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

[GRex]

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?

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

They're put off by the idea of getting into a debate about whether numbers are countable with a maths teacher.

AIUI it's debatable whether it has ever really been incorrect to use "less" for countable items. But even accepting this is a valid rule I'm not convinced it applies in this instance.

The question is one of pure maths - there's nothing to indicate that these figures represent numbers of countable items as opposed to, say, heights in centimetres. In general, the number line is continuous.

Would you also have them say "What number is 3.2 fewer than 2.4?" Or would you read out "9 < 10" as "nine is fewer than ten"? Why? Would you also say "0.9 < 1.0" as "zero point nine is fewer than one point zero"?

I don't think 'fewer' is really a thing in maths.

I work in a school and I’d pay money to watch that showdown. I’m gonna add it to the next INSET schedule 🤣

Maybe it was written by an English teacher who doesn't like Maths. I always get clear, concise and understandable requests from the Maths department, which leads me to conclude that they don't just have a grasp on their subject, they've got the communication skills to explain concepts and their application, along with a talent for process mapping that just isn't there in some other subjects.

If I never hear another teacher inform me that they don't do Maths or technology (usually with a laugh as though it's so very amusing and cute of them), it'll still be too soon.

How many 41s?😬

Why does nobody take the battle forward for fewer?

Because it is an irrational argument.

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.

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

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

According to my teacher anyway.

Yikes OP.

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.

> Greater than
< Fewer than

Sure.

#TeamMaths

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.

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

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.

Excellent

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

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.

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’.

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).

'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.

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!