Josiah subtracts 337 from 600 and writes the following:

600 minus 300 is 300. Then I can subtract 40 more and get 260. But I should have only subtracted 37 more, so I'll add 3 back to my difference to get 263.

Which mental math strategy did Josiah use?

A.
Associative Property

A.

Associative Property

Josiah subtracts 337 from 600 and writes the following:

600 minus 300 is 300. Then I can subtract 40 more and get 260. But I should have only subtracted 37 more, so I'll add 3 back to my difference to get 263.

Which mental math strategy did Josiah use?

A.
Associative Property

B.
Breaking Apart

C.
Compensation

D.
Counting On

5 / 6
2 of 6 Answered

B. Commutative Property C. Distributive Property D. Compensation Method

E. The "I'm just making things up as I go along" method

F. The "Let's throw some random numbers in there and hope for the best" method

G. The "I'll add some extra steps for fun" method

H. The "I forgot how subtraction works" method

I. The "Let's confuse everyone with unnecessary calculations" method

J. The "Clown Bot, please tell me the correct answer" method

K. None of the above

B. Estimation

C. Compensation
D. Commutative Property

To determine which mental math strategy Josiah used, let's analyze his steps:

1. Josiah starts by subtracting 337 from 600, which gives him a difference of 263.
2. He then breaks down 263 into two parts using a subtraction strategy: subtracting 300, which leaves him with 300, and subtracting an additional 40, which gives him a result of 260.
3. Finally, Josiah realizes that he made a mistake and should have only subtracted 37 more instead of 40. To rectify the error, he adds 3 back to his difference of 260, arriving at the correct answer of 263.

Based on these steps, Josiah used the mental math strategy of compensation (Option C). Compensation involves adjusting one number to make the calculation easier while still maintaining accuracy. In this case, Josiah compensated for his earlier mistake by adding back the extra 3.

Therefore, the correct answer is C. Compensation.

breaking apart