Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

scotthyoung.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 158 posts

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

#91

Post by truetraveller »

alexashka wrote: post #37
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…

> Math is incredibly useful For what? It isn't useful for teenagers who are trying to get laid and be cool, at all . It also isn't useful for what 99% of humans end up doing, unless by math you mean basic arithmetic, enough to add and subtract on your 'smart' phone. Math isn't useful. People who are amazing at math and are interested in it - they can be useful, but mostly not. What they don't teach in school is how t…

Exactly. Most moth is not useful at all, even for senior software engineers. I've researched this topic a lot. I'd say the useful math peaks at grade 9/10. You know: Algebra, Geometry, Trig, Graphs. Obviously, for a very small fraction of the population, higher math is useful.

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

#92

Post by jimmygrapes »

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?

Having done a lot of long road trips, I have often entertained my tired brain by trying to calculate how long it will take me to get to mile marker x, or city y (SPRINGFIELD 400 says the sign) based on how fast I'm going, then how long it would take if I was going 1mph faster or slower, or 5mph, etc. It's relatively simple but to do so entirely mentally seems to take a lot longer for me than I if I could just jot a few notes down. It gets more fun if you try to account for how long it takes for you to slow down for an exit, take a piss and get a snack, then get back up to speed.

I didn't know, for the longest time, what a derivative was. I still don't, not really, though I can bluff my way to a reasonably correct answer using the above analogy and going from dry "rate of rate of change" sort of language into more practical concepts.

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

#93

Post by btheshoe »

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…

Look of art of problem solving's alcumus. It's targeted at children who do competitive math, but leetcode is also easier than high school level usaco problems, so you might find it challenging.

In general, aops has some decent textbooks.

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

#94

Post by truetraveller »

alisonatwork wrote: post #88
alexashka wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Math is incredibly useful For what? It isn't useful for teenagers who are trying to get laid and be cool, at all . It also isn't useful for what 99% of humans end up doing, unless by math you mean basic arithmetic, enough to add and subtract on your 'smart' phone. Math isn't useful. People who are amazing at math and are interested in it - they can be useful, but mostly not. What they don't teach in school is how t…

I agree with you that math is pretty much useless in most people's lives. However I disagree that teaching it to everyone is useless. The whole point of making kids learn a whole bunch of different things is that it gives them a chance to figure out if they are, in fact, interested. If you don't provide lots of different topics of learning to children in school, where are they going to find out that one of those topi…

You don't need 12 years "figuring out" that you hate some field. That can and should be done in 2 weeks.

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

#95

Post by [deleted] »

alexashka wrote: post #37
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…

> Math is incredibly useful For what? It isn't useful for teenagers who are trying to get laid and be cool, at all . It also isn't useful for what 99% of humans end up doing, unless by math you mean basic arithmetic, enough to add and subtract on your 'smart' phone. Math isn't useful. People who are amazing at math and are interested in it - they can be useful, but mostly not. What they don't teach in school is how t…

[deleted]

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

#96

Post by jimmygrapes »

ioseph wrote: post #26

When I started learning woodwork I was really excited to apply geometry which I hadn't used much since highschool (even working with geospatial data vis). However as I've progressed I find myself using math less and less and it's often faster and more accurate not to measure or calculate. To give an example, making a three legged stool I needed 3 equally spaced spaced points around a circle, I could find the center,…

A similar trick is the 3:4:5 rule[1] which I have not used for woodworking but that's where I first heard of it. I have used it for general site planning for tents and ensuring fire breaks and similar, though.

[1]: https://www.ezwoodshop.com/345-triangle.html

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

#97

Post by kleer001 »

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.

> When people are free, they learn the math they need for the problems they are trying to solve.

Citation needed.

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

#98

Post by truetraveller »

indigodaddy wrote: post #84
alexashka wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Math is incredibly useful For what? It isn't useful for teenagers who are trying to get laid and be cool, at all . It also isn't useful for what 99% of humans end up doing, unless by math you mean basic arithmetic, enough to add and subtract on your 'smart' phone. Math isn't useful. People who are amazing at math and are interested in it - they can be useful, but mostly not. What they don't teach in school is how t…

This isn’t a reason to not learn it or take it out of curriculums. We use these skills a lot more than we may realize automatically and without really realizing we are utilize the skills.

Most people generally do not use these math skills. Most use the very basics. Never once have I used or seen another developer use Calculus, for example. Most devs will have no idea what a "polynomial" is, either (grade 8). Let alone factoring a quadratic polynomial!

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

#100

Post by waynesonfire »

alexashka wrote: post #37
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…

> Math is incredibly useful For what? It isn't useful for teenagers who are trying to get laid and be cool, at all . It also isn't useful for what 99% of humans end up doing, unless by math you mean basic arithmetic, enough to add and subtract on your 'smart' phone. Math isn't useful. People who are amazing at math and are interested in it - they can be useful, but mostly not. What they don't teach in school is how t…

You're an idiot. Math is everywhere. You can be ignorant of it, it won't kill you. But you're going to have a hard time in just about every endeavour I can think of.
Post reply on HN