Mathematics.
- Thread starter Gillian M
- Start date
One would be obliged "Yessir!" if and only if a.....dictator said something like that.
" Since the mathematicians have invaded the theory of relativity I do not understand it myself anymore. "
Einstein.
Einstein.
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2013
- Messages
- 10,876
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2012
- Messages
- 5,173
- Location (City and/or State)
- South of Southern California, but not Mexico
I once really upset a math teacher by suggesting math was a less natural, albeit still from within us, written language.
Nature thrives on transcript error and what might come of it, an aspect of evolution. You can write a book, fiction or non-fiction and have several minor spelling errors and still get the whole message. However with math, even the small equation as @dmmj put here 2+2=5 and you get relative nonsense. Only people could create such an artificial construct requiring such precision. It is not natural. @Grandpa Turtle 144 all numbers are imaginary.
So much life can exists without even being able to count, simply knowing 'more' and 'less' will suffice, then someone came up with zero. Humans are a natural being, and we created math. "numbers" found in nature are an outgrowth of evolution constrained by chemistry and physics, and someone somewhere decided to try to sort some of that out. So now full circle math is the most natural language possible. I am relatively illiterate in math. But I get why it is so important. You can even predict some future events with math, crazy talk, I know.
It seems education should focus on two subjects, a spoken & written language (any one or number of them) and math. Then let those being educated run to any further subject they have an interest in. I did not understand or have any grasp of algebra until as a graduate student I had to take two semesters of physics. Physics was the subject that math could be applied to. Learning math for it's own sake is very very difficult. Applied math is much easier.
I took first took physics at a community/junior college 'cause I figured if I bombed that bad I would do it again at another one until I got a grade I could transfer to the graduate school. I got really lucky, the community college I went to had a very high proportion of AP students getting lower division coursework out of the way. One very young girl (extremely attractive) woman had already been accepted into some sort of AP college program that following fall, and she took pity on me, and so many many early Saturday mornings at a Starbucks in a brick and mortar book store we had my own special tutoring. Sometimes she would come in her cheerleader outfit as she would go to some sporting even afterwards. Sorta changed my whole idea of what 'being lucky; meant too.
Many people can be good at something yet have no capability or patience to transfer that knowledge to someone else. Math seems to be the pinnacle of that as an issue. I got lucky. I can stumble around in algebra, geometry, Trig, and even a little bit of calculus now, all for the help of that one person.
I housemate in another time of my life taught math teachers how to teach math, further enforcing the idea that it is somewhat rare for people to be able to teach any sort of math. One of those things that 'comes naturally' to some but is difficult for others and the two are just a frustration to each other.
blah blah
Nature thrives on transcript error and what might come of it, an aspect of evolution. You can write a book, fiction or non-fiction and have several minor spelling errors and still get the whole message. However with math, even the small equation as @dmmj put here 2+2=5 and you get relative nonsense. Only people could create such an artificial construct requiring such precision. It is not natural. @Grandpa Turtle 144 all numbers are imaginary.
So much life can exists without even being able to count, simply knowing 'more' and 'less' will suffice, then someone came up with zero. Humans are a natural being, and we created math. "numbers" found in nature are an outgrowth of evolution constrained by chemistry and physics, and someone somewhere decided to try to sort some of that out. So now full circle math is the most natural language possible. I am relatively illiterate in math. But I get why it is so important. You can even predict some future events with math, crazy talk, I know.
It seems education should focus on two subjects, a spoken & written language (any one or number of them) and math. Then let those being educated run to any further subject they have an interest in. I did not understand or have any grasp of algebra until as a graduate student I had to take two semesters of physics. Physics was the subject that math could be applied to. Learning math for it's own sake is very very difficult. Applied math is much easier.
I took first took physics at a community/junior college 'cause I figured if I bombed that bad I would do it again at another one until I got a grade I could transfer to the graduate school. I got really lucky, the community college I went to had a very high proportion of AP students getting lower division coursework out of the way. One very young girl (extremely attractive) woman had already been accepted into some sort of AP college program that following fall, and she took pity on me, and so many many early Saturday mornings at a Starbucks in a brick and mortar book store we had my own special tutoring. Sometimes she would come in her cheerleader outfit as she would go to some sporting even afterwards. Sorta changed my whole idea of what 'being lucky; meant too.
Many people can be good at something yet have no capability or patience to transfer that knowledge to someone else. Math seems to be the pinnacle of that as an issue. I got lucky. I can stumble around in algebra, geometry, Trig, and even a little bit of calculus now, all for the help of that one person.
I housemate in another time of my life taught math teachers how to teach math, further enforcing the idea that it is somewhat rare for people to be able to teach any sort of math. One of those things that 'comes naturally' to some but is difficult for others and the two are just a frustration to each other.
blah blah
Both my mother and father are mathematicians, so math came to me pretty easily, but my mother and father are unable to teach math. When my mother would help me in math, I was actually able to always understand her, but whenever she tried to teach someone else their reaction was basically, "Huh?"
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2014
- Messages
- 29,130
- Location (City and/or State)
- South Eastern Florida (U.S.A.)/Rock Hill S.C.
Math both was and still is a weak point of mine. It's why I did so poorly in my physics classes.
Good thing is that I haven't needed a LOT of that math SINCE the classes!
Good thing is that I haven't needed a LOT of that math SINCE the classes!
spud's_mum
Well-Known Member
I was another one of those poor math students. But then I got a job with the phone company, became a supervisor of long distance operators. One of my duties was to count each operator's tickets and figure out an hourly call average, then I would have to figure all the calls that came in during each hour and figure out averages. This all had to do with deciding how many operators to schedule on duty each day. It didn't take me long at all to become pretty proficient. In those days we used comptometers and slide rules. Oh, the good old days.
Comptometer:
When I retired 30 years later, they allowed me to take two of them home with me. I have them up on my closet shelf.
Comptometer:
When I retired 30 years later, they allowed me to take two of them home with me. I have them up on my closet shelf.
him as well as the subject.
spud's_mum
Well-Known Member
I agree and I'm one of them too.
My Dad is a mathematician too. He played a nice role to my liking the subject, and so did the teachers.
"Come on mathematics, I'm sick and tired of your 'X.'
Similar threads
New Posts
-
Setting up for a Russian Tortoise - Constructive comments welcome- Latest: The_Four_Toed_Edward
-
-