What Is the Value of Algebra? - Of course, it depends on what it is your trying to do. It's the core of much of my occupation, but I will be one of the first to agree that not everyone necessarily needs algebra.
the thing is..for me? if you say, look sometimes you need to do math to find out what a number is that you don't know. and tell me HOW i use it... i can do it! otherwise...not so much.
a lot of math is too abstract for the way my brain functions.
(which is why very smart math doing ppl impress the heck out of me!)
I used to hate algebra with a passion, but that's before I had much of an appreciation for the why of math.
And when I think about it..... I realize what effects it's had on the structure of my thoughts, language and writing. And what a beautiful language it is..... I like the shortcut of the symbols so one can think in chunks, and relate them. It saves linear time. We only have so many mouths & ears...
Remind me to sign this guy up for some free magazines. I just need a little help covering the shipping....
(That's an actual scam that I had someone try to pull on me. A couple seconds on a calculator revealed those "free" magazines would only cost me $650!)
And then there's Amway... Quixtar... ACN...
You may not need the whole of algebra to get by in life, but basic math competency does make it harder to get taken advantage of.
And that reminds me... When I was in school back in Michigan all those years ago, we had the college prep math series that's probably much like anywhere else: Algebra, Geom/Trig, Algebra III, Pre-calc. (Later, after I graduated, they added Calc I.)
Separately of that, they had more life-skills oriented math courses, such as consumer math, business math, etc. Consumer math taught basic skills like working out, say, the unit price of food from the item price and the total size, or working out basic percentages, etc. That's useful stuff and concrete rather than abstract. Business math was similar, with basic accounting, balancing checkbooks, that sort of stuff.
I'm not sure I'm entirely with Heinlein on the "Anyone who cannot cope with math is not fully human." I do think that the way it's taught leaves a lot of people cold. Many people don't do abstract well.
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the thing is..for me? if you say, look sometimes you need to do math to find out what a number is that you don't know. and tell me HOW i use it... i can do it! otherwise...not so much.
a lot of math is too abstract for the way my brain functions.
(which is why very smart math doing ppl impress the heck out of me!)
Reply
And when I think about it..... I realize what effects it's had on the structure of my thoughts, language and writing. And what a beautiful language it is..... I like the shortcut of the symbols so one can think in chunks, and relate them. It saves linear time. We only have so many mouths & ears...
Reply
(That's an actual scam that I had someone try to pull on me. A couple seconds on a calculator revealed those "free" magazines would only cost me $650!)
And then there's Amway... Quixtar... ACN...
You may not need the whole of algebra to get by in life, but basic math competency does make it harder to get taken advantage of.
Reply
Separately of that, they had more life-skills oriented math courses, such as consumer math, business math, etc. Consumer math taught basic skills like working out, say, the unit price of food from the item price and the total size, or working out basic percentages, etc. That's useful stuff and concrete rather than abstract. Business math was similar, with basic accounting, balancing checkbooks, that sort of stuff.
I'm not sure I'm entirely with Heinlein on the "Anyone who cannot cope with math is not fully human." I do think that the way it's taught leaves a lot of people cold. Many people don't do abstract well.
Reply
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