This math article is going to be an effective mathematics guide that most math course materials have not supplied for sometime now. It is going to talk about an important problem that has made students not to perform at their best in mathematics.
Mathematics today as a subject occupies a prime position in the world of education. It is one of the core subjects that are needed for any human being to attain any height in life. Right from the early days of a child, he or she is expected to master the art of counting and adding. How well he or she does this at this early stage can go along way to determine how good he or she will be as a math student later on in life. Most students who are not doing very well presently in math must have had bad background training and as a result, they find it difficult coping with the subject as they grow. They only struggle from one stage of their academic life to another building on a poor foundation. We all know what the result of this venture will be - a poor math result in their final examinations.
It is a common thing to see students making many foundational errors whenever they solve questions in higher classes. Some students in the examination classes cannot even use the BODMAS rule to solve questions- Yes this is how bad it is! Here are some common mistakes by our students in math and the solutions provided. I hope this will be useful to you or your child. I have provided the likely wrong solutions by students and what should be the right solutions. Comments have also been included under each. Please enjoy them.
QUESTION 1: Simplify - 6 - 5
Wrong solution:
-6 -5
= +30
Right solution:
- 6 -5
= -11
COMMENT: Some students of mathematics still solve this type of question above as - 6 x -5, which is equal to + 30, because - multiply by - = + and 6 x 5 = 30. However, the question above does not involve multiplication, it is simple addition. The solution to the problem can be approached this way; if we use the idea of owing money (-) and having money (+). Owing is taken as a negative (-) thing, while having is taken as a positive (+) thing.
Let us now use this idea to solve the question above and other subsequent questions involving operations on directed numbers. -6 imply I owe six quantities, -5 also imply I owe five quantities. So therefore, I owe eleven quantities altogether i.e. -11 (it is negative eleven because I still owe).
Here is another one:
QUESTION 2: Simplify -1 + 5 - 2 - 3
Right solution:
-1 + 5 - 2 - 3
= -1
COMMENT: Using the "Owing and having rule". I owed one quantity (-) and I have five quantities (+5), when I pay back the one quantity I owe, I will have four quantities (+4) left. I owe a further two quantities (-2) and a further three quantities (-3) which equals five quantities (-5). So, when I pay back four quantities (which I already have), I'll be owing one more quantity (-1). So therefore, the result is -1.
Here is another one:
QUESTION 3: Simplify -3 x -2 x +2
Wrong solution:
-3 x -2 x +2
= -12
Right solution:
-3 x - 2 x + 2
= +12
COMMENT: This problem involves multiplication and the rule of signs must apply. It is necessary to simplify the signs first before the numbers (figures). - x -= +, the resultant + sign multiplied by the last + sign = +. Now to the figures, 3 x 2 x 2 = 12. Therefore, the result is +12.
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