Posted on 03/07/2006 10:12:59 AM PST by RBroadfoot
I don't need algebra to manage money. Just make sure there are lots of zeros before the decimal point, right?
i thought 42 was the answer to the ultimate question.
I have found it very useful in the safety field. It would take more than my fingers and toes to count how many times men lives have literally been saved by persistent computation. Sure a few here or there might have other names for me, but this I know in my lifetime, nobody died. And the likelihood that their kids will be genetically inferior is low.
Algebra, my dear, algebra can save lives. Especially of those poor souls who never understood it.
Algebra is actually one of the more useful subjects i've taken.
I've had summer college kid help in the past. I will ask them to point out a specific measurement on a tape measure. I usually just get a blank stare. Yes, they need to learn.
Ding! We have a winner!
And you knew in high school exactly what you would be doing for the rest of your life? A person needs algrebra if they're ever going to attend university or college and study calculus, differential equations, linear algebra, statistics, discrete mathematics, or any of the other more advanced fields of mathematics, some of which are pre-requisites for many fields of study outside the arts. It may also be needed if one goes to trade school or community college and wants to study things like electronics, tool and die making, CNC machine programming, vetrinary technology, and so on.
Neither are most things that are essential to a well-rounded mind. Some people value that, most don't, all should.
Any form of math that has letters in it is useless.
I had a year of calculus in college, I passed with a C, I went to law school instead of med school and I remember nothing of the calculus that I learned. I suppose having had it, enriches me in some way, but I certainly can't pinpoint how.
LOL
There is a diffrence between "idiot" and "ignorant".
I remember algebra class. There were two guys who were whizzes at it and the rest of us who ranged from pathetic to barely competent. The two whizzes were very different people. One was a semi-retarded fellow about 6'2" (at age 14) who could barely put two intelligible words together. But he was very good with numbers and was especially adept at abstract geometry which he worked on with our teacher (having aced algebra before the year was out). He probably works for NASA today. Or maybe the CIA. Something with computers.
The other was short, pudgy and had a short crewcut. He rarely spoke and gave the impression that it was because anything he might say to the cretins around him would be wasted effort (he was not arrogant he just knew he was a lot smarter than the rest of us - and he was). He passed algebra one and two in one semester and was through trig and starting calculus before the end of the second semester. This one is probably well along in his plot for world domination and we will all be heiling him before New Year's day 2008.
pass around the lyman allen games to these kids. i was playing "equations" in 3d grade, didn't know what algebra was at that point, but i was doing it just fine because it was a game.
"I've had summer college kid help in the past. I will ask them to point out a specific measurement on a tape measure."
Yup. They've never seen one before. I guess you don't find them playing video games and listening to your iPod.
I'm not a professional builder, but I've done a lot of it. College kid stopped by one time when I was building some stairs. I was using my square to lay out the cuts for the treads. The kid could not, for the life of him figure out how I knew the angles. He said that he could calculate them for me with his Texas Instrument calculator. He was just sure my stairs wouldn't work.
On the other hand, I build a large shed at a remote site once, and I wanted to essentially make it a pre-fab thing, so I cut all the components at home, then trucked it all up there. My brother-in-law was just amazed that I got the lengths and angles right on all those rafters. He never did figure out how I did it. I never told him.
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