using calculator i get a different answer then on paper please help need to show work



3.42
x
5.15

Try breaking it up and multiplying it pieces
3x 5.15
.4x5.15
.02x5.12
Then adding it together.

Another method if it's the decimals that are screwing you up is to multiply to remove them then dividing
3.42x100=342
5.15x100=515

Meow multiply 342x515=176130

Divide answer by 100 and again by 100(because you multiplied twice)

This topic was probably created in jest.

ty ty ty will the divide by 100 then 100 always work?

Multiplying the 3.42 by 100 moved the decimal 2 places

Multiplying the 5.15 by 100 moved the decimal 2 places

Dividing the answer by 10000 (or dividing by 100 two separate times) moved the decimal back 4 places


You're performing an operation to make it easier and then doing the inverse operation to undo what you did


--check with your instructor to make sure that method is acceptable. They may want you to actually learn the classical way to multiply with decimals




I do remember these types of problems in introductory teacher education programs where they may discuss multiple solution paths anticipate errors or test basic understanding of numbers

He could be trolling but I watched a classroom full of college students --future elementary teachers-- struggle to learn concepts like operations with fractions or writing linear equations

Because everybody on this forum has your kind of brain, apparently.
Perhaps with all that powerful mensa-level quality you possess you should learn to not jump to conclusions and to value the people for who they are rather than for who they're not.

Lol

Well if this is even remotely true then this is absolutely terrifying. It seems like (((their))) money-making schemes are working quite well, assuming you're from the US.
Anyway, if the OP is genuine, then I'd rather break down 515 than 342 since there's a 1 which saves a calculation, and there are two 5s, saving another operation since we only need to compute it once, and it is easy since multiplying by 5 is adding a 0 at the end and dividing by 2.
Then it's just additions all the way down. Also when you want to be efficient you figure out that the result is going to be slightly above 15 (as an order of magnitude) and just place the point accordingly instead of consciously dividing by 10000. (This is probably easier for the OP too if he is serious, since struggling with this "problem" would likely suggest that conscious division by a power of ten by moving the point to its proper place is simply beyond his grasp).




TIL multiplying two three-digit numbers together requires an all-powerful brain.
OP is about 33 years old, I'd try to improve at mental arithmetic if I were him, I mean, getting ripped off at every transaction for twenty-odd years can really add up...