Does anyone know how to solve proportions??

I emailed you a different answer since I wasn't sure what grade she was in. ANd, I noticed that you gave letter answers she was supposed to choose from.
I just sent you another email.

By Mom2three1968 on Thursday, December 8, 2005 - 09:31 pm:

heidi,

please post your response here, my yahoo email hasn't gotten it in yet and my charter email isn't working either! Talk about frustration!! lol!!

Thanks,
Kelly

By Mrsheidi on Thursday, December 8, 2005 - 09:45 pm:

Ok! I'll type it up and then post it in about 5 minutes. stay tuned...

By Mrsheidi on Thursday, December 8, 2005 - 09:47 pm:

A. x=2 B. x=3

1. x 6 2. x 8
_ = _ _ _ = _

2 4 2 4

All she has to do is reduce the fractions on the right.
So, with 6/4, find the largest number that "goes into" 6 AND 4. (ask her to do this first and have her think about it.)

By Mrsheidi on Thursday, December 8, 2005 - 09:48 pm:

Sorry, those fractions were cut and pasted from my hotmail account! You have them in front of you, I hope?

By Mrsheidi on Thursday, December 8, 2005 - 09:48 pm:

Have her give me her answer once she thinks about it.

By Mrsheidi on Thursday, December 8, 2005 - 09:54 pm:

Hang on...I think the answers they are giving you are wrong.
You could also do a secret trick:
x/2= 8/4

Cross multiply to switch the numbers around. So, you have 4*x= 8*2
which is 4x=16
then to get rid of the 4, you divide by 4 on both sides, so you get
x= ? (have her tell me)

By Mom2three1968 on Thursday, December 8, 2005 - 09:55 pm:

She says two heidi, now what?

By Mom2three1968 on Thursday, December 8, 2005 - 10:04 pm:

heidi,

sammy says thats the easy method that she doesn't know how to use, she has to use the hard method.

By Mrsheidi on Thursday, December 8, 2005 - 10:06 pm:

It should be 4 because she needed to divide 16 by 4.
4x=16

you take 4x/4 to get rid of the 4
then you do the same exact thing with the 16, so it's 16/4

equals 4

Does she understand the cross muliplication?

If not, she may have to call me at home.
my phone number is backwards below
9514965014

i don't mind one bit.

By Mrsheidi on Thursday, December 8, 2005 - 10:16 pm:

She can reduce the fraction until it matches with what she needs.

Ask her to notice what happened from the first line to the second line here below:

x 6
- = -
5 10

(put a huge "X" that crosses the 6 to the 5 and then the 10 to the variable

so then you put 6 times 5 = x times 10

By Mom2three1968 on Thursday, December 8, 2005 - 10:16 pm:

she understands the cross multiplication, but is not allowed to use it on this assignment.

By Mrsheidi on Thursday, December 8, 2005 - 10:17 pm:

ugh, that should have been (in the beginning)
x divided by 5 equals 6 divided by 10

strange typing was put instead. sorry.

By Mrsheidi on Thursday, December 8, 2005 - 10:18 pm:

then, just have her reduce it until she gets the desired result.

if there's another way, let me know what it's called in the book.

By Mrsheidi on Thursday, December 8, 2005 - 10:20 pm:

does she know what chapter she's in? if she knows what the process is called then I can probably help her.
i think it's odd that they make children do math the hard way. math is hard enough.

By Mom2three1968 on Thursday, December 8, 2005 - 10:21 pm:

This is Sammy, I told mom that I understood cross multiplication but as usual she did not listen. (she probably thinks I'm dumb)

By Mom2three1968 on Thursday, December 8, 2005 - 10:25 pm:

heidi I have to go to bed so I will see you later. Sammy

By Mrsheidi on Thursday, December 8, 2005 - 10:33 pm:

ok, sorry if i couldn't help. she did put that you understood cross multiplication.

By Dawnk777 on Friday, December 9, 2005 - 01:11 am:

I don't know if I could have helped or not! When I was a new nurse, I used a proportion to figure out how many cc's were in 6 mg of morphine, using an 8 mg syringe! LOL! I only know that that answer was .75 cc and I had to discard .25 cc to get there! I don't quite remember how I did the problem anymore!

1ml     x
-- = --
8mg    6mg

8mg * x    1ml * 6mg
-------- = ---------
8mg             8mg

~~8mg~~ * x           1ml * 6mg
----------- =   --------------
~~8mg~~                8mg

All the mg's can be crossed out. 8's on the left crossed out.

You get x=6/8

x = .75

Proportion Help

By Dawnk777 on Friday, December 9, 2005 - 01:26 am:

MrsHeidi, my kids learned long division a weird way. It took me longer to figure out that way, than the way I was taught. I taught my older child how to do it my way. My younger dd still does it her way! Oh well.

I didn't read the whole thread. I didn't realize she couldn't use cross-multiplication. Sheesh!

By Mom2three1968 on Friday, December 9, 2005 - 08:27 am:

Thanks for helping us last night. My poor Sammy is struggling with this particular assignment. I'm not the best with math either so that's why I went straight here! I'm thinking a math tutor is what I need for her. Heidi, if you were here in illinois I'd be asking you!! Thanks for helping us last night...!

By Mrsheidi on Friday, December 9, 2005 - 09:27 am:

Sure! Sorry, I wish I knew what "way" they want her to solve this problem. I would get a math tutor for her, just so she gains her confidence back. I charge 35$ for high school and 30$ for middle school, so hopefully your tutors are in that range. If they are way above that, search some more.
Plus, her teacher should be open for tutoring too.
Let me know how it goes!

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