A war over the city's new math curriculum erupted yesterday, with parents complaining they're befuddled by the new ways of teaching math - and so are their kids.

[Thomas Dooley] was discussing the Department of Education's "Everyday Mathematics" program - called "fuzzy math" by critics. The program is now being used from kindergarten through fifth grade in most elementary schools under the new uniform curriculum selected by Schools Chancellor Joel Klein.

Department math program manager Linda Curtis-Bey said the programs use a complement of traditional math equations - such as long division and memorizing multiplication tables - with other problem-solving techniques that are more applicable to every day life. That includes students working in groups and exploring a number of ways to get the answer to a problem.