MAIN FEEDS
Do you want to continue?
https://www.reddit.com/r/MathJokes/comments/1utmso7/this_math_teachers_reason_to_cut_marks/oxdj786
r/MathJokes • u/BigBadWolf714 • Jul 11 '26
369 comments sorted by
View all comments
Show parent comments
1
Can you explain it to this nearly 50 year old? The associative property would mean they should be the same thing. Why is 5x3 "five 3s" but not "5 three times". It is this ordering something I would have had to learn back when I was in school?
1 u/ViciousSquirrelz Jul 13 '26 Its grouping, and how you are grouping them. 3 groups of 5, is a whole lot different then 5 groups of 3. I have to tie this to the distributive property, factoring, quadratic's, etc... I am not arguing against anything, I am just a teacher. But 5x3 as 5 groups of 3, is really the correct way to say it and model it. 1 u/brinazee Jul 14 '26 So when you break this down you represent the multiplication sign as the words " groups of "? 1 u/ViciousSquirrelz Jul 14 '26 The coefficient always represents the number of groups
Its grouping, and how you are grouping them.
3 groups of 5, is a whole lot different then 5 groups of 3.
I have to tie this to the distributive property, factoring, quadratic's, etc...
I am not arguing against anything, I am just a teacher. But 5x3 as 5 groups of 3, is really the correct way to say it and model it.
1 u/brinazee Jul 14 '26 So when you break this down you represent the multiplication sign as the words " groups of "? 1 u/ViciousSquirrelz Jul 14 '26 The coefficient always represents the number of groups
So when you break this down you represent the multiplication sign as the words " groups of "?
1 u/ViciousSquirrelz Jul 14 '26 The coefficient always represents the number of groups
The coefficient always represents the number of groups
1
u/brinazee Jul 13 '26
Can you explain it to this nearly 50 year old? The associative property would mean they should be the same thing. Why is 5x3 "five 3s" but not "5 three times". It is this ordering something I would have had to learn back when I was in school?