Post by thread:[OT]: Teaching Math

Courtesy of Bbob: Teaching Math in 1950: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit? Teaching Math in 1960: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit? Teaching Math in 1970: A logger exchanges a set "L" of lumber for a set "M" of money. The cardinality of set "M" is 100. Each element is worth one dollar. Make 100 dots representing the elements of the set "M." The set "C", the cost of production contains 20 fewer points than set "M." Represent the set "C" as a subset of set "M" and answer the following question: What is the cardinality of the set "P" of profits? Teaching Math in 1980: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20. Teaching Math in 1990: By cutting down beautiful forest trees, the logger makes $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the forest birds and squirrels "feel" as the logger cut down the trees? There are no wrong answers. Teaching Math in 2002: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $120. How does Arthur Andersen determine that his profit margin is $60? Teaching Math in 2010: El hachero vende un camion carga por $100. La cuesta de production es . . . bb -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.

Very good :). I was at school during the 'B' and 'C' years, I'm still traumatised (must get round to suing my primary school one of these days) from when at age 8 the dreaded B & A book of Mathematical Problems was hauled out. I can still remember - If it takes 2 men 4 hours to fill a 5 gallon bath with cold water from a Well, how long would it take 1 man to fill a 2 gallon bath? To this day maths couched in the above way cause me great problems - and yet write it in different context and I'm fine. At the tender age of 8 my thought process was; what if the second bath was filled with HOT water, would hot water flow faster or slower than cold? Was it the same Well, did one man walk slower or faster than the other? By the time I'd gone round in circles by reading far too much into the question and being told I was asking nonsensical questions, th e lesson would have finished and we'd be off on English - by far my more favourite subject. Colin -- cdb, spam_OUTbodgy1TakeThisOuToptusnet.com.au on 17/10/2002 -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.

Russell McMahon wrote: > > Teaching Math in 1950: > A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of > production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit? > > Teaching Math in 1960: > A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of > production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit? > > Teaching Math in 1970: A logger exchanges a set "L" of > lumber for a set "M" of money. The cardinality of set "M" is > 100. Each element is worth one dollar. Make 100 dots > representing the elements of the set "M." The set "C", the > cost of production contains 20 fewer points than set "M." > Represent the set "C" as a subset of set "M" and answer the > following question: What is the cardinality of the set "P" of > profits? I think "Teaching Math in 1950" should be red as " Teaching Math in 1960" and vice versa. Teaching Math improved dramatically in USA in 1960 after Soviet successful ballistic launches with nuclear warheads, first "Sputnik" and first man on Earth's orbit Gagarin. Mike. :-) -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email .....listservKILLspam@spam@mitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body

From: Russell McMahon <apptechspam_OUTPARADISE.NET.NZ> Subject: Re: [OT]: Teaching Math >> How does academic fashion come and go, and why? >Note that it is not academic fashion, it is social engineering that largely >drives it. And what is the spirit behind this 'social engineering', and what is the premise it is based on? They claim our time and treasure for the common good, and when it comes time to deliver, what do they deliver? My personal experience has been government and corporations will find plenty of excuses to tax, degrade and exploit you, and if you attempt to claim a benefit, or demand they perform their duty, they find plenty of excuses to disqualify you, or shirk their responsibility. I have seen this spirit, this evil, predatory desire behind thousands of excuses and circumstances. Often conservatives point out the symptoms of the illness, the methods of the Beast, but they never quite get a hold of its spirit. Lately I read Rand's Fountainhead, in which some of her high-contrast caricatures illustrate the method of the madness well (the dissolusioned, dumbed-down Catherine and Ellsworth's chapter-long speech to Keeting about power - destroying the identities and wills of others while appearing to be a saint, for instance). My point - it is better to fight smarter, not harder. Good camouflage, deception, means less energy expended by the predator to hunt down the prey. Predators inhibit, degrade, competitors in jungle, to dominate food supply and gene pool. In society, inhibition works through the will of the mob, the tyranny of charisma and popularity, to inhibit the will of the mob, the will and identity of its individuals through humiliation and brutality to the will of the popular. Or you can examine chaotic systems such as neural networks - a collection of unstable oscillators coupled in geometric configurations. Some communities of neurons/switching elements establish oscillatory patterns that entrain other communities and elements, causing them to phase-lock to the popular mode, rather than freely-firing according to their own limit cycles. That is the fruit of public eduction, not its conscious, overt, stated goal, but the unconscious demonic desire in the hearts of those that are intent on destroying the individual identities of the members of the 'public', so that they can be reformed into what the establishment desires. It is not about ideology or what color uniforms (fasion), it is about who gets to choose the ideology and the fasion. It is about the desire for power and the desire to degrade the hearts and minds of others, their independant will. Public housing, public education, public toilets. Scott -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email @spam@listservKILLspammitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body

