Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/08/11/watch-this-cool-way-to-multipl.html
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[ignorant and poorly-conceived Common Core criticism here]
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[ignorant and poorly-conceived justification for Common Core here]
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[long-winded math teachery explanation about how common core has a strong focus on number sense, and how this is an essential skill – and most criticisms of common core boil down to “it’s different, now it sucks” without even comprehending the purpose of most of what they’re criticizing]
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[bewildered old guy who just came here for fun and finds himself in middle of passive aggressive battlefield]
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[ Insert conspiracy theory about TI-86 graphing calculators here ]
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[unhinged rant about Texas Instruments and Pearson]
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[grouchy old fart goes into long pointless and off-topic spiel about how they got through engineering with just a slide rule and three significant figures is enough for anything and no one knows how to estimate any more they just punch numbers into their fancy calculators]
edit:
[flags preceding posts about Texas Instruments and explains why reverse Polish notation makes so much more sense]
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[Bombastic suggestion that this approach is too narrow, and all arithmatic operations - nay, all of mathematics - should be visualized as emergent properties of interacting cellular automata.]
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[I don’t know, that looks like a lot of fun…]
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[homage to absent commentor by admitting I’m drawing lines right now.]
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[Draws two curved lines and notes their resemblance to a banana, looks at it.]
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Internet Hero Vi Hart made an excellent video that addresses this in less than two minutes. The second half is about something else though.
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[homage to departed editor who specialised in the science and maths beat]
Also… really loving this thread, why can’t we do this meta all the time? 
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Just finished my first set of lines. Great fun.
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[overseas grouch naively asks what Common Core is and why everyone’s banging on about it, followed by rambling comment about having done experimental maths module - mostly focused on wooden blocks used to practice how to count in bases other than 10 - at primary school, some techniques of which still stand him in good stead, but whose mind is nevertheless blown by this lines technique]
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[Note wryly observing that the people complaining about this way of teaching arithmetic were probably taught using a method that their parents’ generation disliked as well.]
[Throwaway line commenting on the wide array of responses to this thread]
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how about a short analogy instead?
when a handyperson walks into a house to make repairs they aren’t going to carry one and only one screwdriver with them. they’re going to bring a toolbox with an assortment of different kinds and sizes of an assortment of different types of tools.
the common core stress on number sense and different ways of doing problems is a way of building up a tool set.
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