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A Question for You All
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| ninja |
Posted on 08/05/2012 17:33:21
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Super Admin
Posts: 4174
Joined: 15.11.10
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The Hat of Love wrote:
thing is, most of the maths you need is just arithmetic. and i learnt that at primary school really well (we had times tables tests every week) so i can do the arithmatricks n stuff.
There is so much more to maths than basic arithmetic.
Yes, it's important to be able to do those calculations for everyday needs such as those Brick mentioned, but maths is much more about ways of thinking than number crunching.
The following TED talk from Conrad Wolfram is quite interesting, about diluting the focus on teaching arithmetic.
http://www.ted.co...uters.html
My brain is open.
- Paul Erdős |
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| The Hat of Love |
Posted on 08/05/2012 17:56:35
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ShawnPeezy
Posts: 9035
Joined: 31.07.11
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i know, can't have missed that over the last five years of maths lessons... what i mean is that there's little that you're going to need outside of basic number crunching. it's good to know, occasionally, the circumference of your bike wheel or something but i expect i will spend less time using stuff like that (much less) than i have learning it. even my maths teachers could never defend a lot of stuff.
my signature broke, here is a fox snek:
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| ZA BrickSquad |
Posted on 08/05/2012 18:35:48
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ShawnPeezy
Posts: 5303
Joined: 12.05.11
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I use basic and complex math everyday.
Just by walking I'm thinking of every step I take, I try to make it most efficient when walking. I use the Pythagorean theorem a lot =P |
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| Chilla |
Posted on 08/05/2012 18:53:24
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I got a big blue star for posting. i must be special
Posts: 1634
Joined: 10.04.12
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why u talk about maths
So i dont have to repeat it that often: Im from Poland and i live in Germany lol
You can tellem that ive been through hell and back
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| ZA BrickSquad |
Posted on 08/05/2012 19:04:50
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ShawnPeezy
Posts: 5303
Joined: 12.05.11
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Mathematics is awesome. Now I wanna go to a math class ='( |
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| ninja |
Posted on 08/05/2012 19:28:44
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Super Admin
Posts: 4174
Joined: 15.11.10
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The Hat of Love wrote:
i know, can't have missed that over the last five years of maths lessons... what i mean is that there's little that you're going to need outside of basic number crunching. it's good to know, occasionally, the circumference of your bike wheel or something but i expect i will spend less time using stuff like that (much less) than i have learning it. even my maths teachers could never defend a lot of stuff.
Depends what you do in life. I'm probably going to use it quite a lot, whether it's for intellectual amusement or as an occupation.
I don't think they should have to "defend" anything. Just because maths is often and correctly categorised as a science, that doesn't mean everything has to apply immediately to your everyday life. It can also be viewed as an art, or a language so can be interesting or even beautiful.
My brain is open.
- Paul Erdős |
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| Mator |
Posted on 08/05/2012 21:07:58
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Senior Member
Posts: 265
Joined: 28.06.12
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Hotpot wrote:
Here is a slightly trickier math problem:
Mathematically prove that no three positive integers a, b, c can satisfy this equation:
a^n + b^n = c^n
Given that n is an integer greater than 2.
You gave the problem wrong. You have to say that a /neq b /neq c, else we could just introduce a zero and say the other two are equal.
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| ZA Luna |
Posted on 08/05/2012 21:17:11
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I got a big blue star for posting. i must be special
Posts: 1723
Joined: 16.11.10
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ninja wrote: It can also be viewed as an art, or a language so can be interesting or even beautiful.
Like the Fibonacci sequence?
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| za heystarface |
Posted on 08/05/2012 21:27:39
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Admin
Posts: 6130
Joined: 20.11.10
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I have never enjoyed maths. I'm not entirely dyslexic, but I have a hard time holding numbers in my head, so I can't do ANY math in my head, and have to write it all down. I've always gotten tops marks in my math classes though.
I wasn't taught anything fancy for order of operations, we were just taught Mult, Div, Add Sub from left to right.
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| