How would you explain this math question to your child?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She does not understand because the key to the question is illegible.

This is how you explain perimeter: Perimeter is when you trace the line on the outside of the figure.

If you colored in each block that would be the AREA. We are not looking for AREA, we are looking for PERIMETER.

Each side of the block is 1 unit but we only count the sides that are facing outward.

So trace, with your pencil around the shaded part. Each time you move from one block to the next or at each corner of a block you count ONE (1).

So you trace around the shaded area counting each time you hit a corner.

The answer is 24.

They give you the jacked up picture of a cube and say it is 1 unit to try to trick you into giving the area. If you count the blocks it is 18 blocks, the area is 18... BUT the Perimeter is 24.

This helped! Using this answer, I texted my sister and asker her mom to give her something with a fine point to point as she counted as she went along. She was counting the outside part of the white blocks, which was adding too high when she got to the corners. When she stuck to counting the sides of the outside part of the shaded figure...she figured it out. THANK YOU! The shape was so small that when she counted my sister couldn't see what she was pointing to when she was counting and since my niece could define perimeter and calculate it right otherwise, she knew she understood the concept!

Glad it helped.

if I could have my way I would teach/tutor math for a living.. Alas, it does not pay enough, so I enjoy helping people in Math, so you made my day.

What's funny is that if you read most responses to this question, I can see why my sister was frustrated, as was my niece. My niece did understand what perimeter was. If given a rectangle with the length and width she knew the answer. If asked what perimeter was, she could answer it. Lots of the posters here were focusing their answers on what is perimeter rather than explaining HOW to get to the answer even after I'd said she understood perimeter. I am NOT blaming a single responder because I was stumped, too!!! After reading what you wrote, I was able to realize I needed my sister to get my niece to pinpoint exactly WHAT she was counting up when she was counting up the perimeter "blocks" in her case (or lines, in yours).

It sounds like you niece doesn't know what perimeter is. It sounds like she's only calculated the perimeter of rectangles, so she thinks it's the sum of the lengths and widths, and that while she may have memorized a definition, she doesn't actually know it and understand it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What's funny is that if you read most responses to this question, I can see why my sister was frustrated, as was my niece. My niece did understand what perimeter was. If given a rectangle with the length and width she knew the answer. If asked what perimeter was, she could answer it. Lots of the posters here were focusing their answers on what is perimeter rather than explaining HOW to get to the answer even after I'd said she understood perimeter. I am NOT blaming a single responder because I was stumped, too!!! After reading what you wrote, I was able to realize I needed my sister to get my niece to pinpoint exactly WHAT she was counting up when she was counting up the perimeter "blocks" in her case (or lines, in yours).

It sounds like you niece doesn't know what perimeter is. It sounds like she's only calculated the perimeter of rectangles, so she thinks it's the sum of the lengths and widths, and that while she may have memorized a definition, she doesn't actually know it and understand it.

+1
This question is getting at a more conceptual understanding of perimeter. I don't think the "key" would be a problem for someone who has a very concrete grasp of the concept of perimeter.

[Anonymous]

Anyone who finds the key illegible needs to go back to 3rd grade. Good Lord!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who finds the key illegible needs to go back to 3rd grade. Good Lord!

On my phone, the key looked like it was saying that one block was one unit. That didn't really make sense.

On the computer screen, the key is obviously saying that the length of one edge of a block is one unit. That makes sense.

If OP's friend's child was looking at a full-size paper version of the question, then she probably didn't understand perimeter as well as she could. If she was looking at a small screen, then the key may have confused her.

[Anonymous]

NP. I know what perimeter means, but I got this wrong. (D'oh!) I was confused and was counting the blocks around the shaded area. PP's explanation that we need to count the lines of the shaded part was very helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What's funny is that if you read most responses to this question, I can see why my sister was frustrated, as was my niece. My niece did understand what perimeter was. If given a rectangle with the length and width she knew the answer. If asked what perimeter was, she could answer it. Lots of the posters here were focusing their answers on what is perimeter rather than explaining HOW to get to the answer even after I'd said she understood perimeter. I am NOT blaming a single responder because I was stumped, too!!! After reading what you wrote, I was able to realize I needed my sister to get my niece to pinpoint exactly WHAT she was counting up when she was counting up the perimeter "blocks" in her case (or lines, in yours).

It sounds like you niece doesn't know what perimeter is. It sounds like she's only calculated the perimeter of rectangles, so she thinks it's the sum of the lengths and widths, and that while she may have memorized a definition, she doesn't actually know it and understand it.

+1
This question is getting at a more conceptual understanding of perimeter. I don't think the "key" would be a problem for someone who has a very concrete grasp of the concept of perimeter.

I think the question will get thrown out because the key is so confusing. ] means includes... The key literally says 1unit ] includes the whole block.

I create surveys now but crested tests in the past and the key is incorrect.

[Anonymous]

Also the ] is below the block and should be on the side of the block.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She does not understand because the key to the question is illegible.

This is how you explain perimeter: Perimeter is when you trace the line on the outside of the figure.

If you colored in each block that would be the AREA. We are not looking for AREA, we are looking for PERIMETER.

Each side of the block is 1 unit but we only count the sides that are facing outward.

