What Students See: Fractions in Sanskrit
(3x + 1)/8 × 2 looks like Sanskrit to students; mathematicians see pieces of a pie and double them: 6x + 2 eighths.
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Cartoon by Ben Orlin, Math with Bad Drawings. https://cartoons.mathwithbaddrawings.com/2016-06-22-what-students-see-when-they-look-at-algebra--what-students-see-fractions-in-sanskrit/ (CC BY-NC 4.0)Transcript
(3x + 1)/8 × 2 / Students: the fraction written in Devanagari ("sanskrit"): "um… 2 gibberish / 2 gibberish?" / Mathematicians: a pie cut in pieces of size 1/8, with 3x + 1 pieces shaded × 2: "Twice as many pieces! So, 6x + 2."