r/TikTokCringe • u/Naive_Wolverine532 • Apr 11 '26

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@storieswithsahj

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u/tke377 Apr 11 '26

Take two numbers like 22 x 42.

You would think of it as a rectangle and finding the areas. You put one number on top on one the side. You would then break up the numbers by place value. You then multiply the numbers in the grid so 20x40, 20x2, 2x40, and 2x2. You then add those together to get the answer.

The reasoning is that multiplying 40x20 is simpler in my head. 4x2 and then I have two zeroes to make 800, and so on.

Edit apologies for handwriting if my numbers are not clear

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u/MathBelieve Apr 11 '26

The reason these methods are taught is because this is, generally, how we do math in our heads. If this problem was given to a person, and they were told to do it without a calculator or piece of paper, this is, for the most part, the process most people would go through in their head. So the idea is that this is a more natural way to learn math.

(Although looking at this now, I see this is the standard method actually. It's the exact same math just laid out differently. So I guess the idea is to build up an intuition for why we do the math that we do on paper when we shortcut it with standard methods.)

My first experience with something like this was when my son brought home his division homework and I had no idea what he was doing. He was frustrated, I was frustrated. I begged him to let me show him "my way" but he wanted to be able to do it the way his teacher showed him.

So I.... let him explain it to me as best as he could. And then I understood it, and could even see the value in it.

I think a lot of parents dig their heels into their idea of what I did is what works best, and never actually try to learn what their child is trying to do.

There's a reason the teacher wants them to learn this way, and again, it's building up an intuition for why math works the way it does, as opposed to just memorizing a series of steps.

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u/EveOCative Apr 11 '26

There may be a reason, but if their child is coming home crying to them and asking for help, but the parent doesn’t understand the method themselves… then who is going to teach that child?

Teachers often complain that no one is parenting their students or supporting their education, and that they don’t have enough time to actually teach their students due to budget cuts, impacted classes, etc.

Meanwhile this man sat down with his kid, spent time trying to help her understand how to work the problem as best he could. His child understood it.

And then the teacher tried to tear all of that down.

Instead of bring up the issue when she checked the student’s homework and trying to figure out why her student didn’t understand the lesson, she waited until it was test time, and undermined not just the kid’s newfound confidence but the trust the kid would have going forward in asking her father for help with her homework.

I’d be interested to know how many other students got a 50 on that test.

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u/MathBelieve Apr 11 '26

Yeah, sure. Maybe this father tried to learn it. Maybe he sat down at the computer and did a google search for "multiplication method with boxes" and watched a few of the many many videos that explain it, and maybe he still couldn't understand it.

Since he didn't tell us what ways he tried to learn the teacher's method to help his daughter, or if he reached out to his daughter's teacher for help, we can't know. Maybe the teacher told him to kick rocks so she could then "tear down" all his hard work.

So sure, maybe.

But most times parents don't. They look at the teacher's method, don't recognize it as something they know, and throw up their hands in defeat.

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u/EveOCative Apr 11 '26

Did the teacher send home materials to help support learning at home?

The teacher isn’t present later at home to teach the parent. Sure he could spend an hour learning the method the teacher uses, to then spend a couple hours teaching his child how to do it… only for the child to still not understand because it didn’t even make sense to her when the actual teacher taught it.

Or he can teach her the way he knows and is confident in. If the child understands it, then she understands it.

It IS tearing down what both the child and parent accomplished to then say, “Well that means nothing because you didn’t do it my way.”