Originally Posted by Sweetie
"using the strategy of drawing a diagram, I drew a diagram, labeled the parts and determined that I needed to add all the sides to find out how much fencing I needed. It was a square lawn and all the sides were equal so I used multiplication 6feet times 4sides to find that I needed 24 feet because 6x4=24 and I know that 6 x 4 = 24 because I passed my math minutes for all my times tables and I got an ice cream sundae for doing it. If I hadn't passed my math minutes I might just use the method of skip counting or repeated addition and would still be sitting here waiting on that ice cream sundae reward. Or because this is math class here is the real answer in a more mathematically concise manner that needs no additional explanation and should be considered the true answer by any real mathematician:

P of a square = 4 x s
4 x 6 ft = 24 ft


All of my explain my answers would have an element of snark in them.

I love it! Must show DS, although he's got enough snark already (gets it from his mother). smile

I keep meaning to ask someone, when they want this "show your work" stuff for addition, "how exactly do YOU show your work when you add 7 + 5?" Do they, for example, draw seven apples and then draw 5 apples under them, and number them in order? Or do they simply know that 7+5=12? Ok, so if it's ok for YOU to just know the answer because you know your math facts, why isn't it ok for the kid to know it the same way, and move on?