Maths Dilemma

PlainP

Hi all

Just a quick question, my 7yo was doing his maths homework the other day, one of the questions was "How many sides there are in a circle" the answers he was to choose from were 0, 1 and 3.

Now as I was checking his homework I noticed that he had picked 1, this is wrong as I "think" that a circle being a circle has no sides so I told him to pick 0.

Now the next day he came home and was doing his maths hw again and I noticed that the teacher had crossed out the 0 and put 1 as the right answer.

I googled this as I was sure I was right and lo and behold the answer is not 1 it is either 0 or infinite.

Now should I put a small note in his homework stating that she (the teacher) is actually wrong as I was trying to explain to my son that 0 is the right answer or am I just being very pedantic and leave it be..

Orion

I'd say 1 too. 1 line equals 1 side. You should try the maths forum for more definitive opinions.

PlainP wrote: »

Hi all

Just a quick question, my 7yo was doing his maths homework the other day, one of the questions was "How many sides there are in a circle" the answers he was to choose from were 0, 1 and 3.

Now as I was checking his homework I noticed that he had picked 1, this is wrong as I "think" that a circle being a circle has no sides so I told him to pick 0.

Now the next day he came home and was doing his maths hw again and I noticed that the teacher had crossed out the 0 and put 1 as the right answer.

I googled this as I was sure I was right and lo and behold the answer is not 1 it is either 0 or infinite.

Now should I put a small note in his homework stating that she (the teacher) is actually wrong as I was trying to explain to my son that 0 is the right answer or am I just being very pedantic and leave it be..

balducci

The answer is an infinite amount but for simplicity reasons you don't get taught this until later down the road.

There are 2 basic shapes you deal with in maths - a line or a curve. A line is always straight (unless you're into non-Euclidean geometry that is). From the image you can see that as more sides get added to the triangle, the shape starts to look more and more 'circular' - the end result (infinite sides) of this pattern being a circle.

balducci

There's a 24 sided polygon, getting very circular-y for want of a better not so made up word

CrazyRabbit

Without a clearer definition of the word 'sides' in relation to the question being asked, it's impossible to answer with 100% certainty.

There are 4 possibilities.

-Inside and Outside (two)

-No sides (zero)

-Disk idea, top and bottom (two)

-Zero to infinity

The Big Red Button

PlainP wrote: »

Now should I put a small note in his homework stating that she (the teacher) is actually wrong as I was trying to explain to my son that 0 is the right answer or am I just being very pedantic and leave it be..

Well, I'd guess I'd be asking myself, what would the benefit be of making a fuss about it?

I mean, I guess she has plenty else on her mind ...

And, if it means so much to you that your son understands that you're right and she's wrong, or whatever, surely you could just explain it to him yourself?

Personally I'd leave it.

If it ends up being that important to him in the future, chances are he'll figure it out for himself eventually.

planetX

PlainP wrote: »

Hi all

Just a quick question, my 7yo was doing his maths homework the other day, one of the questions was "How many sides there are in a circle" the answers he was to choose from were 0, 1 and 3.

Now as I was checking his homework I noticed that he had picked 1, this is wrong as I "think" that a circle being a circle has no sides so I told him to pick 0.

Now the next day he came home and was doing his maths hw again and I noticed that the teacher had crossed out the 0 and put 1 as the right answer.

I googled this as I was sure I was right and lo and behold the answer is not 1 it is either 0 or infinite.

Now should I put a small note in his homework stating that she (the teacher) is actually wrong as I was trying to explain to my son that 0 is the right answer or am I just being very pedantic and leave it be..

Hah that happened in this house too! And let me tell you, if your son is interested keep teaching him yourself because they learn precious little maths in primary. It's actually disgraceful how they hold every child back to a low level, my son was still colouring bloody shapes for homework at age 9.

Fittle

planetX wrote: »

Hah that happened in this house too! And let me tell you, if your son is interested keep teaching him yourself because they learn precious little maths in primary. It's actually disgraceful how they hold every child back to a low level, my son was still colouring bloody shapes for homework at age 9.

Completely agree with this!

My 10yr old is in fourth class and the whole class struggle with their basic tables still!! And he's not alone in his class.... When he started 4th class, all of the parents were told that they had barely covered the curriculum in 3rd class!!!!

And don't even start me on Irish:(. They can all speak it with a gaelteacht 'twang', but can't translate anything they're saying!!!