OT: Teaching Math in the 21st Century

[robin.pain@tesco.net]

James Thurber has something to say about this in "The figgerin of aunt Wilma"

Cheers
Robin

 

[Reg Edwards]

You don't mean mathematics. You mean arithmetic.

Mathematics is what ignorant school teachers frighten school kids with, thus
ruining their pupils' educational futures, just as their own has been
spoiled.

 

[Charles Edmondson]

Kevin Aylward wrote:

Dick wrote:

As an ex (as in retired) professional EE who has livened up his
'twilight years' getting a maths degree (among other things) I'm
probably as qualified enough as the next person to throw my 2 penn'th
(read as cents in the colonies) worth on the subject:

1. The indiscriminate use of the handheld calculator in school has
been an absolute disaster in that we now have 1 (if not 2)
generations who are incapable of estimating an approximate answer to
a sum or calculation. The ability to look at a calculated result and
say 'there's something not quite right about this answer' has been
lost, call it common sense, gut feeling or what it's been lost. If I
could bring back just 2 skills into school it would be to teach
youngsters how to do mental arithmetic & how to use a slide rule -


I wouldn't. I can't really agree based on my own experiences. I can't do
mental arithmetic at all. Even 6*7 is a real toil for me, as I never
learned my times table when I was young, and without sounding too
arrogant, for an EE, I am great at math, e.g.
http://www.anasoft.co.uk/physics/gr/index.html

It goes along with my legendary, in this NG, inability to spell. The
crux is memory. I have a poor one. Its hard to do a calculation like 8
by 12 in memory, because you need to store the imtermedaite results, and
a blanket lookup table is still a memory issue.

What is far more inportant is teaching people the logic of how things
are workerd out. The fact that even simple ones are done on paper is no
real determinate. I agree with your initial point in that an ability to
estimating approximate answer is mush desired, however, I disagree that
this requires much mental arithmetic and use of a slide rule. Quite
frankly, the use of a slide rule, today, is completely daft. I can't use
them, and it certainly has zero relevance to my expertise in subjects,
as noted above, like General Relativity, or Electronics for that matter.

It seems a "Nostalgia is not what it used to be" line of thinking here.

Kevin Aylward
salesEXTRACT@anasoft.co.uk
http://www.anasoft.co.uk
SuperSpice, a very affordable Mixed-Mode
Windows Simulator with Schematic Capture,
Waveform Display, FFT's and Filter Design.


Yep, don't make me do arithmetic! I once got a C on a physics test

making errors like 6*4=28

In my old high school chem class, I would set up the problem (I also
know HOW to find the answer), my friend on one side would solve it, and
the guy across from us would check us both!

--
Charlie
--
Edmondson Engineering
Unique Solutions to Unusual Problems

 

[John Larkin]

On Mon, 17 Jan 2005 10:31:17 -0700, Jim Thompson
<thegreatone@example.com> wrote:

On Mon, 17 Jan 2005 08:57:06 -0800, Chris Carlen
crcarle@BOGUS.sandia.gov> wrote:

Jim Thompson wrote:
On Sat, 15 Jan 2005 17:02:53 +0000, John Woodgate
jmw@jmwa.demon.contraspam.yuk> wrote:


I read in sci.electronics.design that Dick <dick@langwang.demon.co.uk
wrote (in <QSjscjJmYQ6BFws3@langwang.demon.co.uk&gt about 'OT: Teaching
Math in the 21st Century', on Sat, 15 Jan 2005:



Let's face it, we're (well at least I'm) of the last generation that
seems to have been issued with common sense,

My father told me that was his generation, and his father told him the
same.


Ain't that the truth! The real joy is watching your children acquire
it.

...Jim Thompson

So your kids are becoming liberals?





Hahaha. Couldn't resist. ;-D

Hahahaha!

Oldest daughter was just elected Chairperson of the Republican Party
in Yuma County, Arizona ;-)

The two sons are more ruthlessly right wing than I am.

But the youngest daughter voted for Kerry :-( She thinks a Democrat
government would do more to pursue a cure for autism (because of her
autistic son).

Huge resources are already going into autism research, and not just in
the US. Amazingly little has been learned, except that there is a
hereditary component. The epidemic is real, and is worldwide.