So trace, with your pencil around the shaded part. Each time you move from one block to the next or at each corner of a block you count ONE (1).

So you trace around the shaded area counting each time you hit a corner.

The answer is 24.

They give you the jacked up picture of a cube and say it is 1 unit to try to trick you into giving the area. If you count the blocks it is 18 blocks, the area is 18... BUT the Perimeter is 24.

This helped! Using this answer, I texted my sister and asker her mom to give her something with a fine point to point as she counted as she went along. She was counting the outside part of the white blocks, which was adding too high when she got to the corners. When she stuck to counting the sides of the outside part of the shaded figure...she figured it out. THANK YOU! The shape was so small that when she counted my sister couldn't see what she was pointing to when she was counting and since my niece could define perimeter and calculate it right otherwise, she knew she understood the concept!

Glad it helped.

if I could have my way I would teach/tutor math for a living.. Alas, it does not pay enough, so I enjoy helping people in Math, so you made my day.

What's funny is that if you read most responses to this question, I can see why my sister was frustrated, as was my niece. My niece did understand what perimeter was. If given a rectangle with the length and width she knew the answer. If asked what perimeter was, she could answer it. Lots of the posters here were focusing their answers on what is perimeter rather than explaining HOW to get to the answer even after I'd said she understood perimeter. I am NOT blaming a single responder because I was stumped, too!!! After reading what you wrote, I was able to realize I needed my sister to get my niece to pinpoint exactly WHAT she was counting up when she was counting up the perimeter "blocks" in her case (or lines, in yours).

It sounds like you niece doesn't know what perimeter is. It sounds like she's only calculated the perimeter of rectangles, so she thinks it's the sum of the lengths and widths, and that while she may have memorized a definition, she doesn't actually know it and understand it.

Well, I guess I'll clarify that for a third grader, she knows more than she needs to know for perimeter. She doesn't even need to know the full calculation for a rectangle and she knows that. She also knows it is the outside surrounding area of the shape. What she didn't get was that it was the EDGING she was counting, not the squares. She also pointed to the key and said the key's definition threw her off. Can't argue with that...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She does not understand because the key to the question is illegible.

This is how you explain perimeter: Perimeter is when you trace the line on the outside of the figure.

If you colored in each block that would be the AREA. We are not looking for AREA, we are looking for PERIMETER.

Each side of the block is 1 unit but we only count the sides that are facing outward.

So trace, with your pencil around the shaded part. Each time you move from one block to the next or at each corner of a block you count ONE (1).

So you trace around the shaded area counting each time you hit a corner.

The answer is 24.

They give you the jacked up picture of a cube and say it is 1 unit to try to trick you into giving the area. If you count the blocks it is 18 blocks, the area is 18... BUT the Perimeter is 24.

This helped! Using this answer, I texted my sister and asker her mom to give her something with a fine point to point as she counted as she went along. She was counting the outside part of the white blocks, which was adding too high when she got to the corners. When she stuck to counting the sides of the outside part of the shaded figure...she figured it out. THANK YOU! The shape was so small that when she counted my sister couldn't see what she was pointing to when she was counting and since my niece could define perimeter and calculate it right otherwise, she knew she understood the concept!

Glad it helped.

if I could have my way I would teach/tutor math for a living.. Alas, it does not pay enough, so I enjoy helping people in Math, so you made my day.

What's funny is that if you read most responses to this question, I can see why my sister was frustrated, as was my niece. My niece did understand what perimeter was. If given a rectangle with the length and width she knew the answer. If asked what perimeter was, she could answer it. Lots of the posters here were focusing their answers on what is perimeter rather than explaining HOW to get to the answer even after I'd said she understood perimeter. I am NOT blaming a single responder because I was stumped, too!!! After reading what you wrote, I was able to realize I needed my sister to get my niece to pinpoint exactly WHAT she was counting up when she was counting up the perimeter "blocks" in her case (or lines, in yours).

It sounds like you niece doesn't know what perimeter is. It sounds like she's only calculated the perimeter of rectangles, so she thinks it's the sum of the lengths and widths, and that while she may have memorized a definition, she doesn't actually know it and understand it.

Well, I guess I'll clarify that for a third grader, she knows more than she needs to know for perimeter. She doesn't even need to know the full calculation for a rectangle and she knows that. She also knows it is the outside surrounding area of the shape. What she didn't get was that it was the EDGING she was counting, not the squares. She also pointed to the key and said the key's definition threw her off. Can't argue with that...

I agree that it's not a lack of understanding of perimeter but rather incorrectly processing the visual image. I teach 8th grade math and see misconceptions like this all the time. Once you show the student what they should be doing (as the poster explained using a pencil to track the image and counting the lines, not the entire square) students figure it out. She may have seen her teacher demonstrate it in class by writing a number in each box as a way of counting as she went and to a kid, that can look like she's counting the boxes around the outside, not just the side of the box that is part of the perimeter.

[Anonymous]

If one visual doesn't work, try a different visual. If I were explaining this to my kids, I'd help them visualize the perimeter with building a fence around a yard and how long of a fence you need vs visualizing the area with how much grass do you need to plant within that fence. Kids take well to real world examples.