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Anyone help?

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in General Chat
OK my mates daughter is 9 and has come home from school with the following maths problem. Now I thought I was pretty good at maths, but I don't see what's expected here. Ok so I take it the gaps have to be filled in, but surely they could be filled in with anything as there's no answer given to what it should be.

Does anyone know the purpose to these problems or how to solve them?

Cheers. :)

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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I don't get it either. There doesn't seem to be anything to aim for...?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    That's my thought. I am starting to feel slightly depressed I can't do a 9 year olds maths problem though!
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    the answer is 4. Isn't it??
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ButtonMoon wrote: »
    the answer is 4. Isn't it??

    I thought 4, but again, it's not actually asking for anything. :eek2:
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Oh....so there isn't a number to be put in the middle of the 2 divide signs, it's a circle that has to be filled in with just 1 number...I get it now!

    Ta. :)
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think we just overcomplicated it in our heads. Oops!
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    They like to visualise things as much as they can in the lower and even upper key stages now so it's basically saying:

    the answer is 24 (at the top). What (space) times 6 = 24? And then going down the right hand side 24 divided by ? = 6. And going down the left hand side 24 divided by 6 = ?

    It's very confusing set up for a very simple question I think. Unless I've overcomplicated it!
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    :yes: I obviously don't think like a 9 year old any more...I think I'm happy about that though.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It seemed quite obvious to me. Maybe I do think like a little kid.

    It's used to show the relationships between the numbers.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    *Ashley* wrote: »
    It's very confusing set up for a very simple question I think. Unless I've overcomplicated it!

    The point isn't to get the child to divide 24 by 6, but to teach the associativity.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The answer is indeed 4, and Big Gay has hit the nail on the head.
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    littlemissylittlemissy Posts: 9,972 Supreme Poster
    Big Gay wrote: »
    The point isn't to get the child to divide 24 by 6, but to teach the associativity.

    This is it exactly.

    You can do a similar set up with addition and subtraction. Children struggle to see the relationship between different mathematical operations, so this is a visual representation of it.

    I would've been surprised if the child couldn't do the question unaided, though. You would only send something like that home for homework if they had been doing it in school recently.
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