Say Goodbye To X+Y: Should Community Colleges Abolish Algebra?

NPR ^ | July 19, 2017 | Kayla Lattimore and Julie Depenbrock

[Leaning Right]

> Often there is more than one right answer. <

It actually depends on how you define “answer”. Take a peak at my post #84.

[Lmo56]

Correct, but you didn’t show your work.

1. ax[squared] + bx + c = 0
2. ax[squared] + bx = -c
3. x[squared] + bx/a = -c/a
4. x[squared] + bx/a + b[squared]/4a[squared] = b[squared]/4a[squared] - c/a
5. x[squared] + bx/a + b[squared]/4a[squared] = b[squared]/4a[squared] - c/a X 4a/4a
6. x[squared] + bx/a + b[squared]/4a[squared] = (b[squared]- 4ac)/4a[squared]
7. x + b/2a = (square root of b[squared] - 4ac)/2a
8. x = {-b plus or minus (square root of b[squared] - 4ac)}/2a

If you want to know where b[squared]/4a[squared] came from in Step 4, you have to know how to “Complete The Square” of x[squared] + bx.

[Conan the Librarian]

10 for i=1 to 10 step 1
20 x=x*i
30 print i
40 next

[DuncanWaring]

See previous comment about “Nixon Administration”.

[IronJack]

Did you mean x=x*1 or x=x+1? (Or better yet, x++.)

[wjr123]

Keep two things in mind here. One is that the proponent of this is dealing with junior colleges that are really “high school 2”. Most of these students really don’t belong in any college setting.

For the most part these kids need a trade school.

The second thing to remember is that the source of the article is NPR. It may not be possible to get more left wing than this bunch short of outright gun toting Bolsheviks.

[Mr. K]

Dropped a computer programming elective in the 70’s? Wise move...

I was dragged kicking and screaming into a Fortran course in my Physics major- and 25 years later I am senior systems analyst

[Conan the Librarian]

Either or....

It’s been so long since I wrote even a basic program that I don’t remember much.

I got so burned out after taking PL/1 and Assembler, that I dropped out of the CS dept and went to Library School.

Makes more sense to me.

[lurked_for_a_decade]

++(X++) /* try it! */

Syntax error: Missing ‘;’. line 1

;)

[lurked_for_a_decade]

++(X++) /* try it! */

Syntax error: Missing ‘;’. line 1

;)

[lurked_for_a_decade]

or is that Line 0.

[lurked_for_a_decade]

or is that Line 0.

[Bob]

I think it’s mostly about the context. ‘a = a + 1’ fits the context of a programming class and is totally out of place in a math class.

[Maverick68]

Yes, also we should recognize Ebonics as an official language, allow drinking and sex in class, make attendance in all classes optional, and most importantly, stop giving people those pesky grade-thingys that get in the way of their fun and whoring around (which is what College is all about).

[JTHomes]

Nothing could be further from the truth? Hyperbole isn’t an argument against what I wrote. Granted, motivation and instruction technique can allow lower IQ individuals to succeed at many things, just as higher IQ folks who don’t apply themselves to something can fail to excel.

I wasn’t arguing universal superiority based on higher IQ, but I stand by what I said that those with lower IQ will struggle with Algebra. You’ve presented no argument to the contrary.

I wasn’t arguing correlation of higher IQ with algebra prowess anyway, but asserted rather that low IQ is an impediment to success in algebra.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

I’m an engineer.

And I’m not particularly good at math.

I’m a retired engineer.

And I’m not especially good at arithmetic. (Tho when I see cashiers flummoxed by being given $21 in payment for a $16 item . . .)

A pet peeve of mine is the fact that elementary school teachers select themselves based on liking to deal with kids, rather than on their knowledge of the difference between arithmetic and mathematics, and their competence at both.

[onedoug]

I have a couple of others: Sallas & Hille, and Howard Anton. Both interesting.

[amihow]

You are logically blind and no amount of words can cover it up.

Some people have math
aptitude not correlated with I.Q..

Others have verbal aptitude not correlated with I.Q..

You give no evidence for your statement. I give stateen based on hundreds of tests given by me over years.

Hope this clears up things for you.

[Do the math]

Almost everything you learned in your math classes can be applied in the real world. When I teach algebra, I show my students how to use it to make intelligent decisions. Algebra can be taught in a way that is fun and practical. For example, I use rubber bands to teach logarithms. I use toy cars and power lines to teach quadratic functions. I use paper clips to get linear equations. Playing with a kite in an algebra class led me to solve an unsolved problem in geometry. Math is just a game for me, I love my job.

[kosciusko51]

I have Sallas & Hille as well, but the one I find most useful for intro calculus is Lynch and Ostberg. This one can be found in hardback reprint for less than $20, including shipping.