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Original poster

AIBU to wonder why English teachers don't fight Maths teachers?

83 replies

GRex · 20/01/2025 22:27

Every week we get the primary maths homework with questions like:
"What number is 41 less than 54?"

It's like nails down my psychological blackboard. How do the teachers responsible for the English programme cope? Why does nobody take the battle forward for fewer? What is so scary about the maths teachers that none of the rest stand and fight this out for the greater good?

OP posts:
Original poster
GRex · 21/01/2025 07:55

PokerFriedDips · 21/01/2025 07:41

The operative is called "Less than" not "Fewer than" because if it were called "Fewer" than it could only apply to integers and mathematical operators are equally applicable to non-integer numbers.

"13.0 is 41.0 less than 54.0" is both grammatically and mathematically correct and so is "13.1 is 41.0 less than 54.1". Replacing "less than" with "fewer than" would not be, and it's unreasonable to expect maths teachers to be responsible for teaching the difference.

This is more accurate, but fewer funny 😁.

OP posts:
Original poster
GRex · 21/01/2025 07:54

FranticHare · 20/01/2025 22:33

Of the maths and English teacher that I know personally as friends - the maths teachers would win a fight hands down!

As always, first answer nailed it, thanks.

OP posts:
SkankingWombat · 21/01/2025 07:52

RockaLock · 21/01/2025 06:26

The answers on this thread have been interesting, because I had assumed that the gripe was about the use of "what" rather than "which"!

(Disclaimer: my degree is in maths).

Same! (Although my degree is Arts not Maths!)

PokerFriedDips · 21/01/2025 07:41

The operative is called "Less than" not "Fewer than" because if it were called "Fewer" than it could only apply to integers and mathematical operators are equally applicable to non-integer numbers.

"13.0 is 41.0 less than 54.0" is both grammatically and mathematically correct and so is "13.1 is 41.0 less than 54.1". Replacing "less than" with "fewer than" would not be, and it's unreasonable to expect maths teachers to be responsible for teaching the difference.

ThanksItHasPockets · 21/01/2025 07:40

Yes, my chemistry teacher would get terribly exercised over the inaccurate use of ‘amount’ in everyday speech.

Newbutoldfather · 21/01/2025 07:37

It is technical vocabulary that is correct in the sense it is being used.

I wouldn’t battle an English teacher over ‘incorrectly’ using weight when they mean mass because I understand the difference between ‘weight’ in Physics and ‘weight’ in normal usage.

Another example might be ‘heavy’ vs ‘dense’ and there are lots more that don’t immediately spring to mind.

Words have different meanings and usages depending on context.

myplace · 21/01/2025 07:35

SinnerBoy · 21/01/2025 07:29

FreiasBathtub · Yesterday 23:39

My dad (teacher) said you could sort his fellow teachers into English and Maths by offering them a cake cut into two and asking which is the biggest half.

I hope he doesn't teach English!

Isn’t that the point? The English teachers get cross about the superlative, the maths teachers about the unequal ‘halves’

BarbaraHoward · 21/01/2025 07:32

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 21/01/2025 00:32

TBH I could only really get steamed up about this if an English teacher wrote it. Or perhaps I should correct that to ‘a teacher of English’.

I would still judge an English teacher who wrote "What number is 41 fewer than 54?", it implies they're unaware of fractions. Grin
41 cats is fewer than 54.

£41 is less than £54.

41 apples is fewer than 54.

41 litres is less than 54 litres.

41 is less than 54.

SinnerBoy · 21/01/2025 07:29

FreiasBathtub · Yesterday 23:39

My dad (teacher) said you could sort his fellow teachers into English and Maths by offering them a cake cut into two and asking which is the biggest half.

I hope he doesn't teach English!

Bjorkdidit · 21/01/2025 07:03

'less than' is a mathematical term and a command in Excel, ie less than is <.

The question can also be written as 'what is 54 - 41' but I don't know what they're trying to achieve by writing it in the first way and not the second.

RockaLock · 21/01/2025 06:26

The answers on this thread have been interesting, because I had assumed that the gripe was about the use of "what" rather than "which"!

(Disclaimer: my degree is in maths).

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 21/01/2025 00:32

TBH I could only really get steamed up about this if an English teacher wrote it. Or perhaps I should correct that to ‘a teacher of English’.

Iwrotethelyricstoaxlf · 20/01/2025 23:43

BogRollBOGOF · 20/01/2025 23:11

Maths was always jealous of Geography due to the field trips and superior colouring opportunities.

According to my teacher anyway.

Was in a meeting with a Geography teacher (DDs HoY), an ex PE teacher and a Headmaster.

DDs HoY took the colouring in jokes very well. He reckons the others are just jealous of his superior pencil sharpening skills.

bridgetreilly · 20/01/2025 23:43

Because the English teachers invariably need the Maths teachers onside when they have to do percentages.

ErrolTheDragon · 20/01/2025 23:41

FreiasBathtub · 20/01/2025 23:39

My dad (teacher) said you could sort his fellow teachers into English and Maths by offering them a cake cut into two and asking which is the biggest half.

ExcellentGrin

FreiasBathtub · 20/01/2025 23:39

My dad (teacher) said you could sort his fellow teachers into English and Maths by offering them a cake cut into two and asking which is the biggest half.

RafaistheKingofClay · 20/01/2025 23:27

Less is correct in that context, isn’t it. 41 in itself is not a countable noun.

MsAwesomeDragon · 20/01/2025 23:21

I’m a maths teacher, and I could absolutely win against any of the English teachers at my school. I’d just knock them over and sit on them, they’d never stand a chance.

Of course, I have no desire to do this, because they understand that words have specific meanings in maths. So less is the correct word in that question, because it can be used for any number, not just integers.

I’m one who would stand up for fewer in any context other than a maths question.

BlueberryShortcakePixie · 20/01/2025 23:17

#TeamMaths

AIBU to wonder why English teachers don't fight Maths teachers?
ThanksItHasPockets · 20/01/2025 23:15

> Greater than
< Fewer than

Sure.

ConstantlyFuriosa · 20/01/2025 23:13

Coriol · 20/01/2025 23:10

Dunno, but if you set up a rumble, I will come and bring popcorn.

This did make me laugh, as did the thread title. Just imagining a Jets vs Sharks style face off.

Edit. I’ve voted YANBU for that reason alone.

BarbaraHoward · 20/01/2025 23:13

Yikes OP.

BogRollBOGOF · 20/01/2025 23:11

Maths was always jealous of Geography due to the field trips and superior colouring opportunities.

According to my teacher anyway.

Coriol · 20/01/2025 23:10

Dunno, but if you set up a rumble, I will come and bring popcorn.

MagentaRavioli · 20/01/2025 23:08

It’s less than. Even if you’re dealing with the natural numbers rather than the reals (so playing with countably infinite possibilities rather than the continuum) it’s less than as this is the name for the ordering function.