Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Is The Academy Embracing Fake Math?
Accuracy in Academia ^ | April 25, 2017 | Malcolm A. Kline

Posted on 04/26/2017 7:05:57 AM PDT by Academiadotorg

The Left's long march through the academy may be nearing its penultimate battlesite—mathematics.

Up until now, it has remained so neutral in the Culture Wars that a smattering of conservatives could even be found teaching it. "On a chilly evening in March, students in Cecilia Arias's mathematics course here at Rutgers University were learning about a concept called fair division," Shannon Najmabadi wrote in an article which appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education on April 21, 2017. "More specifically, they were considering the case of Jason, Kelly, and Lauren, three business owners who share a location in the mall."

"Suppose, Ms. Arias explained, that Jason makes the same amount of money each month, while Kelly gets not business in October, November or December. Meanwhile, Lauren earns most of her profits during that same quarter. If only one of them can use the space at a time, Ms. Arias asked, how can the year by fairly divided among the three without an angry standoff?" The name of the course is "Topics in Mathematics for the Liberal Arts."

Here's another question, do you want your taxes done, or your books kept, by anyone who has graduated with honors from this course?


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: academia; academicbias; aia; highereducation; math; mathematics; princeton
Mathematicians beware: The progressives are coming! The progressives are coming!
1 posted on 04/26/2017 7:05:57 AM PDT by Academiadotorg
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Academiadotorg

And so the era of 2 + 2 = 6 (for large values of 2, as 2 approaches 3) cometh.

If we lose this war to the functional idiots called progressives, we really do deserve what is coming.


2 posted on 04/26/2017 7:10:20 AM PDT by Da Coyote
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Academiadotorg

Like the song says, “ ... ‘1’ is the loneliest number that there ever was ... “


3 posted on 04/26/2017 7:10:38 AM PDT by Ken522
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Academiadotorg

In a way it is not a bad exercise since it does require dealing with statistics as well as real life business application. Take away the ridiculous story of angry stand off and what you have is a problem that asks you to find a solution to the problem of varying profitability throughout the year. That the question states the problem involves three people should not matter. The suggestion that there is somehow and unfairness involved because one person makes more profit than another in the same space is dross. Ignore that and just deal with what can actually be dealt with mathematically.


4 posted on 04/26/2017 7:17:31 AM PDT by lastchance (Credo.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Academiadotorg

Some of the participants in the bogus “March for Science” were carrying signs implying that “imaginary” numbers (e.g, the square root of minus one) are not real, and are equivalent to Trump’s statements and policies.

They’re wrong!!!!

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra2/introduction-to-complex-numbers-algebra-2/the-imaginary-numbers-algebra-2/a/intro-to-the-imaginary-numbers

Note especially the statement:

“Imaginary numbers come up a lot in electricity and magnetism equations, as well as optics. Basically anything that moves as a wave, like the surface of a body of water or the EM field of an electron or photon, will often be written in terms of sine and cosine, which in turn can be written as imaginary powers of e.”

Never trust “science” or “math” touted by globalist activists and Dims!!!!


5 posted on 04/26/2017 7:19:30 AM PDT by Honorary Serb (Kosovo is Serbia! Free Srpska! Abolish ICTY!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Academiadotorg

Liberals and progressives have always made mock of their opposition’s misdeeds and non-science foolishness. The Scopes Trial in Tennessee and the 1897 effort in Indiana to make Pi equal to 3.2 have both been used to tar the right.

Yet when we bring these incidents of SJW math idiocies to the fore, we are missing the deeper values of social justice or cultural appropriation or micro-aggressing against ... someone! As has been pointed out by many others, math and science are extremely brutal towards law-breakers. Gravity cares not about your beliefs nor does any of the various laws found in these realms.

Despite the fact that the vast majority of these laws are named for Dead White European Males (DWEMs), a sudden stop from terminal velocity will be damaging, no matter your skin color, your beliefs or your personal antagonism for such rigid structuralism.


6 posted on 04/26/2017 7:24:09 AM PDT by SES1066 (Happiness is a depressed Washington, DC housing market!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Honorary Serb
-- "imaginary" numbers (e.g, the square root of minus one) are not real --

As a matter of vernacular, that is correct. A complex number has a real part and an imaginary part, and the two parts are in fact distinctly different.

7 posted on 04/26/2017 7:26:04 AM PDT by Cboldt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Academiadotorg
Liberals depend on fake math. For example

10 greedy evil billionaires make $10 billion/year combined. They are currently allowed to keep 75% of that so the government collects $2.5 billion.

