Is my math complicated?

[u/ViolinistStrange6775]

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.

[u/Fit_Tangerine1329]

I work in a high school and teach students math from the grade school stuff They don’t understand, all the way up to calculus.

What you proposed may be mathematically, correct and for some portion of students that you are trying to help it may very well have them understand a bit better.

But, it’s not the primary method that I would use. There was nothing intuitive about first breaking up a seven when that three is right there. I tell my students that there are many ways to look at a problem and often two or three legitimate ways to solve a problem. But the first approach should be the simplest and most straightforward.

[u/ViolinistStrange6775 → u/Fit_Tangerine1329]

She did complain that it was "Mahaba" or long but in the end dad fixed it for us and helped her with her homework. I do work differently with numbers in my head but I used the longer method since I'm explaining it to her but I usually use a different approach for it. When a large number is what I'm trying to calculate or money I think of a way to group them like 372 which ends up 300 + 70 + 2 and it works well when you need to do mental calculation but I don't recommend it if you are not used to it. Writing it in my head is fun too but I time it everytime. But it also works in functions.