John

 

[John Woodgate]

I read in sci.electronics.design that Charles Edmondson
<edmondson@ieee.org> wrote (in <41ec0adf$1@news.cadence.com&gt about 'OT:
Teaching Math in the 21st Century', on Mon, 17 Jan 2005:

Yep, don't make me do arithmetic! I once got a C on a physics test
making errors like 6*4=28

Memory for 'tables' is in a different system in the brain than the one
that does arithmetic. So if you have learned tables and also learned how
to do 'sums' (e.g. on your fingers or with an abacus), you have two
brings to your stow. But you need an insight at a higher cortical level
to unite the two memory systems into an asset.

For some people, learned grammar and 'using language' are similarly
separated, so that they may be competent in one and hopeless in the
other. This applies both the 'mother tongue' and to second languages.
People with this problem rarely get beyond two languages (or rather two
halves!).
--
Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only.
The good news is that nothing is compulsory.
The bad news is that everything is prohibited.
http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk Also see http://www.isce.org.uk

 

[John Woodgate]

I read in sci.electronics.design that John Larkin <jjlarkin@highSNIPland
THIStechPLEASEnology.com> wrote (in <854ou010msnf7no11p6ht8ohhhaib1bajv@
4ax.com&gt about 'OT: Teaching Math in the 21st Century', on Mon, 17 Jan
2005:

Huge resources are already going into autism research, and not just in
the US. Amazingly little has been learned, except that there is a
hereditary component. The epidemic is real, and is worldwide.

Is it an 'epidemic' (not the right word anyway, but who cares?), or the
result of better diagnosis?
--
Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only.
The good news is that nothing is compulsory.
The bad news is that everything is prohibited.
http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk Also see http://www.isce.org.uk

 

[Jim Thompson]

On Mon, 17 Jan 2005 18:44:10 +0000, John Woodgate
<jmw@jmwa.demon.contraspam.yuk> wrote:

I read in sci.electronics.design that Jim Thompson
thegreatone@example.com> wrote (in <g9tnu0t0o38rrim91m4594ibtaaidddp4a@
4ax.com&gt about 'OT: Teaching Math in the 21st Century', on Mon, 17 Jan
2005:

Oldest daughter was just elected Chairperson of the Republican Party in
Yuma County, Arizona ;-)

The two sons are more ruthlessly right wing than I am.

Difficult to imagine. (;-)

Their favorite "talking stick" is a Glock ;-)

But the youngest daughter voted for Kerry :-( She thinks a Democrat
government would do more to pursue a cure for autism (because of her
autistic son).

I'm a bit surprised that anyone in USA imagines that government can have
much influence on medical research that doesn't have 'moral overtones'.
I hope your sons are really not so 'ruthlessly right-wing' that they
regard research on autism to have moral overtones.

No. Almost all the research into autism is conducted here in Arizona
PRIVATELY.

I doubt it. "Government is not the solution, government is the
problem."

Well, part of it.

No. ALL of it.

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

 

[John Woodgate]

I read in sci.electronics.design that Tom MacIntyre
<tom__macintyre@hotmail.com> wrote (in <mg9ou0ln3pgvol7a4v5cna43qpurgtgv
oj@4ax.com&gt about 'OT: Teaching Math in the 21st Century', on Mon, 17
Jan 2005:

My son had a different teacher in Grade 3, and is well-versed in his
times tables, and even exponents, in Grade 6. What a difference one
teacher can make.

I agree entirely, from personal experience.
--
Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only.
The good news is that nothing is compulsory.
The bad news is that everything is prohibited.
http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk Also see http://www.isce.org.uk

 

[Paul Burke]

Jim Thompson wrote:

"Government is not the solution, government is the
problem."

I look forward to the USA being the second country to try to make the
state "wither away". The last one was, of course, Russia under Lenin.

Paul Burke

 

[PaulCsouls]

On Sat, 15 Jan 2005 17:05:34 +0000, John Woodgate
<jmw@jmwa.demon.contraspam.yuk> wrote:

Mathematics is not arithmetic. It is legendary that mathematicians can't
make change.

Thinking mathematics is arithmetics is like thinking literature is
grammar.

PaulC