{"id":846,"date":"2020-11-15T15:14:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-15T20:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adultnumeracyatterc.wordpress.com\/?p=846"},"modified":"2021-04-14T13:46:57","modified_gmt":"2021-04-14T13:46:57","slug":"i-found-the-answer-now-what-do-i-do-with-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.terc.edu\/adultnumeracycenter\/i-found-the-answer-now-what-do-i-do-with-it\/","title":{"rendered":"I Found the Answer! (Now What Do I Do with It?)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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by Donna Curry<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was using a recipe that I had gotten from my cousin in Germany. The recipe called for 200 mL of milk. I wanted to know what that was in cups so I Googled the information. Here\u2019s what I found:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To calculate 200 Milliliters to the corresponding value in cups, multiply the quantity in milliliters by 0.0042267528198649 (conversion factor). In this case we should multiply 200 milliliters by 0.0042267528198649 to get the equivalent result in cups: 200 milliliters x 0.0042267528198649 = 0.84535056397299 cups. <\/span><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Now, I\u2019m not afraid of decimals (not even ones that are as exceedingly long as the ones above). But, even though I\u2019d found out what the answer was, I realized that I didn\u2019t have a measuring cup that measured in decimals, never mind to the hundred-quadrillionth place! So, the answer itself was useless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But, I did have enough number sense to know that 0.845… was pretty close to 8\/10, or its reduced form 4\/5. And, although my measuring cup also doesn\u2019t measure in tenths or fifths, I know that 4\/5 is close to 1. So, I knew I needed a little less than a cup of milk for the recipe. I could have also used a slightly different approach to get the same answer. If I had started my calculations by shortening the conversion factor several places to 0.004, I would have come up with 0.8 which would make more sense to me than the answer provided by the online calculator.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This volume conversion experience made me think. Using number sense, I was able to think of these unwieldy numbers in more manageable terms. I was able to connect them to benchmarks that were easier to conceptualize. But what about the many adults who have not been taught to use flexible thinking in math to associate something new with something already understood? The conversion factor procedure may have provided an answer, but how well can the average person understand the concept of a number like 0.84535056397299? What does it mean in everyday terms? How does it relate to the actual problem we\u2019re trying to solve? In short, do we know what to do once we have an answer?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It reminded me of how often we think of math as simply a bunch of procedures to be followed: Don\u2019t worry about making any sense \u2013 or being useful in real life \u2013 just follow the procedure.<\/em> When there\u2019s an absence of conceptual understanding, we are prone to: <\/p>\n\n\n\n