LogFAQs > #985542173

markconig posted...

Topics like these always make me laugh because someone always comes in and says something vague like "people are so dumb, there's obviously a correct answer" but never says their side, almost like they're afraid of getting it wrong themselves but wants people to think they're so smart.

Anyway, my answer is 7 and 12.

Yeah there's always that guy.

I think I did forget to state my own answer though. The blanks should be 7 and 12.

That said, I totally understand why someone would think 12 and 17, and I think it really does have a lot to do with some fundamental truths about how we teach math in elementary schools (i.e. poorly).

Mathematics Education is its own subfield that has a tremendous amount of literature surrounding it - I happen to be a math teacher, so if you're interested, I can find some literature for you about it. It's quite interesting if you want to read about it, but it can also be a bit dry.