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Why don't we use the math we learn in school?

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Re: Why don't we use the math we learn in school?

#61

Post by zozbot234 »

imglorp wrote: post #7

Given the relative innumeracy of the public, some argue we should teach stats and probability instead of calculus, if there's a choice. Those things are more applicable for everyday choices like "should I buy a lottery ticket or invest in the market?" "How likely am I to die from disease X versus side effects of its vaccine?" "Should I buy comp insurance or pay out of pocket if I break my car?" etc.

We should teach calculus first, because one cannot understand the foundations of stats and probability without calculus.

Re: Why don't we use the math we learn in school?

#63

Post by Jtsummers »

uejfiweun wrote: post #59

I would really love it if there was some type of Leetcode for math. I grew up in a very liberal artsy environment and was actually warned against taking advanced math for most of my life. It wasn't until college, taking requirements for my CS major, that I realized I actually find it fascinating and have an aptitude for it - but then college ended and I just have barely done any math since. If anyone has any resource…

> I grew up in a very liberal artsy environment and was actually warned against taking advanced math for most of my life.

What possible rationale was there for that?

Re: Why don't we use the math we learn in school?

#64

Post by ineedasername »

It doesn't help that the current (US) curriculum, at least in text books in my area, ask deceptively complex questions without explaining what sort of answer they're looking for.

My first grader would have questions like "Sarah has 9 apples and then adds 3 more from another basket. How many apples does Sarah Have? Write the answer in equation format, then Explain why the answer is true"

That last part is a strange question or at least phrasing. A proper answer verges on number theory, while the actual answer they're looking for is a tautological "Because 9 + 3 = 12". These sorts of questions confuse my kids because they realize the "explain" the book wants is just repeating the answer again, which doesn't make sense, so they think that can't be what the question is really asking.

Re: Why don't we use the math we learn in school?

#65

Post by ww520 »

I was at the courthouse a while back for a traffic related matter. When I left, I passed by a woman in her 30's at the courthouse's steps. She's clearly in distraught. She said her husband was in jail and she needed to post bail. She's getting a bail bond and asked how much was the 10% of the bail (10% is the upfront fee bail bond companies charged on the bond). I felt sick in the stomach. Here's a person in her 30's who didn't understand a simple math concept and couldn't compute a percentage of something at the moment she most needed. I looked at the paperwork and it's only couple hundred dollars and let her know.

Don't tell me math is useless and you won't use it in life.

Re: Why don't we use the math we learn in school?

#66

Post by yason »

The idea of taking 2/3 cups, spreading it out, and removing 1/4 to get 2/33/4 cups is pretty damn clever and totally street-smart about dividing a hard problem into smaller, more easily manageable problems on the fly.

I'm not sure I could've come up with that method just like that. I would've been conditioned to look out if the fractions reveal an easy answer that I can deduce immediately without calculating anything, and then probably just ended up doing 23 and 3*4, revealing the answer. If it had been something more complex -- such that couldn't have been able to intuit abstractly about it I think I might have eventually come up with some variant of a more visual, hand-measurable method.

Re: Why don't we use the math we learn in school?

#67

Post by aardvark179 »

eternityforest wrote: post #42

People don't use math because... it's only useful if you actually really know it. "Useful" to me means "Lets you do something you couldn't before with a phone". Aside from imperial inch fractions(Not a fan of those!), most things require fairly little understanding of fundamentals. Because most people aren't in tech jobs where they can use it. I don't have a checkbook or do my own investing. I'm single, and very litt…

> FreeCAD does geometry

FreeCAD can do geometry, but if you can’t reason your way through the constraints you need to set for it to do that then you’ll be flailing around. FreeCAD definitely saves me from doing arithmetic, but not from doing maths.

Re: Why don't we use the math we learn in school?

#68

Post by gjs278 »

sumedh wrote: post #53

In school back in India, I quickly learned that I dont like Math, I just find it too difficult specially concepts like polynomials, trigonometry etc but I had very strict parents and they would not be happy if I failed in Math so I had to come up with a plan. So I used my superpower, turns out I had good memorisation skills, so my plan was to memorise all the questions (and their answers) which were asked in exams fo…

No post body was provided.

Re: Why don't we use the math we learn in school?

#69

Post by _y5hn »

rland wrote: post #8

Math is incredibly useful; probably everyone here knows that. But it's actually fine that most people don't use it. What we really need is for every student to realize why math is useful -- so that if they want to, they can go learn it so that they can make some kind of technological contribution to the world. The fact is, you need to be good at math to make some new fundamental breakthroughs in technology. Those bre…

"Why" won't meet the KPIs and metrics though.

Re: Why don't we use the math we learn in school?

#70

Post by mulmen »

bjarneh wrote: post #28
jessenichols wrote: post #14

Because most school is forced knowledge work on problems that don't fit the person's problem situation. When people are free, they learn the math they need for the problems they are trying to solve. Traditional, compulsory school forces children to solve problems they don't have. See Karl Popper's idea of the bucket theory of mind, or David Deutsch and Taking Children Seriously.

> most school is forced knowledge work on problems that don't fit the person's problem situation. Have you never been in a situation where you are about to take train going at 80 mph; wondering when you'll meet up with your friends going in the opposite direction at 90 mph?

I recently saw a great photo [1] by Ben Cooper of a Falcon 9 on ascent crossing the Moon from the photographer’s perspective. I wonder how much math went into finding that vantage point.

[1]: http://www.launchphotography.com/Starlink_4-6.html

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