Math Is Fun Forum

bobbym

bumpkin

From: Bumpkinland

Registered: 2009-04-12

Posts: 109,606

Where do you stand?

Hi;

Here are a couple of interesting short articles on an important topic. I will not tell you what it is because you will not know until you read the articles. Many people will not bother and that is a stand of sorts too.

Isaac Asimov and Richard Feynman require no introductions. The Grey's are I believe are a father and son team. They are extremely gifted both intellectually and artistically. Let us see how brilliant minds analyze this problem.

http://downlode.org/Etext/power.html

http://www.theodoregray.com/BrainRot/

http://www.ee.ryerson.ca/~elf/abacus/feynman.html

A little humor for those who have not heard it.

An engineer, a mathematician, and a physicist are each sentenced to die by the guillotine. As the physicist is led to the guillotine, she decides that she'd like to observe the blade as it falls, perhaps to verify v=at, and she requests to be strapped in face up. The executioner agrees (why not? it all pays the same...), and straps her in. As the blade falls, it sticks about two thirds of the way down. Seeing this, the crowd cheers - the physicist must be innocent! So the executioner unstraps her and sets her free.

The mathematician is next. Being well versed in matters statistical (perhaps she is an actuary), she quickly asks to be placed face up as well - after all, the odds of it happening again are pretty good, especially if the initial conditions are similar. So the executioner obliges, and once again, the blade sticks about two thirds of the way down. Again the crowd cheers, and the mathematician is also set free.

Finally, the engineer. Not willing to do anything in public that is different from her peers, she, too, requests to be placed face up. As the executioner is strapping her in, she's looking up at the blade and studying the track in which it slides. As she does so, she notices something. "Do you see that?", she asks. "About one third the way up? If you fixed that there..."

With engineers, solving problems is not just a financially rewarding occupation, it's a compulsion.

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In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

Bob

Administrator

Registered: 2010-06-20

Posts: 10,623

Re: Where do you stand?

hi bobbym,

Oh wow!  So much to consider and so many questions.  It would take a long time to address them all.

But here's where I stand on teaching maths:

When a 'reluctant_to_do_maths' child asks "What is the point?" ; "When will I ever use algebra again?", my answer is that the purpose of 'doing maths' is to make you think.  Exam grades are just a way of proving that you must have done some thinking; the real benefit is that the grey matter has been stretched.  If your brain is hurting from all that thinking, then it must be doing you good.

Analogy:  An athlete may do weight training even though his/her sport is, say, long jump.  Why?  To build up some muscle / stamina /coordination.  Doing algebra is one way of building up mental muscle.

Bob

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Children are not defined by school ...........The Fonz
You cannot teach a man anything;  you can only help him find it within himself..........Galileo Galilei
Sometimes I deliberately make mistakes, just to test you!  …………….Bob

bobbym

bumpkin

From: Bumpkinland

Registered: 2009-04-12

Posts: 109,606

Re: Where do you stand?

Hi;

The muscle building aspect is a good analogy. When it really comes down to it that is probably the most important reason for doing any exercising physical or mental. Given the hatred for exercise in general it is now easy to understand that childs objection.

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In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

gurthbruins

Member

Registered: 2010-05-09

Posts: 157

Re: Where do you stand?

Where I stand on teaching maths:
As a teacher, I expect to be inspired by my pupil. If 'e can't inspire me to teach h', then 'e is not for me and I am not for h'.

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It's the activity of the intelligence above all that gives charm to existence.

MathsIsFun

Administrator

Registered: 2005-01-21

Posts: 7,713

Re: Where do you stand?

I remember reading that Asimov a few years ago.

Reminds me of a cartoon: A room full of students using computers, except for one child scribbling away.
Another child is at the teacher's desk saying "Please Miss ... it is my turn with the pen and paper!"

When I was at Uni we had to solve some simple formulas. The professor walked up and down while we did it. He then went to the front and said "Why don't you think when you use your calculators?" We protested but he continued: "I just saw some of you adding zero. And I also saw you multiplying by 1."

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"The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God ..."  - Leon M. Lederman

bobbym

bumpkin

From: Bumpkinland

Registered: 2009-04-12

Posts: 109,606

Re: Where do you stand?

I think that reaction is caused by the fact that once you start using a calculator you are not expected to make any errors at all. Everyone becomes so cautious. I mean you are ostracized when you get a wrong answer, so when you see a bunch of numbers that you have to add like 2,13,162,65,3,11,0,127... They are entered verbatim. No one adds 15,162,65,14,127... Experience ( good or bad? ) teaches us to shut your brain off and let the computer do it for you.

So in some sense the Grey's are wrong. They do rot your brain.

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In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

philipsteele

Member

Registered: 2011-06-16

Posts: 10

Re: Where do you stand?

this is a long and great article..i think lots of information's have in this articles and also it will helps to someone......

dan howitt

Member

Registered: 2008-05-14

Posts: 21

Re: Where do you stand?

whoa interesting and thought provoke

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Dan Howitt