…my friend’s 3rd grader got this question (worked exactly as follows) on his math homework.
Max is thinking of an odd number between 42 and 64. THE between the digits is the same as the digit in the ones place. What is Max’s number?
I think there’s a bad phrasing there or a missing word or something- is anyone familiar with this question that might know either the answer or what the actual question is supposed to be? Maybe THE stands for something? It really doesn’t much matter I guess but it’s driving us both nuts.
Well holy crap that seems obvious now- what other word could it be? No wonder I did so crappy at math in school (especially word problems). For the life of me I couldn’t imagine what word was missing.
sorry to inform you, but the recent emphasis on math and reading test scores has translated to a very bizarre notion of what school means, what teachers do, what kids do, and most distressing, what kindergarten means. I fear the public has been sold a load of crap about “the schools are failing,” “teachers are terrible,” “just test them more,” etc. Ahhh, don’t get me started.
I am occasionally astonished by the lack of care in math homework assignments that my kids have come home with over the years (they are now in 7th and 9th grades). In particular I see a lot of ambiguous word problems that really should be constructed more carefully.
I have also seen one egregious error in geography homework (no Mrs. Smith, the Prime Meridian is not the same thing as the International Date Line).
I had homework from the first grade. Has something changed?