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Everyone is capable of, and can benefit from, mathematical thinking

quantamagazine.org

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Re: Everyone is capable of, and can benefit from, mathematical thinking

#151

Post by theclansman »

tgv wrote: post #121
gsabo wrote: post #15

I agree with the sentiment of this. I think our obsession with innate mathematical skill and genius is so detrimental to the growth mindset that you need to have in order to learn things. I've been working a lot on my math skills lately (as an adult). A mindset I've had in the past is that "if it's hard, then that means you've hit your ceiling and you're wasting your time." But really, the opposite is true. If it's e…

I cannot agree. It's just "feel-good thinking." "Everybody can do everything." Well, that's simply not true. I'm fairly sure you (yes, you in particular) can't run the 100m in less than 10s, no matter how hard you trained. And the biological underpinning of our capabilities doesn't magically stop at the brain-blood barrier. We all do have different brains. I've taught math to psychology students, and they just don't…

Anybody can do everything if we restrict everything to things everyone can do.

Re: Everyone is capable of, and can benefit from, mathematical thinking

#152

Post by GrantMoyer »

rnewme wrote: post #112
ChaitanyaSai wrote: post #93

"mathematics is a game of back-and-forth between intuition and logic" I teach/guide Math at our school (we run a small school and currently have kids under age 10) and this is so so true. I just wrote about this. In fact, you can even see this at play in the video of the kids talking https://blog.comini.in/p/what-happens-in-math-class

This was a very tiring blog post for me. And I have a quip about posts that open with questions but close without obvious definite answer, no matter how simple it is.

Does the quip have to do with someone asking what the quip is?

Re: Everyone is capable of, and can benefit from, mathematical thinking

#153

Post by lugu »

As a young child your brain is much more suitable to learn languages. You can make kids learn 4 languages effortlessly in the right context. When you grow up, slowly shift the focus to abstract thinking. And that shift can rely on building intuition using visualisation and experience.

Re: Everyone is capable of, and can benefit from, mathematical thinking

#154

Post by bloqs »

tgv wrote: post #121
gsabo wrote: post #15

I agree with the sentiment of this. I think our obsession with innate mathematical skill and genius is so detrimental to the growth mindset that you need to have in order to learn things. I've been working a lot on my math skills lately (as an adult). A mindset I've had in the past is that "if it's hard, then that means you've hit your ceiling and you're wasting your time." But really, the opposite is true. If it's e…

I cannot agree. It's just "feel-good thinking." "Everybody can do everything." Well, that's simply not true. I'm fairly sure you (yes, you in particular) can't run the 100m in less than 10s, no matter how hard you trained. And the biological underpinning of our capabilities doesn't magically stop at the brain-blood barrier. We all do have different brains. I've taught math to psychology students, and they just don't…

This is mostly correct. Working memory plays a huge component in grokking more complicated mathematical components, and IQ itself is separated into performance and verbal IQ (which together constitute your IQ score) and its demonstrably robust. Some people find this easier than others and that is OK.

I dont disagree with the premise that mathematical thinking can benefit anybody, but its absurd notion that everything abstract is teachable and learnable to all is a fantasy of a distinctly left-wing variety, who would have you believe that everything is just social conditioning and human beings dont differ from one-another.

Re: Everyone is capable of, and can benefit from, mathematical thinking

#156

Post by willtemperley »

gsabo wrote: post #15

I agree with the sentiment of this. I think our obsession with innate mathematical skill and genius is so detrimental to the growth mindset that you need to have in order to learn things. I've been working a lot on my math skills lately (as an adult). A mindset I've had in the past is that "if it's hard, then that means you've hit your ceiling and you're wasting your time." But really, the opposite is true. If it's e…

> I think our obsession with innate mathematical skill and genius is so detrimental to the growth mindset that you need to have in order to learn things.

Absolutely. There's also a pernicious idea that only young people can master complex maths or music. This is a self-fulfilling prophecy - why bother try if you're going to fail due to being old? Or perhaps it's an elitist psy-op, giving the children of wealthy parents further advantage because of course no-one can catch up.

