Frazz by Jef Mallett for May 23, 2014

Wow! Can’t believe I remembered how to do that.(I know, it’s so simple a child can do it, but childhood was a looooong time ago.)

And, of course, the answer is 5.

Of course.

and don’t forget to show all your work in arriving at the answer.

Huh. I did

2(4x+x)=504x+x=255x=25x=5

Points!

Those are, actually, very precise ‘words’.

just make sure it wasn’t done mymathlab by pearson. that program is a buggiest math program sold to schools. if one entered x=5, they would say incorrect and the correct answer is x=5. the online chat help is no help either, because they would always respond to contact the instructor.

Did you remember to carry the bum?

As a math teacher myself, I would say that all three solutions presented here are correct. I often tell my students that there is frequently more than one right way to get an answer, and so long as you can correctly explain what you did, it doesn’t matter how you got the answer.

Caulfield is the master of Common Core Math.

Hi five!

50/2=254x+x=255x=25x=5

I’ve always argued that math is not science, but more akin to philosophy. One sets up a world and defines the rules by which it works. If you follow the rules, you get the answer. Hopefully the world you set up reflects reality; but that doesn’t always have to be the case.

I’m with Caufield, as usual. A more precise term than “value” would be “amount”.

God, I love this strip!

Value" is the correct mathematical term. “amount” implies a quantity and unit of measure (e.g. 5 dollars). "

@R.U. Kidding.

Alexikakos computation is correct. It is perfectly acceptable to apply the distributive property in lieu of calculating in between the parenthesis first.

If 4X leaves Boston going to New York at 75 miles per hour and X leaves New York going to Boston at 20 miles per hour who gets the bargain and who get ripped off?

Nah – Caulfield is the master of wasting time and work avoidance. He is smart enough to get the work done quickly and then have plenty of free time to use his mind as he sees fit.

It’s how I survived school. Get the work done then quietly draw – everyone figured I was still working at the class assignment because I was quiet.

Ironically, in deliberately avoiding learning this stuff, Caulfield is likely to end up just like Frazz, sweeping floors for a living.

Caulfield’s problem (or excuse) is that he doesn’t understand the definition of the word “value” in a mathematical context. It’s in any dictionary.

Which makes his response (and Frazz’s support of it) just a confirmation of willful ignorance.

It has been a while but i don’t think algebra was a grade school subject. iI know it is a comic strip.

I figured it out my own way: I started with 2(4X+X)=50, then simplified it to (4X+X)=25, which made it really obvious that X=5. Easy-Peasy and Very Uncommon.

They teach algebra in elementary school now? Well, it’s no weirder than when Calvin had that Jack and Joe story problem.

I may be wrong, but the order of precedence would dictate that the contents of the parenthesis be calculated or simplified first.

Skyrider: Frazz does not sweep floors for a living – he writes songs for a living. He swept floors while in school before his hit songs and continues it because it lets him interact with others; lets him work while his mind is more or less in neutral, opening it up to musical inspiration; and keeps him in touch with those to whom he will be marketing his songs. Very astute..Sharuniboy: I can sympathize, I had two bad math teachers. In elementary school, my arithmetic teacher made anyone who did not understand the first time sit in (not on the rim, but curled up inside) the waste basket. I avoided it by luck, not skill. In junior high, I was sick when they took up factoring. Upon return, I asked the teacher to explain it. She said, “Don’t worry, you will pick it up” and dismissed me from her presence. I think I did years later but still wouldn’t risk trying to explain it.Incidentally, music is a branch of math, its foundations were laid by Pythagoras.

The irony here is that all of us — graduates of elementary school some time in the last century — took the time to DO the math, when, as children, we’d have ditched the homework.

See the 3 April 2001 strip …. Frazz’s reason for working as a janitor is explained.

ntaylor: The listed archives only go back to June 2009.

So Caulfield does just get marked wrong for pulling this kind of crap, right?

Algebra in 3rd grade? Yeah, right.