Geometric constructs are key to understanding a 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional world. This is not surprising.
1 posted on
01/20/2006 3:11:26 AM PST by
Pharmboy
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To: PatrickHenry; blam; voletti; aculeus; SunkenCiv; Physicist; thefactor
Math ping...for your personal interests and not meant for you to ping your lists.
2 posted on
01/20/2006 3:14:51 AM PST by
Pharmboy
(The stone age didn't end because they ran out of stones.)
To: Pharmboy
Geometry is crucial to land navigation. It's not surprising that hunters understand
3 posted on
01/20/2006 3:26:38 AM PST by
SauronOfMordor
(A planned society is most appealing to those with the hubris to think they will be the planners)
To: Pharmboy
They should've done their study in a pool hall... er... billiards parlor.
4 posted on
01/20/2006 3:30:03 AM PST by
Pete'sWife
(Dirt is for racing... asphalt is for getting there.)
To: Pharmboy
"Adults and children alike showed a clear grasp of concepts such as where the center of a circle is and the logical extension of a straight line, the researchers report in this week's issue of the journal Science"My geometry course was more demanding than this but then, I went to a Catholic High School
5 posted on
01/20/2006 3:33:28 AM PST by
muir_redwoods
(Free Sirhan Sirhan, after all, the bastard who killed Mary Jo Kopechne is walking around free)
To: Pharmboy
"All participants, even those aged 6, performed well above the chance level of 16.6 percent," they found. The average score was nearly 67 percent correct -- identical to the score for U.S. children. So, primitive hunter-gatherers who have never been inside a classroom score as high on geometry as American children who are being "educated" at $10,000 per head per year.
6 posted on
01/20/2006 3:43:52 AM PST by
Junior
(Identical fecal matter, alternate diurnal period)
To: Pharmboy
"Many of its propositions -- that two points determine a line, or that three orthogonal axes localize a point -- are judged to be self-evident and yet have been questioned on the basis of logical argument, physical theory, or experiment," the researchers wrote.Oooh, we have grant money to spend! Let's question obvious, self evident minutiae!
yay for science!
10 posted on
01/20/2006 3:57:44 AM PST by
ovrtaxt
(I looked for common sense with a telescope. All I could see was the moon of Uranus.)
To: Pharmboy
Chimpanzees have been documented in their ability to continually locate and find their own chimp-made tools (special rocks for breaking nuts, etc) that they store in different areas of their territory. Based on the descriptions I read of the process, they must have been using geometric reasoning and a mental map to do this.
Other animals may rely primarily on scent and scent-memory for finding things -- but it would seem that primates evolved with a different set of capabilities to solve the same problem.
12 posted on
01/20/2006 4:06:40 AM PST by
WL-law
To: TR Jeffersonian
17 posted on
01/20/2006 5:21:02 AM PST by
kalee
To: Alamo-Girl; betty boop; P-Marlowe
AG, you ole salty dog, you.
You called this ahead of time.
"The unreasonable effectiveness of math." (or something like that.)
HA! Designer indeed!
22 posted on
01/20/2006 6:16:35 AM PST by
xzins
(Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It!)
To: Pharmboy
Geometry may be hard-wired into brain, study shows Hadn't thought about it from this angle before.
26 posted on
01/20/2006 7:37:38 AM PST by
Ken H
To: Pharmboy
"points, lines, parallelism, right angles simple pictures, distance, angle, relationships"
All of these exist in the Amazon and tribe. All are used in hunting, farming, cooking and taking care of the tribe.
Look at what has been built over 1,000 years where modern math did not exist - we cannot duplicate today - maybe modern math is incorrect.
28 posted on
01/20/2006 7:43:11 AM PST by
edcoil
(Reality doesn't say much - doesn't need too)
To: Pharmboy
This whole article is based on a completely faulty premise. The whole point of High School Geometry is not to teach people how to compute areas of rectangles or know that two points make a straight line. Students are expected to intuitively know that coming in.
High School Geometry is meant to introduce axiomatic thinking and theorem proving.
All this proves is that the hunters know geometry and the guys who designed the study do not!
29 posted on
01/20/2006 7:43:53 AM PST by
Netheron
To: Pharmboy
Sounds more like plain old spatial relations.
To: Pharmboy
I recall that Kant said the same thing more than 200 years ago.
36 posted on
01/20/2006 8:10:09 AM PST by
RobbyS
( CHIRHO)
To: Pharmboy
Fascinating article. Thanks for posting it.
42 posted on
01/20/2006 8:34:52 AM PST by
RightWingAtheist
(Creationism Is Not Conservative!)
To: Pharmboy
Geometry may be hard-wired into brain, study showsPersonally, I have always had a thing for nice curves and shapes. It almost seems programmed into me...
48 posted on
01/20/2006 11:54:17 AM PST by
Onelifetogive
(* Sarcasm tag ALWAYS required. For some FReepers, sarcasm can NEVER be obvious enough.)
To: Pharmboy
I was just horrible at algebra and suffered through it with C's during high school. Meanwhile, I aced geometry and actually tutored some of the A+ algebra students suffered horribly with C's in geometry. I just loved doing proofs.
I wonder what that says about how my mind is wired?
To: Pharmboy
![](http://www.grouchyoldcripple.com/archives/Find%20X.JPG)
(...ducking)
67 posted on
01/22/2006 7:13:59 AM PST by
TADSLOS
(Right Wing Infidel since 1954)
To: Pharmboy
Amazonian hunter-gatherers who lack written language and who have never
seen a math book score highly on basic tests of geometric concepts,...
Heck, they are aren't suffering the residual brain damage from being
institutionalized in a lower-rung public school for grades 1-12!
Thus, they have an unfair advantage over a lot of Americans!!!
74 posted on
01/22/2006 8:57:10 AM PST by
VOA
To: Pharmboy
"Our results provide evidence for geometrical intuitions in the absence of schooling, experience with graphic symbols or maps, or a rich language of geometrical terms." "Never let your schooling interfere with your education." Mark Twain
75 posted on
01/22/2006 9:02:12 AM PST by
Smokin' Joe
(How often God must weep at humans' folly.)
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