Re: Everyone is capable of, and can benefit from, mathematical thinking

#157

Post by bloqs »

faangguyindia wrote: post #35
gsabo wrote: post #15

I agree with the sentiment of this. I think our obsession with innate mathematical skill and genius is so detrimental to the growth mindset that you need to have in order to learn things. I've been working a lot on my math skills lately (as an adult). A mindset I've had in the past is that "if it's hard, then that means you've hit your ceiling and you're wasting your time." But really, the opposite is true. If it's e…

[flagged]

This just demonstrates that you dont understand how sexual selection works. For men, yes, aesthetic appearance is a considerable (main?) component in initial attraction, which is further tempered by compatible personality after that initial connection. For women, social value is the principle signifier, which is then tempered by facial symmetry, not demonstrating socially unacceptable habits and having sone degree of physical security, but the latter is the most variable across cultures.

Handsome men are largely irrelevant.

Re: Everyone is capable of, and can benefit from, mathematical thinking

#158

Post by doublerabbit »

sethammons wrote: post #103
doublerabbit wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't been able to grasp maths as a kid nor as an adult. I've tried night classes, tutors, activities. Nothing sticks. Even the standard 12x tables I struggle at. I want to understand it but my brain just can't understand the non-practicality side of things.

My best friend was like that. Couldn't see the practicality until he got bit by a geology and water science bug. He went from calling me to get help figuring out percentages to doing chemistry equations in his head because he "got" the applicability. My brother's mom tutors math. One of her insights with a former student was that they were in need of forming some number sense. She started by walking them both out to…

> For times tables, have you developed any intuition around it?

I've tried different approaches. 4x3 being 3x4

But somehow I end up miscounting and giving the answer for 4x4 or be off a digit every-time.

A good example was that I was at a brewery last night.

They didn't do pint glasses but glasses of: 1/4, 1/2 and 2/3rd's.

I thought 1/2 was more than 2/3rd's so I ordered a 1/2 rather than thinking I was getting more.

However I was unable to visual how 2/3 is more than 1/2 when 1/2 is half a pint, or half a glass.

My visual capabilities are great at others but just couldn't formulate the equation of 2/3 is more than 1/2.

Very simple stuff, but it just doesn't meld.

Re: Everyone is capable of, and can benefit from, mathematical thinking

#159

Post by User23 »

gsabo wrote: post #15

I agree with the sentiment of this. I think our obsession with innate mathematical skill and genius is so detrimental to the growth mindset that you need to have in order to learn things. I've been working a lot on my math skills lately (as an adult). A mindset I've had in the past is that "if it's hard, then that means you've hit your ceiling and you're wasting your time." But really, the opposite is true. If it's e…

I grow increasingly convinced that the difference in “verbal” and “mathematical” intelligence is in many ways a matter of presentation.

While it’s indisputable that terse symbolic formalisms have great utility, one can capture all the same information verbally.

This is perhaps most evident in formal logic. It’s not hard to imagine a restricted formalized subset of natural language that is amenable to mechanical manipulation that is isomorphic to say modal logic.

And finally, for logic at least, there is something of a third way. Diagrammatic logical systems such as Existential Graphs capture the full power of propositional, predicate, and modal logic in a way that is neither verbal nor conventionally symbolic.

Re: Everyone is capable of, and can benefit from, mathematical thinking

#160

Post by wtetzner »

sdeframond wrote: post #137
junto wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I agree with the sentiment of this. I think our obsession with innate ~~mathematical~~ skill and genius is so detrimental to the growth mindset that you need to have in order to learn things. I strongly believe that the average human being can be exceptional in any niche topic given enough time, dedication and focus. The author of the book has picked out mathematics because that was what he was interested in. The r…

> I strongly believe that the average human being can be exceptional in any niche topic given enough time, dedication and focus. I respectfully, but strongly, disagree. There's a reason most NBA players are over 2 meters tall, and one does not become taller with time, dedication nor focus. It might be different for intellectual skills but I am not that sure. Almost anyone can become decent at almost anything though.…

> I respectfully, but strongly, disagree. There's a reason most NBA players are over 2 meters tall, and one does not become taller with time, dedication nor focus.

Being tall isn't a skill. I suspect you could be skillful enough at basketball to overcome the hight disadvantage. However, I think most people who might become that skillful see the high disadvantage (plus the general difficulty of becoming a pro basketball player) and take a different path through life. It's also possible that the amount of time that would be needed to grow your skill past the height disadvantage is too long, so it's not feasible to do it to gain a position in the NBA.

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