Yup you made it better.
Doing this is very helpful when taking math tests & classes. Not as necessarily as helpful in the real world, but does avoid making calculation mistakes. And I think a LOT of students want to evaluate their numbers out too early, and it often takes seeing how much easier such questions are to do this way to help break the habit. I think it comes from all the drill kids get in arithmetic.
This is particularly helpful in standardized math tests & questions. I tell my kids, that for this kind of test if the numbers start getting particularly painful to handle you have probably made a minor mistake OR there is a simpler way to solve it.
Other option for this problem if you are trying to figure out how to solve it the quickest & most accurate. A hybrid of the solve vs. plug in. Personally I find plugging into the original equation a bit tricky what with figuring out all those LCD. But if you get the problem partly done it's a bit more obvious.
Last edited by bluemagic; 01/21/14 05:15 PM.
