Also, teach people the difference between million, billion, and trillion. “Five million dollars for the National Endowment for the Arts?!? Such government waste! 1.5 trillion for this aircraft program that does no good? Perfectly acceptable to ProtectMyFreedom™”
Estimating is also a good skill to foster.
One of the most memorable lectures I attended in college began “How many ping pong balls would it take to fill this hall?” … Count floor or ceiling tiles to estimate width & length (they’re usually standard dimensions). Imagine the professor stacked one upon another with average human height about 5’6" and you’re pretty close to the height. Ping pong balls are about one inch in diameter, there are about ten inches in a foot, so 1,000 balls per cubic foot and you’ve got a pretty reasonable estimate.
I’ve seen so many schemes, many touted on local and national news programs, for things like installing plates in roads connected to generators so the passing cars will drive over them and power the street lights and such. A simple quick estimate with a result like “misses the mark by about five orders of magnitude” and people will recognise scams more easily.
The basic idea of it, as far as I can tell, is to disconnect him from his brand. So when you disconnect him from the outward appearances we see, the cologne, the suits, the towers, you can see the failings more easily or something? I don’t really get it either.
I would have been really screwed in college when I ended up in a calc class taught by a Chinese professor whose English was unintelligible had I not already taken calc in HS.
If I were being really honest, the last useful math class for daily life was geometry. Statistics would be helpful for the kids who aren’t going to go to university, or will be going, but not for science/engineering.
@skr1: My differential equations prof was from Ireland, my classmates actually had a harder time understanding her than they did understanding the profs from the far east.
First, what school requires art students to take calc? And having gone to art school and knowing a lot of artists that work with computers, algebra and trig are becoming more and more important for artists to know. My wife who works for Disney laments on a regular basis not having taken more math in HS. That whole, ‘artists don’t need math,’ argument is obsolete.
That’s sad that your idea of something fun is to get sugar. This country has a big issue with so many empty calories.
The world would be a dull boring place if everyone only did responsible and non-risky things though. Save every penny not needed to survive - never spend a penny unless needed. Yeah you can be rich but what a dull boring and drab life.
Did that Irish prof have handwriting that was just as illegible as her speech? Because that’s the best when you are speaking the universlal langiage of math and you’re like, “I know those marks are supposed to be meaningful but…”
Am I the only weirdo who loved calculus? The class was one of the hardest I took in high school and I didn’t really understand it at the time. Years later, after I had finished my undergrad, it finally clicked. A light bulb went off and I finally realized how fantastically awesome calculus is and how it really does apply to real life in subtle ways.
Arguably, statistics is more directly useful in day to day life and I’m not sure everyone appreciates the beauty of math. Most people just want to get shit done. So, I’m not really sure what I’m arguing for except that I don’t like people dumping on calculus just because it’s hard.
So…you shouldn’t buy popsicles because they’re irresponsible and risky, but you should buy a lottery ticket because otherwise you’ll be dull, boring and drab, unlike all the other super-cool vibrant people who buy lottery tickets.
If I were adverse to risking a dollar gambling - buying a Cat would be way worse - the cost in vet bills, food, effort and eventual emotional heartbreak at the end of it’s life seem like a very down proposition vs. a dollar that comes attached with a few days of decent daydreams.
I have 2 cats btw - just making the point that if you seriously get bent over not investing your dollar and wasting it on a lotto that a pet should make you crap yourself. I’ve spent 100x what I’ve spent on lotto’s over the years on vet bills and other items to keep my furry friends happy. I’m sure I could be 50 grand richer if I’d have invested that money in a mutal fund.
When did Calculus become a requirement? For me in 1970 it was an elective (which I was happy to take). Algebra, however, is a whole bunch of no fun, at least not until you hit abstract algebra where you chuck out any use of actual numbers. THEN it gets really interesting
But by a similar token, many who are strong in maths and science had their GPAS destroyed by Shakespeare and poetry. But no one’s proposing that we so teaching Shakespeare.
The issue I see is that it is socially acceptable to be numerically illiterate, but if you don’t understand poetry, it’s somehow socially unacceptable. I mean if you say “I just don’t get math” and therefore can’t calculate the tip without a calculator, you get knowing smiles and understanding. Say you don’t care for Shakespeare and haven’t read much of his stuff and people think you’re crazy.
Excel in the sciences and arts, you’re a polymath, a well-rounded person! Excel in the arts, but do poorly in the sciences, you’re a creative genius, an artist. Excel in maths and sciences, but do poorly in the arts, you’re a square, boring. And let’s be honest, for most people, knowledge of integration and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock are equally applicable to the general course of our lives and equally incomprehensible (yeah it’s been some time since I last dealt with Messrs. Lebesgue and Eliot, ick).
Why don’t people propose ditching literature and teaching rhetoric or debating in the same way that people purpose ditching calculus and teaching statistics? I think it’s a little insane to consider one without considering the other.
I know Math skill varies, but i didn’t find Algebra to be too difficult. I wasn’t a wiz at it mind you but i did ok at it in school. Pre-calc and calculus however totally destroyed my will to live.
There’s plenty of professions that require Algebra & Calculus in college, which is curious. Like Nutrition & some Physical Fitness related fields an ex of mine was trying to get into and struggled a lot with. I think if math is required it can be modified to be a practical math class. Doesn’t necessarily need to be statistics, just something that’s actually related with the field.
No - but if you think a lotto ticket is so out of this world wasteful why would your first choice of substitution be a sweet? The entire point of arguing against the lottery is that you should be investing that money or paying off your debt. Taken to it’s extreme you shouldn’t ever spend a penny unless it’s for survival - if you accept people can be foolish with their money and spend it on superfluous things at all then what difference does it make if they gamble it. In the end it’s their money and whatever they spend it on is likely to be as foolish as the next - what you can justify as reasonable is just as unreasonable to someone else - and so it’s a pointless exercise to criticise others for how they waste their money.
That however is quite a generalization - unless you believe (with all honesty) that most or all of the millions of people who play the lotto have a gambling problem.
Many high schools, including mine (pre-calc, to be clear). Didn’t matter if you were taking lots of art classes, band, English, or science, every kid had the same math requirements.
I went through art school and have been a professional designer for 20+ years, and have never had any use for algebra, trig, or calculus for five seconds in my life, thank god.
EDIT: to clarify, pre-calc was a requirement when I went to high school in 1990. Thankfully, no longer.
Which I get, I think. There was a great article (I forget where I saw it, I’ll try to find it and post it) discussing the ‘Trump’ name, and how important it has always been to his brand. The article went so far as to ask the question “Would he have been as successful with a different name?”
