math teaching

Teaching math seems like it should be so much simpler than teaching reading. In math there are algorithms and formulas that are used to get answers. Want to know the square root of a number? There's a formula. Want to know the diameter of a circle? There's a formula for that, too.In math the answer is either right or wrong. Two plus two equals four. There's no gray areaWell, not necessarily. A problem might have only one answer, but there could be many ways to get to the answer; that's the gray area. And teaching students how to get to the answer has been a topic of much debate -- so much that it's been dubbed "math wars" -- pitting reform math against traditional math. Traditional, also known as the basics, is what most parents think of as math.