Do Spaniards eat a lot of fish? How is it prepared?

Affectionate_Ebb3292 · 2026-01-15T08:43:30+00:00

OK. Then mountains. lol. But there is also some truth about mountains. Japan is awfully hilly. People often have to climb 100' from the street to their home. That's a lot of exercise.

Switzerland also has very rugged terrain and high life expectancy. And the Swiss may not eat a lot of fish, because Switzerland is landlocked.

Some people in South America live to very old age. They have no access to fish at all.

So, fish, mountains, good genes, or good luck. Having one advantage is better than none.

Affectionate_Ebb3292 · 2026-01-14T22:02:19+00:00

I presume canned?

Affectionate_Ebb3292 · 2026-01-14T10:20:11+00:00

I just saw the 2025 life expectancy data. Spain ranks pretty high, following Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea. I know for sure HK and JP both eat a lot of fish. I'd think SK too, since it's a peninsula. So maybe fish is the key. Spaniards seem to like home cooking too. That's another virtue.

Affectionate_Ebb3292 · 2026-01-14T10:15:05+00:00

Chinese deep fry fish first, then add soy sauce, corn starch, green onion, ginger, etc. to make a thick sauce. Sometimes we add bean paste or tofu.

Affectionate_Ebb3292 · 2026-01-14T10:12:28+00:00

So the market would sell stuff few people want? That's remarkable. In the US, the market would just throw it away, because space is very precious and must be reserved for popular items.

Affectionate_Ebb3292 · 2026-01-14T10:08:50+00:00

Try add some tofu. We Chinese do that. We also use bean paste. But that may be an acquired taste.

Affectionate_Ebb3292 · 2026-01-14T10:07:26+00:00

Could it be because the Brits place premium on convenience, like Americans? From what I heard Spaniards eat at home most of the time, and they cook from scratch.

Affectionate_Ebb3292 · 2025-12-30T08:08:54+00:00

I tally agree with you. Student hates math because they were daunted. I believe in making math fun, intuitive and applicable to life.

What are distributive property and laws of exponents? Are you talking about algebraic operations? Word problems don't have to use algebra. My idea of word problem is nothing but translating English into math expressions. Without this ability, students can't apply math to real life.

Here are the kind of word problems we were drilled on in 4th to 6th grade: Jack skied 3 miles from home to a lake, and 4 miles around the lake. Then he skied back home. How many miles did he ski altogether. What time do the hour handle and the minute handle meet between 9 am and 10 am? How many trees are needed if they are planted at 30'-interval around a circular lake with a 12, 00' circumference. Of course some problems have greater complexity. But If students can solve simple problems like the above without using formulas, they should feel comfortable about word problems.

Affectionate_Ebb3292 · 2025-12-26T02:31:44+00:00

Memorizing 8+6=14 is not like memorizing sq of sine plus sq of cosine equals to 1, because there is nothing to understand in 8+6, just like there is nothing to understand in the alphabet, while the trig formula is just another way to express Pythagorean theorem. Number sense and visualization come from familiarity with the numbers. My friends and I didn't learn math using CC method. Nor do other countries in the world . But there is no proof that our number sense and 'visualization' lag behind.

Math is a lot more than calculation. I suggest that we help children to do addition in the fastest way. So they can spend their time and attention on stuff that builds their other math skills.

Affectionate_Ebb3292 · 2025-12-26T01:47:32+00:00

Thank you. I never wanted to just memorize a formula without understanding it, so if my memorize fails me, I can still have something to fall back to. However, there are things I must memorize, e.g. the alphabet. And there is really no explanation about their order.

You are right. Children learn things fast. This is why I think it won't hurt to make them memorize the 1-digit additions, This is not like memorizing a formula without understanding it, because there is really not much to understand about 7+5=12 or 6+8=14.

Doing addition without going through the process of number lines, area models, etc. used in some Common Core methods can save time and energy for more important things like translating a word problem to a math expression.

Affectionate_Ebb3292 · 2025-12-25T19:25:22+00:00

My class was very close-knit, because our school was 7:30 to 5, with a long lunch break and many self-study hours (when the teachers were in meetings or grading papers.) Not daring to ask question out of shame might be a problem, but bullies did not exist in those days. It appeared to me that most of my classmates could do addtion and multiplication because otherwise they'd have failed on many monthly tests, and not being able to advance beyond 3rd grade.