Russell McMahon wrote: >> How does academic fashion come and go, and why? Perhaps because only >> government can screw things up, degrade and dominate those it is >> responsible to, and profit from it, as long as no competing entity >> is around to punish it. > > The interesting thing is that, both here in NZ and in the US people > read this and KNOW it is more or less true. > > Note that it is not academic fashion, it is social engineering that > largely drives it. > Other interesting point, is that while our US school's math still going south, other 3rd World countries still teaching "regular math" and their children still being very welcome in US to become teachers in math, physics, economy and science. My daughter (12) in 6th grade never heard about logarithm or sine in an US public school, but she did learn it at home. When I was 12 in Brazil I was playing with log tables (heavy books) and solving puzzles with a plastic math slider (Pentel?). It is amazing that math is so vast, that during the last 2 years in school they still doing the same old 12x12 exercises, to tell you the truth, it is a shame. Looks like they are just leveling all students by the weak, so nobody is left behind. When she was at 2nd grade she already knew the 12x12 table by memory, not from school, but from me, and she felt very competitive and proud. It seems that people just forgot that children are just small, not stupid. You go to any K-Mart or Wal-Mart and stick $23.00 in dollar bills to the cashier to pay a $13 purchase, the cashier gets lost, she will first return your "extra" $3.00, and then will provide you the $7.00 change... it is a complete and insane shame. What is it? No one "expects" that a cashier attendant should do mind math? Come on, simple math should be done by everyone, since 2nd or 3rd grade, and not only economy masters, accountants or teachers. You don't need to study 15 years of math to recognize $23 in a $13 purchase means you are helping the change and her job. Just as a test, I did it several times in the same week, in several stores and gas stations - the most common talk was "oh, you gave more (money) than you need"... You see, for them, the stupid WAS ME!, and probably they were right. So, if I can calculate the impedance of a transistor by mind, without a calculator, what this makes me? a math-super-hero? an all-star-bright scientist? a complete nerd? Should I be nominated to some Nobel Prize? No! a simple person that did learn things to have a better and easier life. I wonder what daily crosses the mind of someone that "needs to think" about how much is 3 times 5 or what is the 5th letter of the alphabet, or where is the north (with a shine sun in the sky at 6pm), or what is the rotation to screw a garden hose, or to sharpen a pencil. It is amazing how many dumb and know nothing people is around. Most of them have 5 years of university, believe it or not - most of them remember only what means "buenos dias" from almost 2 years of Spanish learning - most of them have not a single clue where is Constantinople - most of them just ask for help to replace a flat tire, they can wait 4 hours in the sun to get that help - most of them simply don't know how many zeroes go to write one billion or a trillion - most of them never heard about "octanes" even after 3 years of chemical at school - most of them have no idea if Mercury is closer to the Sun than Earth - most of them think "Sputnik" is a rock band's name - most of them think Neil Armstrong is some sports player - lots of them think the composer Bethowen still alive - if asked to choose between Paco Rabane or Moshe Daian, they will choose Rabane as the Mona Lisa's painter. As you can see, math problem is just the tip of the iceberg. If your culture can't learn math, it is just because the whole system below the sea level is horrendous and doesn't give any base to learn anything else. I could use math as the learning indicator, if your math is bad, there is a enourmous chance you don't have a minimum idea what means hemoglobulin or what is the speed of sound. Of course you can't label people by the knowledge, but you can predict how a person is able to solve life problems by himself based on the ability to answer how much is 75% of 200 Dollars without using a calculator. Kids are kids in every country. There is no CHESS DNA in kids borning in the old soviet countries, at 10 years old they are almost chess world champions, and they are proud of it. Much more than adults, kids have a natural hunger for knowledge, and we must feed them with everything we can, if not, we will propagating stupidity to the upcoming generations. At least my kids know what means "prime numbers and know how to recognize some - all their school friends have no idea what means "prime". What is missing? W46NER -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email KILLspamlistservKILLspammitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body

Scott Stephens wrote: {Quote hidden}> From: Russell McMahon <RemoveMEapptechTakeThisOuTPARADISE.NET.NZ> > Subject: Re: [OT]: Teaching Math > > >>> How does academic fashion come and go, and why? > >> Note that it is not academic fashion, it is social engineering that >> largely drives it. > > And what is the spirit behind this 'social engineering', and what is > the premise it is based on? They claim our time and treasure for the > common good, and when it comes time to deliver, what do they deliver? > > My personal experience has been government and corporations will find > plenty of excuses to tax, degrade and exploit you, and if you attempt > to claim a benefit, or demand they perform their duty, they find > plenty of excuses to disqualify you, or shirk their responsibility. > > I have seen this spirit, this evil, predatory desire behind thousands > of excuses and circumstances. Often conservatives point out the > symptoms of the illness, the methods of the Beast, but they never > quite get a hold of its spirit. Lately I read Rand's Fountainhead, in > which some of her high-contrast caricatures illustrate the method of > the madness well (the dissolusioned, dumbed-down Catherine and > Ellsworth's chapter-long speech to Keeting about power - destroying > the identities and wills of others while appearing to be a saint, for > instance). > > My point - it is better to fight smarter, not harder. Good camouflage, > deception, means less energy expended by the predator to hunt down > the prey. Predators inhibit, degrade, competitors in jungle, to > dominate food supply and gene pool. In society, inhibition works > through the will of the mob, the tyranny of charisma and popularity, > to inhibit the will of the mob, the will and identity of its > individuals through humiliation and brutality to the will of the > popular. Or you can examine chaotic systems such as neural networks - > a collection of unstable oscillators coupled in geometric > configurations. Some communities of neurons/switching elements > establish oscillatory patterns that entrain other communities and > elements, causing them to phase-lock to the popular mode, rather than > freely-firing according to their own limit cycles. > > That is the fruit of public eduction, not its conscious, overt, > stated goal, but the unconscious demonic desire in the hearts of > those that are intent on destroying the individual identities of the > members of the 'public', so that they can be reformed into what the > establishment desires. It is not about ideology or what color > uniforms (fasion), it is about who gets to choose the ideology and > the fasion. It is about the desire for power and the desire to > degrade the hearts and minds of others, their independant will. > > Public housing, public education, public toilets. > > Scott Scott, even that english is not my born language, I can not agree more with you, we're fully damned. But tell me, what a hell you said above? is this about a new fruit juice or something? :P W46NER. -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email spamBeGonelistservspamBeGonemitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body