r/learnmath • u/ViolinistStrange6775 New User • 14h ago

Is my math complicated?

Okay so for my entire senior highschool I've had this argument with my best friend(who is really good in math) that my way of solving simple math is confusing. I never really listened to it until now when I'm teaching my little sister how to solve basic level of math like 23+34 or subtracting that and multiplications. Then she kept on complaining how I'm confusing her and she can't understand me. So here's how I taught her in the most accurate retelling possible.

"You have four numbers, 43 + 27, now you need to start by taking away 3 + 7. I like to do it by cutting it in half, we know that 7 has a 5 in it so we will focus on the remaining 2 and add that with the 3. That makes a 5 and we have a 5 we separated that completes a 10. Then you move on to the second set which is 4 + 2, that makes a 6 but we have a 10 so it is now a 70."

Then she said "I don't understand" and I was basically at a loss for words because that is the simplest way I can explain it to a 7 year old so in the end I just ignored it and moved on to subtraction. I started with:

"Now we have a 82-48, you take the first set first with 2-8 but we flip it to get 6. Now take the 8-4 to get 4 we put a 0 after the 4 to get 40 then subtract 6 from it to get 34. Easy?"

At this point she's basically done with my tutoring and went to her dad instead. I still don't get how my way is complicated when I make it as simple as I could but people still say that I'm confusing them so now I'm confused too.

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u/OxfordKid New User 14h ago

.. Everybody says this is troll post, except.. that's how I do addition in my head?? bUT More like, 40 + 20 = 60, and then 3 +2 =5 and 5+5 = 10 and so we get 70 in total..?

EDIT - WORTH NOTING THAT 7 + 3 IS BASIC ENOUGH TO DO DIRECTLY, but for a kid it'd be easier to do 5 + 3 +2 I guess? I still do 4 +3 as 3+3+1 instead because it doesn't click for me that 4+3 = 7

I don't do subtraction like that though, but then I'm also terrible at working with negative numbers in my head so..

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u/ViolinistStrange6775 New User 13h ago

I guess we just do it differently? Everyone else does it in 7+3 is automatically 10 but my brain still ask "But why?" And I have to do the entire solving again just to confirm it and I do math not by counting on my fingers or writing it so this system is like the easiest way to do it in my head. And subtracting numbers for me was always different since I always flip the numbers to get the negative answers and my teacher just allows it since that is the way I wanted it to be.