this is one of the reasons why I am attracted to this particular occupation. If I must choose just one, I will focus on my grade 12 Functions teacher. I choose to write about him because he was one of the first math teachers that truly challenged me as a student, but simultaneously provided the support for me to succeed (and he sincerely wanted me to succeed). It was much more difficult to receive high marks in his class compared to the sections run by his colleagues, and so I, along with many other students, was initially upset by what seemed to be an injustice to us who were competing for university entrances and academic awards. However, as time went on, I quickly realized that this teacher pushed his students so that they would understand concepts more deeply, learn to be adapt...
Read more