Biggest Math Problems Are Actually English Comprehension Nightmare

According to a parent of school going kids — the biggest culprit are words like at, by and to.

Photo by Joanna Kosinska

My biggest aha as a volunteer at local schools aiding kids with Math — it’s foremost an English comprehension problem!

The biggest culprit are the simplest words called prepositions like from, to, between etc.

Watch these examples

1. Prepositions make things inclusive or exclusive

Let me explain with a variation of a simple sentence that starts a math problem.

1. The football team has jerseys numbered from 10 to 30.

Or

2. The football team has jerseys numbered between 10 and 30.

Or

3. The football team has jerseys numbered between 10 to 30.

In all answers: numbers 11 to 29 are included. But,

In example 1: 10 and 30 are included.

In example 2: 10 and 30 are excluded.

In example 3: 10 is excluded while 30 is included.

Side note: The prepositions of, to and in are among the ten most frequent words…