kcar wrote: 
It wasn't really a problem for me unless I had something else that I really wanted to be doing instead which I guess was most of the time.  I ended up majoring in mathematics when I went to college though so obviously I wasn't scared that badly by it.  I did concentrate on set theory and logic rather than the algebra, trig, and other semi useful stuff he was so fond of though.  

 Prodigal_SOB wrote: 

Interesting. Was doing high school algebra in the 5th grade a problem for you? Did you come to dislike math because of his pushing/help? 

Thanks for the correction of my math problem workout! 

 kcar wrote: 
The problem I had with my dad when I asked for help with math was getting him to stop with what was assigned.   He had me doing high school algebra when I was in fifth grade.  I didn't have any math that wasn't just review until I got to college.  I was discussing this situation with my college roommate whose father was an actual genius and ended up head of all auditory research at NIH.  He went and got out his Golden Book of Science he had when he was a kid and turned to the page on the ear.  It had more red handwritten markups than one of my english papers.

 

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
I put the whole numbers on side and the fraction-multiple of the x on the other for starters...like you did. 


-45 = -10x

You can multiply both sides by -1 before you begin the division if it makes it easier. (Everyone knows that two negative numbers multiplied together make a positive, but dividing a negative into a negative...?   ). 

So 

-1  * (-45) = -1 * (-10x)  =>    45 = 10x

45/10 = x

9/2 = x
As for plugging the solution for x back into the original, I'd convert 3 1/3 into 10/3. 

-8 = 7 - 3 1/3x becomes 
-8 = 7 - 10/3(x)

And then plug in 9/2 for x: 
-8 = 7 - (10/3 * 9/2 * x)

-8 = 7 - (90/6)

-8 = 7 - 15

-8 = -8 

and Bob's your uncle.
 to your for helping your son. My Dad's a genius at math but had no patience when I was a kid. If it's any encouragement/solace to Charlie, once you figure out the method/methods for solving math problems, that path to solution will generally work time and again. 

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
and that's what he lives for

 Prodigal_SOB wrote: 
me too and so does the internet, so... 
 
I'm sure there are apps a teacher can use that will do this automatically, Charlie says she's just doing the problems and typing in her answers. I think she's getting about 80%. But the kids have to get 100% on these 5-question quizzes. There's a bank of about 15 or so questions that are randomly put in, the kids retake the quiz until they get 100%.

I'm sure that if Charlie were doing his work in class, he'd have heard the teacher or some other kid say "this one's wrong" and the teacher would have given him credit or something. But doing it at home here is pissing me off.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
I come up with -24/5, but mathematicians are notoriously poor at arithmetic. 

 kcar wrote: 
I need to show him that. I sort of do it in my head; breaking this crap down to repeatable steps is giving me a fookin' 'eadache.

 miamizsun wrote: 
Yeah I hate algebra but it would help if I weren't pulling my hair out trying to figure out what's wrong when the teacher coded it in wrong. Poor kid.

This one's as easy as pie but he got it wrong too: 5/6x -5 =-9

I can do that shit in my head but the machine (I guess the teacher is punching in the answers rather than using a script or something to figure out if it's right) says it's -29/5

 miamizsun wrote: 
Yass, yass. 

You can also try to plug in the solution found back into the original equation to test your work. 

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 

 miamizsun wrote: 
That's what I got too. The machine is wrong.
c.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
look here

I'm helping Charlie with homework and his quizzes are electronic... and I can't for the life of me get it right.
 
-8 = 7 - 3 1/3x

My work:

0= 15 - 10/3x

0=45 - 10x

-45 = -10x
-45 ÷ -10 = x
9/2 = x

===============
The machine insists it's -9/2 or "negative four and a half" but I can't even. This is just one of a dozen that Charlie's gotten wrong just by having the answer negative/positive "wrong." Is it?

 
 
 
 

 Steve wrote: 

 buzz wrote: 
No, but I've got one on retainer.
 

 Red_Dragon wrote: 
eww
 
we dont do that in NJ. sounds like something they'd do in...never mind. dinner's ready.