Survivor Tocantins Math Screw Up

Now I know why America wants to follow how we teach math. Did you watch Survivor yesterday?

If you did, you might have noticed that Debbie, a school principle don't know what's the meaning of an increment of $20 and the answer to the math puzzle is wrong!From the screen shot you can see that the question is 6 + 2 ÷ 4 x 3 ÷ 3 - 7 + 6 + 5 ÷ 3 - 1 x 1. The answer in the show was 1, which is surely wrong!

You know in primary school they teach us the order of operations, how to do the multiplication and division parts first before the addition and subtraction. That should be the way to solve the math problem!

Their version of the solution

6 + 2 = 8 ÷ 4 = 2 x 3 = 6 ÷ 3 = 2 -7 = -5 +6 = 1 + 5 = 6 ÷ 3 = 2 - 1 = 1 x 1 = 1

The correct solution

6 + (2 ÷ 4) x (3 ÷ 3) - 7 + 6 + (5 ÷ 3) - (1 x 1)
= 6 + 1/2 x 1 - 7 + 6 + 5/3 - 1
= (6 + 1/2 - 7) + (6 + 5/3 - 1)
= -1/2 + 20/3
= - 3/6 + 40/6
= 37/6 or 6 1/6

Which is what JT is trying to do by writing the term PEMDAS on his board
The order of operations, PEMDAS stands for: Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplications and Division, Addition and Subtraction

Hope primary school students at home don't get influenced on how to solve this math problem and tell their teacher ....
- That's how they do it on Survivor! -

That said, I still love watching survivor and was amazed at how Stephen managed to memorize all the symbols by relating them to numbers. Really clever move which enabled him to move from last to first place.
Will Benjamin Wade (aka Coach) the self-proclaimed Dragon Slayer survive yet another week? Will his lucky feather which he brings to tribal councils (made fun by the members of the jury) bring him good luck? Can't wait for next week! Go Dragon Slayer!

(Images Taken From: Video recording, Sackets Harbor Central School, Shaw)

USA to follow how Singapore teaches Math

US educators to adopt Singapore's method of teaching

WASHINGTON : Singapore mathematics textbooks appeared in some American schools more than 10 years ago. US education officials are now hoping that Singapore's methods will be taken up by its new generation of teachers.

They are encouraged by the positive words of President Obama, who has noted Singapore's strong performance in mathematics teaching.

In March, President Obama suggested that Singaporean students were achieving better results when compared with American eighth graders.

"Singapore's middle-schoolers outperform ours three to one," said the US president.

Now, a US Department of Education official wants to introduce improvements to the teaching of mathematics by learning from Singapore's success.

more at ChannelNewsAsia.com

Although I have to admit that I am actually feeling quite proud of this news, I wonder why they want to follow how we teach. They should stick to their educational system heh. I don't think its because of our educational system that makes our middle-schoolers outperform their American counterparts. I think it's because of our parent's kiasu (fear of losing) nature! The American kids will suffer if the government want to follow us. Let them lead a carefree, happy childhood, don't let them be as stressful as us!

Maybe soon all the American kids will have tuition everyday like those poor kids in Singapore.

Don't score 90+ for your exams, no Xbox for you!

(Images Taken From: Sackets Harbor Central School)