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Mathematician's Lament: An essay on math education and on how we view math

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Re: Mathematician's Lament: An essay on math education and on how we view math

#11

Post by philwelch »

lr wrote: post #5

This is the comment I just left on the blog: I will have to read the paper in more detail, but I have an extremely simple reason why math education in the US is so hard: We use the English system of measurement. Most students in grade school associate math with this horrific measurement system, and once that happens, there is almost no chance to engage students in what math is really all about. You want people in the…

The problem is that 10 is not an especially divisible number. It only divides evenly by 2 and 5. English measurements have lots of 12's and 60's and so forth not out of malice, but so we can precisely determine what 1/3 or 1/4 of a foot is without using decimals.

Likewise, Fahrenheit temperatures are perfect for weather since the 0-100 scale consistently matches the spectrum from "especially cold day" to "especially hot day".

Re: Mathematician's Lament: An essay on math education and on how we view math

#13

Post by rkowalick »

catherinej wrote: post #7

Excerpt from Paul Lockart's _Lament_: "At no time are students let in on the secret that mathematics, like any literature, is created by human beings for their own amusement; that works of mathematics are subject to critical appraisal; that one can have and develop mathematical taste. A piece of mathematics is like a poem, and we can ask if it satisfies our aesthetic criteria: Is this argument sound? Does it make sen…

I have friend who had something similar written on an algebra assignment because he used Zorn's Lemma when it wasn't needed.

Re: Mathematician's Lament: An essay on math education and on how we view math

#14

Post by timwiseman »

philwelch wrote: post #11
lr wrote: post #5

This is the comment I just left on the blog: I will have to read the paper in more detail, but I have an extremely simple reason why math education in the US is so hard: We use the English system of measurement. Most students in grade school associate math with this horrific measurement system, and once that happens, there is almost no chance to engage students in what math is really all about. You want people in the…

The problem is that 10 is not an especially divisible number. It only divides evenly by 2 and 5. English measurements have lots of 12's and 60's and so forth not out of malice, but so we can precisely determine what 1/3 or 1/4 of a foot is without using decimals. Likewise, Fahrenheit temperatures are perfect for weather since the 0-100 scale consistently matches the spectrum from "especially cold day" to "especially…

And this was of great value when decimal notation was unknown in Europe and even retained some value when it was known only by a select few elite. Now most people are as (or more, especially when equipped with a calculator) using decimal notation as they are dealing with fractions.

Now that the decimal system predominates the metric system is generally easier to use, once you get used to it. Moreover, it will bring us into line with virtually all of the rest of the world which simplifies international communications, not to mention that most technical/scientific work is done in the metric system anyway. This means that most school children are burdened with learning 2 separate systems of measurement and their conversions for very little reason now.

While this is completely off topic from the main article, I think that overall America would be best served by the metric system.

Re: Mathematician's Lament: An essay on math education and on how we view math

#15

Post by switchOver »

kragen wrote: post #9
switchOver wrote: post #3

The scenario at the beginning is real - at least in Germany

Nobody in Germany listens to or plays music until grad school?

Well, in some elementary schools you may learn to play a bit of the flute - Also we sang sometimes but the focus was clearly on music theory and music history.

Re: Mathematician's Lament: An essay on math education and on how we view math

#16

Post by philwelch »

timwiseman wrote: post #14
philwelch wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that 10 is not an especially divisible number. It only divides evenly by 2 and 5. English measurements have lots of 12's and 60's and so forth not out of malice, but so we can precisely determine what 1/3 or 1/4 of a foot is without using decimals. Likewise, Fahrenheit temperatures are perfect for weather since the 0-100 scale consistently matches the spectrum from "especially cold day" to "especially…

And this was of great value when decimal notation was unknown in Europe and even retained some value when it was known only by a select few elite. Now most people are as (or more, especially when equipped with a calculator) using decimal notation as they are dealing with fractions. Now that the decimal system predominates the metric system is generally easier to use, once you get used to it. Moreover, it will bring u…

You're probably right, at least for most things. But justifying the English system is still worthwhile, if only to better understand its rationale in the first place.

I still maintain that Fahrenheit is an exceptionally good temperature scale for weather, though. It's beautifully simple.

Re: Mathematician's Lament: An essay on math education and on how we view math

#17

Post by dhimes »

jcdreads wrote: post #12

Every time I read this is causes me physical pain to think that I'd have to take more than a 50% pay cut to become a math teacher. If only I were independently wealthy...

We have issues with physics in our local high school. I've decided to apply for the job. If I get it, I'll be scrambling to keep up the biz; but it's a workload I feel I need to accept because we'll lose the kids if I don't.

Re: Mathematician's Lament: An essay on math education and on how we view math

#19

Post by kragen »

switchOver wrote: post #15
kragen wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody in Germany listens to or plays music until grad school?

Well, in some elementary schools you may learn to play a bit of the flute - Also we sang sometimes but the focus was clearly on music theory and music history.

Right, but there's radio stations and street musicians and concerts and stuff, right?
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