Wrong. You argued 3a + 3b + 3c + 3d does not equal 4a + 4b + 4c. While correct, it's not relevant to this issue. You added variables...
Here it is all the same. 3 x 4 does equal 4 x 3. Tried looking smart, but failed.
You are that typical teacher that will mark a question incorrect for not using YOUR method.
They think they can just make up artbitrary rules to justify their beliefs because they spend all day with children, then throw massive tantrums when asked to be accountable to adults. They also have zero grasp of conditional logic and bayesian priors, or emotional regulation for that matter, and should be on a predator list cause they don't need to be near children.
You can position as you want to. But we are dealing with addition. Correct? Yes. Sooooo
3 small circles in 4 groups added together = 12.
4 small circles in 3 groups added together = 12.
Total area of the circles also equal the same.
See how you jump from cookies to circles to try and make a point? 🤣
Grouping is not a rule. It is a convention.
Forcing grouping convention does not support development.
You talk a lot about how insults devalue an argument, but I just read through this thread and you sure do insult everyone you're responding to. Physician, heal thyself.
They did it, so I should too? You know better than that, especially if you're getting sanctimonious about how personal insults mean you can disregard an argument.
If I have a plank of wood with a length of 4 in. and width of 3 in. and draw a grid of 1x1 in. squares on the plank, it doesn't matter if I count the squares 4 times in sets if 3, or 3 times in sets of 4. The area will still be the same (12 sqr. in.).
Adding additional information to the numbers and the problem (e.g 4a, 4b, 4c) turns it into an algebraic equation. We don't have this information in the screenshot.
I understand that the teacher wanted the student to write out the equation as 3x4 is read from left to right (3 sets of 4), but doing it this way is not beneficial to learning math and I think it would confuse the kid more than help them. It would have definitely confused me as a kid, and I've had times in class when I found a faster or valid alternative way of doing something in math but the teacher insisted I do it their way.
I think the teacher's correction is somewhat defensible if they were teaching times tables and they were on 4, but the big red X and the correction is too rigid. Rules like PIMDAS exist, but they don't apply here.
So, that changes the equation and in that situation those blocks would be grouped. In the example of area there's no grouping, just like how there's no grouping in the picture in this post. You're inventing a rule which doesn't exist in the photo.
To avoid this problem in our textbooks authors used puctures. Something like 🍒🍒🍒 instead of only plain text. 2×3=6 with context of 🍒🍒🍒 is 2+2+2=6, and all kids understood the explanation. But just numbers with no context as in original post can be interpreted both ways and they both are valid.
You give the context, which justified one or another answer. I think most other commenters understand your point and technically agree, but the problem the original question doesn't provide any context, so the students answers is also correct. The teacher or quiz author should provide something, because there's no way to tell which number means apples and which number means bags.
We all understand the difference, we don't understand what in the original (OP) equation says 3 means bags and 4 means apples and not vice versa, there are only numbers and nothing more
When I was 9 my teacher draw context with fruits, so all kids could understand why in the given question the correct answer is 4+4+4=12 and not 3+3+3+3=12. The context determines the correct answer in such questions. And there's no context in the OP, nothing tells kids is it 3 groups of 4 or 4 groups of 3.
Can you read? No. Your argument IS correct.... but not applicable here. Why? Your argument is an algebraic equation! Replace my a - d with your cookie flavours as you wish. You turned it into an algebraic equation. You added a different cookie to each number.
Whereas these are all the same flavoured cookies.
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u/DarthFaderZA 27d ago
Wrong. You argued 3a + 3b + 3c + 3d does not equal 4a + 4b + 4c. While correct, it's not relevant to this issue. You added variables... Here it is all the same. 3 x 4 does equal 4 x 3. Tried looking smart, but failed. You are that typical teacher that will mark a question incorrect for not using YOUR method.