Need child math assistance

Xarpolis · Nov 22, 2021

So my daughter's 4th grade teacher gave the kids an extra credit math problem, and I can't figure it out at all.

There are 197 total animals.
The instructions says there are 5 times more chicken than cow.
There are 45 less duck than chicken.
How many ducks are there?

I was confused, so I created a new set of numbers based off of the same question.
There are 175 total animals
There are 5 times more chicken than cow.
there are 45 less duck than chicken.
How many of each animal are there?

I know the answer to the 2nd question because I created the question, but I can't figure out how to reverse engineer the math in order to make it work. Especially in the mind of my 9 year old.
Any suggestions to give my daughter a fighting chance on doing this shit?

StJesuz · Nov 22, 2021

Guessing there are only cows, ducks and chickens.

Write 3 equations:

1. Cows + Ducks + Chickens = 193
2. Cows * 5 = Chickens
3. Ducks + 45 = Chickens

Now we have 3 equations and 3 unknowns, we can get them in terms of other animals and substitute.

2. becomes Cows = Chickens / 5
3. becomes Ducks = Chickens - 45

Substitute these into 1. and we get

(Chickens / 5) + (Chickens - 45) + Chickens = 193

2.2 Chickens = 238

108 chickens
22 cows
63 ducks

Numbers are not perfectly round but it works out.

Gavinmad · Nov 22, 2021

Honestly seems like a trap to see which parents are just flat out doing homework for their kids. What fourth grader knows how to convert that question into (X/5)+(X-45)+X=193?

Furry · Nov 22, 2021

StJesuz said:
Guessing there are only cows, ducks and chickens.

Write 3 equations:

1. Cows + Ducks + Chickens = 193
2. Cows * 5 = Chickens
3. Ducks + 45 = Chickens

Now we have 3 equations and 3 unknowns, we can get them in terms of other animals and substitute.

2. becomes Cows = Chickens / 5
3. becomes Ducks = Chickens - 45

Substitute these into 1. and we get

(Chickens / 5) + (Chickens - 45) + Chickens = 193

2.2 Chickens = 238

108 chickens
22 cows
63 ducks

Numbers are not perfectly round but it works out.

Oof, I mean. You tried. The logic is all good, but there's probably some astigmatism in seeing the numbers. I have eye troubles too so :brofist:

StJesuz · Nov 22, 2021

My son's in 5th grade, it's pretty close to math problems I've seen him solve. The only thing that feels odd is that the division step didn't come out to whole numbers.

Xarpolis · Nov 22, 2021

I wrote the number wrong. It's 197, not 193. My bad.

And yeah, I figured it out. My problem was that I wasn't counting the 9 cows linked to the first 45 chicken. Giving me a grand result of 143 extra animals in 13 groups of 11. 5 duck, 5 chicken, 1 cow per group. So the final answer of the teacher's question is 65 duck, 22 cow & 110 chicken.

Furry · Nov 22, 2021

Xarpolis said:
I wrote the number wrong. It's 197, not 193. My bad.

And yeah, I figured it out. My problem was that I wasn't counting the 9 cows linked to the first 45 chicken. Giving me a grand result of 143 extra animals in 13 groups of 11. 5 duck, 5 chicken, 1 cow per group. So the final answer of the teacher's question is 65 duck, 22 cow & 110 chicken.

Wait. Did your alt do this or you?

Xarpolis · Nov 22, 2021

Gavinmad said:
Honestly seems like a trap to see which parents are just flat out doing homework for their kids. What fourth grader knows how to convert that question into (X/5)+(X-45)+X=193?

What's worse is the latest news on Hawaii public schools is that pretty much every child is 1 or 2 grades behind what they should be at. And it's very true with my daughter. She's a fucking idiot that thinks she knows everything and cries the moment you try to explain how to do something to her. I don't know how a teacher can handle that. I can barely handle her bullshit crying every time she gets something wrong (which is most of the time). We're paying Kumon (a reading and math tutor) $330 a month JUST to try and get here to where she should be because the teachers sure as fuck aren't doing it. And last year's nonstop play time didn't help the situation at all. I'm glad it was only 3rd grade she wasted and not high school.

Xarpolis · Nov 22, 2021

Furry said:
Wait. Did your alt do this or you?

No. When I created the thread I had 193 as the total number for the teacher. I quickly edited it to 197, but I guess Jesuz was already replying to the original before I edited it. That's why his numbers were the original ones. And yeah, he's really quick for looking at some bullshit thread I dreamed up.

EDIT: Honestly, I saw Jesuz's avatar and quickly thought of

BrutulTM . His is Jesus holding a raptor. At least it was.

