Jeannie has brought home her workbooks from school as it is the end of term.
In her Maths book she was set the following question by her teacher. Write down 10 lots of three number that add up to 18.
Jeannie put in the following answers
18 +0 + 0 = 18
17 + 1 + 0 = 18
16 + 2 + 0 = 18
15 + 3 + 0 = 18
14 + 4 + 0 = 18
13 + 5 + 0 = 18
12 + 6 + 0 = 18
11 + 7 + 0 = 18
10 + 8 + 0 = 18
The teacher’s comment was “These may be right but I did expect 10 + 5 + 3 = 18 9 + 6 + 3 = 18″
To me, that was good lateral thinking. I don’t see too much difference between using 0 and 3 (except it is easier to add up of course) and if she hadn’t wanted 0 to be used, she should have said.
I think this is brilliant. She has started at the beginning and emphasised the endless possibilities. Along with 1, 0 (zero)is one of the most important numbers and also one which most people ignore. Why complicate things more than necessary?
How ingenious of Jeannie!