my entire math life
This is basically the problem with the entire modern educational system.
Time to do unpopular opinion? Time to do unpopular opinion.
Balancing a checkbook is applied addition and subtraction, stuff of the third grade. Okay, yeah, it is a failure of the modern educational system if he hasn’t learned it by now.
Imaginary numbers interact with real numbers (1, 2, π, 1.5, etc) for complex numbers, and are useful if you want to get into engineering or science — you know, high paying jobs.
Remember Tomb Raider? How they make her turn? Quaternions, which use THREE sets of imaginary numbers.
Like how your cell phone gets reception? That requires resonance, the understanding of which can be aided by complex numbers.
And don’t even get me started in the more exotic physics like fluid dynamics or quantum mechanics. That is, the forefront of how planes fly and how computer chips work.
There’s this term, innumeracy, that is to math what illiteracy is to english. One thing that bugs me is when ignorance is paraded about, when one acts as if math is an optional knowledge. Doubly so when it’s the very thing holding them back.
The failure is not in teaching these things, but the lack of teaching about why we should care about these things.
Thank you maths side of tumblr
The failure is not in teaching these things, but the lack of teaching about why we should care about these things.
Come to think of it, that’s applicable to how a lot of subjects are taught.
But I’m afraid maths gets the worst of it, really. I mean, how often have you heard people complaining about history? Social sciences? Even chemistry, which is more specialised than maths? No, maths gets the worst of it by far, and everyone demonises it because no one ever tells them that maths is a language, and a quite difficult one at that, because it’s the language of the Universe (of god, if you will).
Not only that, but it’s also the only language that’s truly universal (we’re certain aliens will arrive at the same maths we have) and that can truly explain everything that’s in principle conceivable. Human language can describe the stuff we see, and some extrapolations we imagine; maths can describe everything that is, was, will be, has never been, and could ever be.
Everything is maths.
This is already excellently explained and defended, so please forgive me for reblogging and adding a veritable novel to it.
This is precisely what nobody ever even tried to make me understand as a kid, and what I try so desperately to make people understand as an adult.
When the above say that math is a language, they are being more or less literal.
The reason that mathematics is so confusing to so many people is pretty much just because it was never properly explained to them.
Math is a language heavily reliant on the symbolic representation of pre-existing concepts. As a language, it is dedicated to the pursuit of absolute grammatical consistency and the simplification of its sentence structures without any accompanying sacrifice of meaning.
So, actually, math is infinitely easier than English.
I’ll get to why below.
Mathematical!
More unpopular opinion time? Yes.
I hate math. Hate it. Up, down, and sideways.
However, we need it, developing minds especially.
You will not use algebra or calculus on a daily basis. However, people will come across new and complex problems to solve each and every day, throughout their entire lives. Math in itself is a skill of problem solving, manipulating pieces of information, and coding/decoding. Just as in English you learn grammatical and phonetic structure to form language, math teaches a developing mind to come across new information, organize it, and find a solution. Sometimes that new information includes variables that are vague or undefined, but we have to work with them anyway. Sometimes that information demands an immediate need to know all possible causes and effect. This is seen everywhere, from riding your bike down the street to making on the job decisions that require any sort of personal judgement.
Math, I hate you. Also, thanks.There is already so much here and I am so happy to see all of it, but I have to correct the previous poster (sorry Melinda) when she says “you will not use algebra or calculus on a daily basis.“ Maybe you won’t use calculus daily, but you likely do use algebra and don’t realize you do. I use algebra multiple times a day—and I’m in no way a part of a mathematical field. The most common example I can think of is shopping at the supermarket and comparing which is a better deal, either brand to brand, or size to size. Is buying in bulk really cheaper? You use algebra to figure it out. This is one of the practical applications of maths that people like Chris Colfer’s character complain they aren’t being taught when they’re learning algebra.
I miss maths so much. we had a "practical math” course in college that was basically ancient number systems, which I could do if I had a refresher in how to draw the characters for the Mayan system, because it’s powers of twenty and not ten. I used to stand up at the whiteboard and do that shit all day. we also did lots on statistics, which still sticks with me.
maths and physics, man. two of my many eventual self-education topics.