At Megan Murrays request I have visited your ÃÂAsk the AuthorÃÂ section of the CESAME site inquiring how TERC regards traditional algorithms.
I am trying to understand the point you are making in the second example you offer. By my calculation the traditional algorithm 62x36 requires three steps (step1- 6x62, step2- 3x63, then add the sums step3- 372+1860=2232)
In your distributed example 62 x 36 = (62 x 30) + (6 x 60) + (6 x 2). I see four steps (step1- 62 x 30, step2- 6 x 60, step3- 6x2, step4- 1860+360+12=2232)
I like the distributive property method because of its connection to algebra but to say that it has fewer steps I believe is not accurate. Granted it has been some years since I set foot in a math class so my interpretation may be in error. Could you please point the error of my thinking here.
