You can see her homework and answer here.
Regroup 1 hundred for 10 tens:
438 = ____ hundreds ______ tens 8 ones.
Write the missing numbers.
My daughter answered “4 hundreds” and “3 tens”. Is this not right or do I not get this Q at all?
Note: Those red check-marks are how she marks them wrong, not that she checked them and they are right.
maybe she wanted 0 and 43 ?
If you’re daughter is wrong, then I am wrong as well.
Does “regroup” make it 3 hundreds and 13 tens? Normally that would be part of a subtraction problem.
Sorry to be a pain, but we can’t solve this one either. My daughter has left it blank after a few attempts.
Yeah, that’s a confusing phrasing. Is there anything from the context of other problems in the homework that could help?
(At least it wasn’t this question.)
(eta that was for the first question–the second one seems to reinforce the interpretation that the answer to the first might be 3 and 13.)
My friend from facebook, an accountant, has said this:
#17: " 3 and 13. Normally [little Mahaloth] would be right saying 4 and 3 but you are regrouping 1 of the hundreds for 10 more tens, which gives you 3 and 13."
#28: " There might be multiple solutions for this one, but right of the top of my head use $3.49 and $1.57. When you subtract 1.57 from 3.49 you have to trade (regroup) one of the dollars for 10 dimes. Basically the regrouping happens when subtracting the dime position. The answer would then be $1.92."
I think she has it, right?
I could not say why the questions are phrased in that manner, but the subject does indeed seem to be subtraction and the reference to money is a bit of a red herring, so she just needs to make up an exercise like $4.57 - $3.91
4 hundreds and 3 10s is just a grouping, not a re-grouping. But it says to re-group one of our hundreds into 10 tens, so that leaves 3 hundreds and 13 tens.
The second one is the same idea: If you have some number of dollar bills, dimes, and other coins, there are some amounts of money you can’t subtract from that. But if you trade in one of those dollars for ten dimes, then maybe you can now do the subtraction. The question is looking for such an example.
How does she mark them right or wrong if she is not absolutely sure what the answer is?
[ETA little Mahaloth would make her Mahalath (as in daughter of Ishmael)?]
The question, as worded, is incomprehensible. That said, 4 and 3 are the only possible answers. I say this ex cathedra.
A test that serves as a test on how to take tests is poorly written.
The obvious critical analysis is that the author of the module wanted to avoid a page full of identical-looking arithmetic exercises, and therefore tried to mix it up with some word problems. Maybe it is not such a bad idea to force the student to think (though Darren Garrison’s example seems rather perverse).
Who said the teacher does not know? I’m sure the teacher knows.
That is a shocking piece of questions writing.
I’d get your daughter to put a big red line cross through the whole question and write in green pen “incomprehensible question setting, 0/10 please see me!”
This.
I can see an interpretation of this leading to 0 and 43. Also 1 and 33. This test serves no function, apart from an early lesson that the world is full of idiots who cannot clearly express ideas, and that you’re going to have to get used to that.
No, 0 and 43 would be “regroup 4 hundreds for 40 tens”, and 1 and 33 would be “regroup 3 hundreds for 30 tens”.
Oh, and the question that Darren Garrison linked is also a perfectly good question, to which the correct answer is “I don’t know”, or “not enough information”, or the like. Any attempt at a mathematical answer shows the teacher that the student doesn’t understand the math being taught, and that’s a really important thing for the teacher to know.
Or you’re regrouping 1 hundred for 10 tens, and doing it four times.
When I first read the OP, I took “regroup 1 hundred for 10 tens” to be describing an equivalence. One dollar is equivalent to ten dimes, regroup 1 foot for 12 inches, that sort of thing; handy conversions to know under the right circumstances. My first thought was 0 hundreds and 43 tens. Once I parsed the question a little bit more, taking “regroup…” as a specific instruction, I figured out what the teacher was probably after. To me, having not sat in this teacher’s classroom all term, it’s rather poorly worded.
Oddly, “0 and 43” would probably work in any situation where “3 and 13” would be useful. Suppose you’re subtracting 438 - 80; regroup into 0 hundreds and 43 tens, subtract 8 tens and get 35 tens, regroup back to 3 hundreds and 5 tens.
I’m guessing 0 hundreds, 43 tens, 8 ones. I think it’s confusing that a space was given for the 100s, but I guess the kids were suppose to see the 100s can be regrouped as 10s. I think a 2 step problem would’ve been clearer. First rename with 100s, 10s, and 1s and then rename with just 10s and 1s.
After a few seconds head-scratching and a re-read, I assumed this was an example of this new common core stuff I’ve heard about and started thinking outside of the box to quickly arrive at 3/13 which is clearly what they were looking for.
I was always a good test-taker and would have loved tests more like this.
The wording is not one I’ve encountered before, but I got 3 and 13. The only reason I got this is that’s the only answer I see that makes sense given that the 4 and 3 answer is wrong. Otherwise, I would have glossed over that first part of the question.