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Imagine how glassy-eyed you'd be if you were trying to learn it that way as a freshman in high school. (Those reading who hate math probably did.) The analogy I used, that a number of other teachers in other schools had used, the one that took me away from my students for a day was this: A problem with multiple steps is a person with clothes on and "isolating a variable" means getting it naked. Here are the clothes:
In solving, what's the first thing you take off? The shoes. How? By taking them off the opposite way they were put on... they're on by division by three, take them off by multiplying by three and putting them in the closet. After multiplying both sides by three, you now have this: What's the next thing you take off? The pants. How? By taking them off the opposite way they were put on... they're on by additon of four, take them off by subtracting four and putting them in the closet. What's the last thing you take off? The underwear. How? By taking them off the opposite way they were put on... they're on by multiplication of two, take them off by dividing by two and putting them in the closet. |