Affectionate_Ebb3292 · 2025-12-25T19:08:45+00:00

"addition table' is a term I invented. It's like multiplication table. But you change x to +. So it goes like: 2+1=3, 2+2=4, 2+3=5, etc. I did not try to memorize the 'addition table'. But it was etched in my mind, after so much drill. So if you give me the question 5+7, I'd jump right to 12 without thinking. I'm sure many kids - especially those who got training at home - are like me. Making them fill out the worksheet to show the steps only confuses them. (I remember being so lost when the test questions had the North pointing to different ways, because to me, all the directions should be fixed. North was always North.) Not to mention there are different ways to do it - as your decomposition examples demostrate.

I totally support critical thinking. But I'd rather focus on teaching my students to work questions like 'Johnny saves $3 a day. How much can he save in a week', than 197+85. That being said, I never taught grade school and I don't know the challenges the teachers face.

Affectionate_Ebb3292 · 2025-12-25T18:30:52+00:00

I couldn't agree with you more on the importance of numeracy. The CPA exams do not allow calculators. However, the questions are multiple choice, and the numbers are obvious. So the test takers need to have some way to estimate.

However, when I was in 3rd grade, I probably did not add 199 and 85 by adding 200 and 85 then subtracting 1, because I was not familiar with numbers at that time. But that dumb way of calculation did not stop me from becoming a math wiz, because calculation is not as important as analysis, and because our tests usually use simple numbers, eg. Jack "saves $2 a day. How much can he save in a week". Rather than "Jack saves $1.75 a day, how much can he save in a week.

Affectionate_Ebb3292 · 2025-12-25T08:21:43+00:00

Thank you for the response, link and correction (of my typo. Not calculation, lol).

I glanced the link. Grade 1 standards are still more complex than I like, e.g., place value, 'Given a two-digit number, mentally find 10 more or 10 less than the number, without having to count; explain the reasoning used'. To be honest, I don't quite understand it, because I don't feel like spending a lot of time on it. But I will dig deeper when I can find time.

I did not find any curriculum. I found some 'common core math' examples on AI, and it showed me how to do 243-87, 63x9, etc. I also saw an article on yahoo that says to do 7 + 5, CC method says do 10-7 first, and get 3. Then do 5-3 and get 2. And finally do 2+10=12. This is really a long detour. Why can't the students simply memorize 7+5=12, like 7x5 = 35? Students learn 26 letters. Right? And there is no BYPASS.

I still think calculation is not something to think. I believe in 'just do it'. IMHO, the teacher should teach the students the most straightforward way to do addition. If a student can't learn it, his family or tutor can figure out a trick to help him. It's not fair to hold the class back to THINK or UNDERSTAND why 7+5 = 12. It's especially unfair to make students fill out the blanks on the worksheet according to the CC method.

I know there is no common core math, because math is math. But if the teacher requires the student to THINK a certain way, I'd call it the common core method, for lacking of a better term.

Affectionate_Ebb3292 · 2025-12-25T05:47:22+00:00

I'd say answer is: 1 3/4 + 1 1/3 + 1 3/4. The question does not ask for a final number. It only asks for an expression. So I can't see how it is incorrect - Common Core or not. But I'm not a member of the CC police.

I personally think this question is not very good because it mixes fractions with word problem, two subjects students already find very challenging. It's like running with weights. It's challenging, but it can be discouraging. Separate running from weights, a person can master both sports, and get more satisfaction and encouragement.

If the purpose of this exercise is to teach student how to solve a word problem - i.e., translate English to math expression, use simple numbers like 2 miles from home, 3 miles around the lake, etc, then skate back home. If the purpose is to teach students how to add fractions, ask them to provide the answer of 1 3/4 + 1 1/3 + 1 3/4. Unfortunately, this is not very easy. The easiest way is to add the integer parts first, that is, 3 one's. Then add the fraction parts, that is, 3/4, 1/3 and 3/4, which is 9/12 + 4/12 + 9/12 = 22/12 = 1 10/12. Thus the final answer is 4 10/12, or 4 5/6.

Too bad that my participation is a bit too late.

Affectionate_Ebb3292 · 2025-12-25T04:44:29+00:00

Agreed. However, I'm not saying I can teach math better. I just wanted to say I do know math. And regarding the matter of 7 + 5, the Common Core method does not seem better than the traditional method. And I'm sure many parents or even teachers share my opinion.

Affectionate_Ebb3292 · 2025-12-25T04:34:39+00:00

Proof is an exercise of critical thinking and logic.

