My though process (without algebra):
At first, I took an initial 4 people and considered how many dishes they'd get in total. This came out to be 1 meat dish (1 for each 4), 1 and 1/3 broth dishes (1 for each 3) and 2 rice dishes which altogether was 4 and 1/3 dishes for 4 people. Since it's more tedious to work with fractions, I multiplied everything by 3 to get 13 dishes for 12 people. From there, I simply found multiples of 13 until I reached 65 dishes total. Since 13x5 = 65, then 12x5 = 60. Thus, there were 60 guests.
I think it is a good idea to include problems from different cultures because lots of people grow up with a very western view of math, but math didn't just come from only Greece/Europe. Other countries and cultures (such as the Chinese, Indians, and Muslims) were also developing their own mathematics and mathematical techniques.
I thought the story was nice to have because it makes the imagery much more concrete/vivid than if the problem were to be replaced with more abstract shapes or objects. Plus, I believe it's more interesting and engaging if the topic has some relevance to the students in some way, so that math problems don't feel "lifeless" with purely numbers and symbols.
Hi Lisa, recognizing the contributions of diverse cultures (such as the Chinese, Indians, and Muslims) to the development of mathematics is crucial. Examples of Chinese Remainder Theorem, the concept of 0 and decimal system in Indian Mathematics, and the introduction of algebra in Islamic mathematics...Thank you for bringing up this point!
ReplyDeleteYes! I learned about the contributions of other cultures and civilizations from a math history course I took during my undergrad and became very interested in it. It would be great for students to also learn these things too if it fits with the BC curriculum!
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