Mathematics at its Worst
February 4th 2007 14:34
As a computer science student I am forced to do lots of maths. One of the my Math lecturers stated outright ‘mathematicians are lazy’ when he demonstrated to us the ‘don’t care Karanugh map’, no I’m not kidding, it is called the ‘don’t care karanaugh map’, ‘don’t care’ also happens to be a form of logic in Discrete Mathematics.
But why? Because mathematics is about problem solving, not about making the problem more complicated than it is. Simplicity rocks, lets face it, humans inherently aspire to be simpletons, we like to get the job done quickly and cleanly.
That’s why mathematicians are ‘lazy’, because no one said they like the math (they might), they like solving the problems, they don’t sit around trying to figure out some inane problem because they like looking at the inane problem, they like solving the inane problem.
What irks me is the problem at the primary school level, I can understand that at university, or even highschool why you would be taught multiple ways to do the same thing, problems are more varied and you may need to know different methods of solving the same problem to find the easiest way to solve it. But at a primary school you teach kids the very core foundations, you teach them mental maths and double digit multiplications, there is no need to learn how to divide 36 by 3 in 363 different ways.
I’m not sure what they are teaching kids in Australian schools these days, but in America it has sure gone to hell.
Please, if you have kids and think doing math problems the hard way is the best way, it isn’t, I’m doing university mathematics and computer programming, the general mantra among ALL my lecturers and tutors is that ‘if you can get the job done quickly and easily then good, don’t look further’.
But why? Because mathematics is about problem solving, not about making the problem more complicated than it is. Simplicity rocks, lets face it, humans inherently aspire to be simpletons, we like to get the job done quickly and cleanly.
That’s why mathematicians are ‘lazy’, because no one said they like the math (they might), they like solving the problems, they don’t sit around trying to figure out some inane problem because they like looking at the inane problem, they like solving the inane problem.
What irks me is the problem at the primary school level, I can understand that at university, or even highschool why you would be taught multiple ways to do the same thing, problems are more varied and you may need to know different methods of solving the same problem to find the easiest way to solve it. But at a primary school you teach kids the very core foundations, you teach them mental maths and double digit multiplications, there is no need to learn how to divide 36 by 3 in 363 different ways.
I’m not sure what they are teaching kids in Australian schools these days, but in America it has sure gone to hell.
Please, if you have kids and think doing math problems the hard way is the best way, it isn’t, I’m doing university mathematics and computer programming, the general mantra among ALL my lecturers and tutors is that ‘if you can get the job done quickly and easily then good, don’t look further’.
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Comment by Adele
Lost Fanatic
Day Break TV
I guess somebody saw the honors kids using that text with a lot of success and decided to teach with it.
If it makes you feel better, I haven't seen anyone using those texts. American education isn't totally crazy yet. The school teachers have a certain amount of leeway in teaching, too.
Comment by Ahmed
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
I recall my third grade math teacher had a hard time teaching us double digit multiplication using the standard algorith, we learned it eventually which was great, we were still in third grade too.
Is it too much to ask kids to learn it in third grade? Or did my particular third grade teacher push my class too hard?
Comment by yoda76
The Tube Blog
In the video I mean... ;o)
Comment by Ahmed
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
Seriously, with those techniques to learn how to do it you might as well learn the 999999 times tables.
Comment by yoda76
The Tube Blog
"...I know Pi to a thousand places..."