Furry · Nov 22, 2021

Xarpolis said:
No. When I created the thread I had 193 as the total number for the teacher. I quickly edited it to 197, but I guess Jesuz was already replying to the original before I edited it. That's why his numbers were the original ones. And yeah, he's really quick for looking at some bullshit thread I dreamed up.

Gavinmad · Nov 22, 2021

Xarpolis said:
What's worse is the latest news on Hawaii public schools is that pretty much every child is 1 or 2 grades behind what they should be at. And it's very true with my daughter. She's a fucking idiot that thinks she knows everything and cries the moment you try to explain how to do something to her. I don't know how a teacher can handle that. I can barely handle her bullshit crying every time she gets something wrong (which is most of the time). We're paying Kumon (a reading and math tutor) $330 a month JUST to try and get here to where she should be because the teachers sure as fuck aren't doing it. And last year's nonstop play time didn't help the situation at all. I'm glad it was only 3rd grade she wasted and not high school.

Dude I realize maybe you're having a frustrating day or something, but don't make me white knight your daughter.

Xarpolis · Nov 22, 2021

I'm an asshole. I know that much. I just don't like how she cries the moment she has difficulty with something, but I guess that is a usual thing for girls to do. White Knight my shitty parenting to your hearts content. Maybe I'll learn something.

Izo · Nov 22, 2021

Math is hard. Buy a pole.

Gavinmad · Nov 22, 2021

Xarpolis said:
I'm an asshole. I know that much. I just don't like how she cries the moment she has difficulty with something, but I guess that is a usual thing for girls to do. White Knight my shitty parenting to your hearts content. Maybe I'll learn something.

Every parent got thrown a curveball with the lockdowns. Your daughter is a 9? year old girl, don't refer to her as fucking idiot even in the privacy of these forums. Especially when it sounds like it's your shitty school district/state that you should be angry at and not her.

Xarpolis · Nov 22, 2021

Ultimately is our fault as parents. I got her interested in video games because I liked them when I was younger. However, she ignores EVERYTHING ELSE in order to play games. I'm suddenly becoming my parents saying she needs to do anything else first. We only allow her to watch or play on the weekends, but from the moment she wakes up on Saturday to the moment she goes to bed on Sunday, she ONLY wants to play video games and watch TV at the same time, somehow. It's non stop, and we allow it because we already limit her to weekend only. Maybe we should make Saturday a non-screen day where we only do board games and shit. I hear good things about that, but at the same time, my wife's schedule is very hit or miss. She works weekends (well, 7pm until 7am) every other Saturday/Sunday. So she works one weekend then off the next. At the same time, because I'm doing a free education thing now, I'm learning on the computer most Saturday/Sunday combos because I work week days.

Ugh, fuck me. I need to figure this shit out instead of just complaining about it.

sakkath · Nov 22, 2021

I don't think watching two screens at once is a very good idea. It noticably impaired my sons ability to focus/pay attention to anything back when I was allowing it.

moonarchia · Nov 22, 2021

Chickens = x
Cows = x/5
Ducks = x - 45
x + x/5 + x - 45 = 197
2.2x = 242
x = 110

Hateyou · Nov 22, 2021

Xarpolis said:
She's a fucking idiot that thinks she knows everything and cries the moment you try to explain how to do something to her.

Should have had a boy.

Xarpolis · Nov 22, 2021

We have a boy also. He turned 4 a few months ago, where as she'll be turning 10 in January.

Hateyou · Nov 23, 2021

Xarpolis said:
We have a boy also. He turned 4 a few months ago, where as she'll be turning 10 in January.

I was just jabbing at women in general not being able to take criticism and making up the word mansplaining to make it seem like it’s men’s fault.

Anyways, have you tried any educational games? I know you said you want to get her away from a screen and all she wants is the screen. Could be a compromise. I had to play some of the stuff with him at first for him to get into them.

My kid plays on a site called ABCya that has a ton of games, but they’re all like solving problems, math, spelling, etc. I really don’t care if he ends up playing that for a few hours. I think it’s free.

We also did this attachment thing for an ipad called Osmo. It’s kind of pricey when it’s not on sale though and for all the free options that are out there I wouldn’t say it blew me away. They do make some cool stuff though, you move physical objects around and the attachment sees it and responds on the screen. It’s not too bad price-wise if you just buy one kit at a time, just don’t buy a bunch at once in case she doesn’t like it. We started with a “Genius starter kit”. She may be a little too old for it too. He liked it more when he was four, almost seven now and hasn’t used it in a while.

Osmo - Genius Starter Kit, Ages 6-10 - Math, Spelling, Creativity & More - STEM Toy Educational Learning Games (Osmo Base Included)

Need child math assistance

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