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#1 2006-12-04 12:13:46

cindy0904
Member
Registered: 2006-12-04
Posts: 3

GCF, LCM using slide method

My daughter brought this worksheet home and i'm so confused! I know we can figure out the Greatest Common factor and the Least common multiple, but I don't understand the slide method and according to the example, that doesn't seem to make sense. I thought the lowest term of 2 and 6 would be 1/3, not 2/3! And then, to further complicate things, the directions mention "in lowest terms of 24 and 36." Does this apply to all the problems? She only needs to do even ones, so that will help!

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!

thanks so much! Attached is the worksheet.

del_homework2.jpg

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#2 2006-12-04 14:57:21

Ricky
Moderator
Registered: 2005-12-04
Posts: 3,791

Re: GCF, LCM using slide method

I thought the lowest term of 2 and 6 would be 1/3, not 2/3! And then, to further complicate things, the directions mention "in lowest terms of 24 and 36."

The 2 and 6 are the common factors, not the numbers in the numerator and divisor (top and bottom of a fraction).

The sample problem is doing 24/36, which is 2/3.


"In the real world, this would be a problem.  But in mathematics, we can just define a place where this problem doesn't exist.  So we'll go ahead and do that now..."

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#3 2006-12-04 15:04:42

cindy0904
Member
Registered: 2006-12-04
Posts: 3

Re: GCF, LCM using slide method

wow, that makes me feel d-u-m-b all of the sudden. It looks so obvious now. I totally misread things. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME. big_smile

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#4 2006-12-04 23:42:53

mathsyperson
Moderator
Registered: 2005-06-22
Posts: 4,900

Re: GCF, LCM using slide method

I'd never seen the Slide Method before now either, so it's probably not an well-known one. I would guess that that book made it up so that it would be easier to understand for children.

All it really is though, is dividing your two numbers by any common factor that they have until you can't any more.


Why did the vector cross the road?
It wanted to be normal.

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#5 2006-12-05 06:01:34

cindy0904
Member
Registered: 2006-12-04
Posts: 3

Re: GCF, LCM using slide method

Yes, after it was explained and made sense, my daughter said, "this is kind of fun!" thanks for the help!! big_smile

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#6 2007-03-03 05:03:07

Lisa Wolfson
Guest

Re: GCF, LCM using slide method

Thank you so much for this worksheet. My daughter, Ella Wolfson, had so much trouble with this homework, and she had her state test coming. Thanks to this worksheet, she's doing a lot better.

Thank you once again,
Lisa Wolfsonkiss

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