1) If tax rate is increased to 90%, how much will the government collect next year?
Fake answer 1: $9 billion
Real answer 1: the greedy, evil people will avoid making so much income so much less

2) If tax rate is reduced to 15%, how much will it cost the government?
Fake answer 2: $1 billion
Real answer 2: $0. They will be allowed to keep more of their money, not receiving the government's money (i.e. "a cost" to the government) By liberal definition of "cost" it would "cost" a mugger $23 to not steal my wallet today


8 posted on 04/26/2017 7:27:01 AM PDT by LostPassword
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Academiadotorg
fair division
9 posted on 04/26/2017 7:33:55 AM PDT by fella ("As it was before Noah so shall it be again,")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Academiadotorg

Writer needs to learn how to proofread.


10 posted on 04/26/2017 7:37:46 AM PDT by Bigg Red (Vacate the chair! Ryan must go.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ken522
If 6 were 9. Hendrix was way ahead of his time ☺
11 posted on 04/26/2017 7:45:27 AM PDT by Impala64ssa (Islamophobic? NO! IslamABHORic)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Academiadotorg


12 posted on 04/26/2017 7:48:29 AM PDT by fishtank (The denial of original sin is the root of liberalism.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: lastchance

Its about controlling the narrative.
If we say Sam has three businesses, which share a mall location, use the same three performance aspects, and ask to maximize the returns on each business given equal usage, the question has the same answer, but “fairness” isn’t a consideration.


13 posted on 04/26/2017 7:57:10 AM PDT by Consistent
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Cboldt

Yes, they are not “real numbers”—in a technical sense.

However, the use of imaginary and complex numbers is consequential for certain real-world problems—as in engineering and physics. MIT and others teach about them.

So the “Science March” and Bill Nye lose again!!!!


14 posted on 04/26/2017 8:06:37 AM PDT by Honorary Serb (Kosovo is Serbia! Free Srpska! Abolish ICTY!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Honorary Serb
I was exposed to complex numbers in high school, and still use them from time to time.

Complex math (i.e., imaginary+real) isn't the only way to solve the problems, but it is highly convenient, and highly useful.

At any rate, I was being pedantic. Imaginary numbers are not real numbers, and real numbers are not imaginary numbers, in the vernacular. In the complex plane, the X axis is not the Y axis.

15 posted on 04/26/2017 8:15:28 AM PDT by Cboldt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Honorary Serb

Been there done that! Believe it or not I could never get those energy equations which are always integral sorted out in my head until I mastered the math functions on Microsoft Excel...proving that Bill Gates bought the code vice developed it!


16 posted on 04/26/2017 8:32:48 AM PDT by gr8eman (Facts and evidence are bourgeois constructs weaponized by patriarchal penis-people)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Academiadotorg
"Suppose, Ms. Arias explained, that Jason makes the same amount of money each month, while Kelly gets not business in October, November or December. Meanwhile, Lauren earns most of her profits during that same quarter. If only one of them can use the space at a time, Ms. Arias asked, how can the year by fairly divided among the three...

This is a typical false premise liberal question masquerading as a math problem. And it is poorly stated. Here are the problem's deficiencies; "fair" is undefined, and, "makes money" "business", and "profits" are equated.

"Fair" only applies to organized athletic events. Actual human interactions function by agreements. "Makes money", "business", and "profits" are not the same and have varying degrees of precision. Considering all of these elements reveals this is not a single solution math problem. It is an agreement question. And the answer then becomes; "Comply with the terms of the contract."

That's how reality works, by agreements. "Fair", by which liberals mean taking someone else's wealth, has nothing to do with it.

The problem could be revised to solicit a range of solutions for the principals to consider for contract. Or it could be revised for a single mathematical solution. But it should be revised to remove the liberal bias.

Finally, here is a solution; Jan-Apr for Kelly, May-Aug for Jason, and Sep-Dec for Lauren. But tt is not the only solution. Just like in the real world.

17 posted on 04/26/2017 8:42:47 AM PDT by DakotaGator (Weep for the lost Republic! And keep your powder dry!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Honorary Serb

They are also regularly used in quaternion-based math, which is the most efficient way to model 3d motion, used regularly in 3d graphics for video games:

https://www.3dgep.com/understanding-quaternions/


18 posted on 04/26/2017 8:44:42 AM PDT by Boogieman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: All

I think Mr. Kline doesn’t know what ‘penultimate’ means.


19 posted on 04/26/2017 10:52:05 AM PDT by pluvmantelo (We Americans like dogs & music. If you don't then stay out.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LostPassword

Of course the ultimate fake answer to a government shortfall is “PRINT MORE MONEY!!!!!” /s;)


20 posted on 05/20/2017 10:16:07 PM PDT by Frank_2001
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson