Comments on: Long Division Shortcut (Part 2)

By: Aka

Aka — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 15:15:34 +0000

what did u find so different in that i mean thats just a pat of the conventional method of division what we start using from 3rd standard plz show some fast methodes of division which are known as “tricks”. I really need to know then plz help me out…

By: Kaisa

Kaisa — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:14:13 +0000

Hi there,

You can download that issue of American Educator magazine here:
http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americ.....fall09.pdf

all the best,

Kaisa

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:25:09 +0000

Hi, Lou,
Funny you should ask…
There’s an excellent, excellent (did I mention that it’s excellent?) article in a “American Educator” magazine, vol 33, No 3, Fall 2009, about exactly that. Unfortunately, you have to be a member of the American Federation of Teachers to get it. So if you’re not a teacher, cajole one into lending you that issue. It’s the cover-story. It makes so much sense that you’ll wonder why it’s seldom explained like that in schools (although the author will tell you why.)

I don’t have a good post of my own on the subject, and if I “wing it” now, It will be inadequate. It really would be worth your while to get a hold of that issue. Maybe you can find it in a library.

Anyone else reading this should check it out, too, especially if you are a grade-school teacher. Once you’ve read the article, you’ll be able to help children learn in ways you never considered before.

One caveat, though – in part of the article, the author, Hung Hsi Wu, defines multiplication as “repeated addition.” It is no such thing, although using repeated addition can mimic multiplication (see http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_06_08.html – you’ll either love it or you’ll hate it, but he’s got a point). Other than that oversight, I found the article very well written, and explains how I see it better than I could explaoin it.

I hope to try to write an illustrated version of my thoughts, or make a video, in the future, but it’s not in the immediate plan.

Please, though, do yourself and your son a favor and check out that article.

By: Lou

Lou — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:18:18 +0000

My son is finding division using decimals tricky? When he starts the division problem, he starts by finding the first number through comom factorization with the divisor, but does not know exactly where to place the first number above the dividen. Do you have time to explain this problem because he does not understand it the way I know how to explain it!

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By: Long Division Shortcut Hint | The Math Mojo Chronicles

Long Division Shortcut Hint | The Math Mojo Chronicles — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 01:48:05 +0000

[...] Long division shortcut Part 2 [...]

By: Long Division Shortcut (Part 1) | The Math Mojo Chronicles

Long Division Shortcut (Part 1) | The Math Mojo Chronicles — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 07:46:28 +0000

[...] the next post about long division shortcuts, we’ll talk a little more about factoring division problems. Tags: addthis_url = [...]