Posted on 03/07/2006 10:12:59 AM PST by RBroadfoot
None, according to Richard Cohen of the Washington Post.
EXCERPT: I am haunted by Gabriela Ocampo. ... failing algebra six times in six semesters, trying it a seventh time and finally just despairing over ever getting it.
The L.A. school district now requires all students to pass a year of algebra ...
Here's the thing, Gabriela: You will never need to know algebra. I have never once used it and never once even rued that I could not use it. ...
Gabriela, sooner or later someone's going to tell you that algebra teaches reasoning. This is a lie propagated by, among others, algebra teachers. Writing is the highest form of reasoning. This is a fact. Algebra is not. The proof of this, Gabriela, is all the people in my high school who were whizzes at math but did not know a thing about history and could not write a readable English sentence. ...
Algebra ruined many a day for me. Now it could ruin your life.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Nope, just algebra. There is no need for mapping the everyday. It is like English grammer classs. If you can speak and write correctly, what do you need English grammer class for? With algebra, if you can figure up how much money you will left when you get your paycheck or whatever, what do you need it for?
Nope, no hero worship involved. Merely pointing out that holding him up as a failure as in the given example, "Kids learn your algebra or you'll wind up like Cohen." isn't likely to yield the desired result. Since he's wildly more successful than anyone most of them even know personally, it probably doesn't look like all that bad from their vantage point.
Grammar.
I suppose people uninterested in knowing how things work, whether they be numbers or languages or the physical sciences should be excused from school sometime after mastering their ABCs.
SD
"I've managed to get to be 41 years old without learning algebra and I seem to get by just fine."
That's like the guys I keep running into who tell
me that they and computers don't get along.
When I point out that they're simply afraid of them
because they don't know anything about them, they get
defensive and use a phrase like, "I've managed to get
to be 41 years old without learning about computers,
and I seem to get by just fine."
As long as you aren't calling me names I don't mind.
BTW, you couldn't pay me to use a computer.
If one does not know algebra one does not know equations, if one does not know equations then one is deaf, dump and blind to almost all of the sciences. Perhaps the greatest achivement in all of human history, f=ma, is meaningless gibberish to such people.
Our maker reveals his hand in the absolute beauty of the mathicalical laws that describe our universe, but those lacking of even simple math skills will never be able to see or comprehend. It is really very sad. None are so blind as those that refuse to see.
Then lets just make algebra class an elective so self esteem won't be hurt. Let's replace it with Rainbow Painting, Paper or Plastic Fundamentals etc.
Sure. I didn't think of that. But I think the original poster probably could do with the re-enforcement of the idea of multiplying/dividing both sides by the same value. That's big in dealing with fractions, LCD, GCF, etc.
Regarding ratios, there is no need to convert 3/4 into a whole number (3) and then have to multiply 2 by 4. Too complicated. As long as the denominator is the same, the ratio is evident in the numerators. Thus, the only "work" required is to convert the 2 into 8/4.
3/4 to 8/4 = 3:8
"Then lets just make algebra class an elective so self esteem won't be hurt. Let's replace it with Rainbow Painting, Paper or Plastic Fundamentals etc."
Yeah. You make railroad bridges and space shuttles out of all of that stuff.
bump
I think for someone having difficulty understanding the subject, it is simpler to obey certain rules. You may know intuitively to consider 2 as 8/4ths, but how does one teach that?
I laid out a simple method that should always get the novice the answer. Your shortcuts may be valid, but not for the novice.
SD
"If you can speak and write correctly, what do you need English grammer class for?"
Eh he he he he he. :P
That's why it's so IMPORTANT to know calculus! :)
"Wow, over 500 replies to an algebra thread!"
Kinda of surprised me, too!
What I find interesting on this thread, those interested in math, are interested in other subjects. Those trashing math seem to not want knowledge. Math is the universal language. Most everything can be defined using some type of math.
Cool. we will need a nice rate of decay equation as a function of temperature, then we will a temperature equation as a function of time, will need to be a trig function as we will want to repeat every 24 hrs. Will have to assume no cold fronts or heat waves, but we can work on that later. looks like a double or triple integral to me.
I'm an engineer, and I know that "tib-bits" is spelled:
tidbits.
It has a D and NO HYPHEN!
d(fr)/dt
It could be used for milk, bread, stuff in the freezer, salad dressings, the stuff that falls to the bottom of the fridge.... The application is unlimited!
It's fun to watch the overt spelling and grammEr errors posted, all the while telling us math people can't spell.
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