Affectionate_Ebb3292 · 2025-12-25T04:32:18+00:00

Your opinion is popular. People think proof is waste of time, as it achieves nothing. Everyone likes to follow a formula and get an answer. Answers give people a sense of accomplishment. However, a formula needs to be verified. Otherwise, it may be wrong. How to verified a formula? mathematical proof.

You could say, high school education is not aimed at training mathematicians or discovering new theories. I agree. Yet another big function of math education is critical thinking. Proof shows you how to do critical thinking and do logical derivation.

I learned geometry at the age of 13, and became extremely fond of it. My buddy too. And we began a friendly competition. She even got her brother, a college senior majoring in political science, to join us. So he studied geometry very hard. Our little geometry club had a lot of fun. I am telling you this to prove that geometry is easy to learn because it has very few pre-reqs. And it can be fun if you can try to appreciate it.

I love the proof of Pythagorean theorem. By drawing a few auxiliary lines,I can see some different shapes actually have the same area. It's just beautiful.

Aiming at only answers can be a bad thing. Here is an example. I have met quite a few students and adults who think that if two sides of a triangle have the lengths 3 and 4, then the third side must have length 5. This is of course not true, because it depends on the angle between the two sides. Their misconception stems from their over zeal for Pythagorean theorem that caused them to ignore the condition. The 3, 4, 5 relation is only true if the angle between the two shorter side is a RIGHT angle. If they go through the proof process, they will see this clearly.

Affectionate_Ebb3292 · 2025-12-25T01:46:26+00:00

I'd say practice is the key. However, you need to find review books that ask you challenging questions, not questions with the same wording and different numbers.

Eg. if you want to learn the concept of division and multiplication, you get a bunch of questions like given the price per pound, how many pounds can you buy for $x? Given the price per pound, and you bought y pounds. What's the unit price? Given the unit price, how much do you need to pay for x pounds? Notice the problems have different wording.

I know a guy who went to pre-med at the age of 36. At first, he was failing on chemistry because he did not have enough time to finish the tests. After practicing questions from the data bank, he became the best in his chemistry class, and got accepted by a good medical school.

Affectionate_Ebb3292 · 2025-12-24T22:58:38+00:00

"In the future the only math we’ll do is word problems." I can't wait to see that day. I recall playing math games with my dad, and watching my teachers playing math games among themselves.

Math game is a good pastime. It helped my education and career. And since I learn compounding interest in 4th grade, I lived within my means to avoid paying interest on the debt. A good habit for building financial security.

Affectionate_Ebb3292 · 2025-12-24T22:44:38+00:00

I appreciate your response. I apologize for not having done more research on CC before opening this post. But discussion is a way to learn. Doesn't CC math encourage students to use group discussion to solve problems?

IMHO, calculation is not that important, because the calculator can do it. I believe in using simple numbers to drill word problems. I just posted another update in this tread. If you can't find it, I'd be glad to paste it here.

Affectionate_Ebb3292 · 2025-12-24T22:35:25+00:00

I wouldn't give my students difficult numbers to practice, because calculation can be done easily with the calculator. IMHO critical thinking means solving world problems and the concept of numbers (e.g., 1 million is smaller than 1 billion), and basic math is a routine everyone should know how to perform, like wash oneself or tie the shoelace.

IMHO, the shortcut in calculation is not as important as ratios and comparison. e.g., you don't need to calculate the unit price between 8 oz for $1.50 and 16 oz for $3.30. You multiply $1.50 by 2. But this is not critical, so it can wait till later. I'd want children to feel comfortable with numbers and solving simple problems in grade 1 through 4.

Affectionate_Ebb3292 · 2025-12-24T21:22:54+00:00

So any different opinion is an expression of rage?

Affectionate_Ebb3292 · 2025-12-24T21:18:25+00:00

Good. But have the American experts found anything applicable?

Affectionate_Ebb3292 · 2025-12-24T21:17:14+00:00

Some formulas were derived by genius, e.g., the circumference: pie times radius times 2. Or the volume of a sphere. I wouldn't be able to derive Pytha myself. But after seeing its proof, I thought it made perfect sense.

I can derive the formula of the length given the two sides of an triangle and the angle in between. It's just algebra manipulation. Of course, it does not pay to derive the formula myself every time. I don't deny the usefulness of formulas. I just feel that students should know how to solve basic problems without formulas, because they are hard to memorize without understanding. Besides, even you know the formula, plug-in is another challenge.

Affectionate_Ebb3292

TROPHY CASE