My 7 year old son's Maths homework - help required!

[bobthebandit]

We had these questions in my 7 year old son's homework.

He was given a set of single numbers which were: 0,2,3,5,6 and 8

The questions were:
"What is the biggest three digit number you can make by adding them all together?"

"What is the smallest three digit number you can make by taking them all away from each other? (Remember to start with the biggest number!)"

The way the questions are worded, I cannot see any correct answers, because none of the numbers add up to a 3 digit number, ie any number over 99!

Can anyone help?!

[ladyalex]

I cannot make anything of this either, bob.
I can only suggest that you send it back to school with a stiff note asking whoever set it to make the questions clearer in future.
As you say , you cannot make a 3 digit number by adding those numbers together and I cannot think what they could possibly mean by the second question.
If I had had this bit of homework home with my son, I would have been furious.

[ELVIS68]

I agree, if I had this homework with my son, I would have said " Go and ask mum"

[alexanderd]

does not appear to be any logic to it Bob it has got me flummoxed perhaps we need some lateral thinking (or a mathematician!)

[sophie_1003]

Was waiting for someone else to answer in hope that they'd be able to decipher it! I agree with ladyalex, send back with a note or talk to the teacher about it. the only thing I can think is that the activity should-
What is the biggest three digit number you can make by using these numbers? e.g. you could use 5 6 8 to make 568, 658 or 865
but don't see how you could do the second question like this!

[sophie_1003]

perhaps for the second question you have to make two three digit numbers then do a subtraction calculation e.g.
568-320 or 632-580 to find which would give the smallest answer?

[carrot99]

send it back bob with `0/10 could do better' at the bottom in red!

[dalschickens]

You could do 586+320 making 906. That uses them all in an addition sum, but it's hardly appropriate for a 7 year old!!.

[bobthebandit]

Thank you for all your replies. We thought we may have been missing something with the teachers questions, but obviously we were not from your responses.
The answers we actually arrived at was 865 for question 1 and 203 for question 2 but these were both marked as incorrect by the teacher!
I will now print off all your replies and show them to the teacher(s) on Monday who set these questions.
Thanks again

[sophie_1003]

did the teacher give the correct answer or explain the correct way to work it out? If not it's very bad practice! Keep us posted.

[bobthebandit]

Thanks Sophie, we havent managed to speak to the teachers yet. However my son told me that only one boy in the class of about 20 pupils got the correct answers! (and won a certificate)
Apparently the teacher told the children it was the parents fault for not understanding the questions!!
I will keep you posted,

[ladyalex]

I would be even more furious if I got that response back from a teacher, especially if they did not give the answers or any explanation of the answers.
As for giving a certificate to the pupil who somehow managed to fathom out what the 'correct' answers could be, that just beggars belief. Does this teacher want to thoroughly discourage everyone else in the class from ever even attempting maths problems?
No Christmas presents for that teacher I'd say.

[sophie_1003]

That's awful! It should be understood by the children not the parents! Also, like you say there's no way of adding those numbers to get a three digit number so the teacher is just going to confuse the children by giving them activities where 'add' doesn't mean add in the mathematical sense! Would have a word with the head if something happens again!

[syruphead]

I realise I am too late to help your son but I would have gone for 586 + 320= 906, as already suggested and
360 - 258= 102