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Ten seconds of math

mental-math-trainer.com

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Re: Ten seconds of math

#101

Post by friendzis »

rkwz wrote: post #88
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #5

When I was near the end, I pressed backspace to clear my answer, and it wound up navigating me back to HN, wiping out my results. (I hate backspace-to-go-back. It's the worst feature in a browser. Is there a way to turn it off?) This mental math exercise is a cool and fun concept! Good execution.

> I hate backspace-to-go-back. It's the worst feature in a browser. Is there a way to turn it off? I love this feature. Makes browser navigation keyboard friendly. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

What about [alt]+arrow?

Re: Ten seconds of math

#102

Post by dsfsdfd »

tempestn wrote: post #90
ilitirit wrote: post #86

People should start differentiating between mathematics and arithmetic.

Arithmetic is a (small but fundamental) subset of mathematics. I don't see anything wrong with the title.

Arithmetic != Mathematics

just as

Typing != Programming

Sure, typing is a useful skill, it's part of programming, but is it programming? - no of course not. In fact it's insulting to programmers to make the confusion.

It's the same with those of us who have taken the time to get good at mathematics - it's not arithmetic. Being good at arithmetic does not mean you are good at math, being good at math does not make you good at arithmetic.

This confusion is especially detrimental to children, many of whom will be put of mathematics because they equate it with the wrote learning and peculiar mental gymnastics of arithmetic, rather than what it is: An exploration of the beautiful and fundamental symmetries that emerge from structure and process.

Re: Ten seconds of math

#103

Post by dghf »

dsfsdfd wrote: post #102
tempestn wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arithmetic is a (small but fundamental) subset of mathematics. I don't see anything wrong with the title.

Arithmetic != Mathematics just as Typing != Programming Sure, typing is a useful skill, it's part of programming, but is it programming? - no of course not. In fact it's insulting to programmers to make the confusion. It's the same with those of us who have taken the time to get good at mathematics - it's not arithmetic. Being good at arithmetic does not mean you are good at math, being good at math does not make you…

Yes, but arithmetics is a branch of maths, whereas typing is not a branch of programming.

Maybe they plan to extend the site to include trig, algebra, calculus, etc. problems?

Re: Ten seconds of math

#104

Post by aaronetz »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #74
aaronetz wrote: post #59

I actually made a mental math game for Android not long ago. The concept is different though - it's about choosing the operations to reach a target number. I would appreciate any feedback! https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.woodenclos...

I have this on my phone, my 5 and 9 year olds like it! I find the hard level pretty hard - it would be good IMO if you could change the mode to include negatives (maybe roots and squares [+other powers?], like here) and to expand the number range to. I seem to remember someone mentioning (probably on here) that they played a mental maths game where you had to give an operation on a number, you didn't say the answer b…

Thanks for the feedback! If the hard level is pretty hard, wouldn't adding more operations make it even harder? I kept the number range small because I felt it would be too hard to do mentally otherwise, but I'm definitely open to extending it. The idea was novel for me but I was quite certain it has been done before in one way or another.

Re: Ten seconds of math

#105

Post by dsfsdfd »

dghf wrote: post #103
dsfsdfd wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arithmetic != Mathematics just as Typing != Programming Sure, typing is a useful skill, it's part of programming, but is it programming? - no of course not. In fact it's insulting to programmers to make the confusion. It's the same with those of us who have taken the time to get good at mathematics - it's not arithmetic. Being good at arithmetic does not mean you are good at math, being good at math does not make you…

Yes, but arithmetics is a branch of maths, whereas typing is not a branch of programming. Maybe they plan to extend the site to include trig, algebra, calculus, etc. problems?

Not really. Mental arithmetic is the ability to move numbers around in your head, it really is equivalent to being able to type as a programmer. Mental arithmetic is to number theory as being able to type is to programming. That you do not understand this, shows that you too have been damaged by the standard teaching of maths within education - pre university level.

Re: Ten seconds of math

#106

Post by dghf »

dsfsdfd wrote: post #105
dghf wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but arithmetics is a branch of maths, whereas typing is not a branch of programming. Maybe they plan to extend the site to include trig, algebra, calculus, etc. problems?

Not really. Mental arithmetic is the ability to move numbers around in your head, it really is equivalent to being able to type as a programmer. Mental arithmetic is to number theory as being able to type is to programming. That you do not understand this, shows that you too have been damaged by the standard teaching of maths within education - pre university level.

> Not really.

Yes, really. "Arithmetic is the branch of mathematics dealing with integers or, more generally, numerical computation" -- http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Arithmetic.html

> Mental arithmetic is to number theory as being able to type is to programming.

To paraphrase you, number theory != mathematics. (But number theory ⊂ mathematics, just as arithmetic ⊂ mathematics.)

> That you do not understand this, shows that you too have been damaged by the standard teaching of maths within education - pre university level.

That's a bit rude, and also inaccurate.

Re: Ten seconds of math

#107

Post by userbinator »

dsfsdfd wrote: post #105
dghf wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but arithmetics is a branch of maths, whereas typing is not a branch of programming. Maybe they plan to extend the site to include trig, algebra, calculus, etc. problems?

Not really. Mental arithmetic is the ability to move numbers around in your head, it really is equivalent to being able to type as a programmer. Mental arithmetic is to number theory as being able to type is to programming. That you do not understand this, shows that you too have been damaged by the standard teaching of maths within education - pre university level.

Mental arithmetic is to number theory as being able to type is to programming.

In other words, it's something basic that you have to be able to do efficiently in order to achieve higher goals.

Re: Ten seconds of math

#108

Post by flurie »

Ntrails wrote: post #99
danbruc wrote: post #16

For me there is a set of calculations I can do without thinking and there is a set where it takes several seconds to figure the solution out. No smooth transition. Is it the same for you? If yes, this would make tuning this game pretty hard because it is either to easy or to hard.

When I turned squares on I hit a wall at 23^2 etc. I can do it, but it's 10 seconds just to do that calc. Basically anything bigger than 14. For the rest it was more about staring at the numpad (which I never use) and typing in my answer. If I typo'd I lost several seconds as I'd not have a finger on backspace :(

Squares are actually pretty easy with a mental math trick.

n^x = (n-m)(n+m) + m^2

so for 23:

23^2 = 20*26 + 9 = 529

Re: Ten seconds of math

#109

Post by [deleted] »

bvanslyke wrote: post #35

Noticed some fun SEO hacking at the bottom of the page: puzzles calculate formula mathematics maths decimal number calculating mathematician multiply measurement probability equation division measure homework units word problem solve converting resources tessellation anxiety math problem problems convert unit ratio number trigonometry perimeter divide mental multiplication calculus math quadratic triangle teselation…

[deleted]
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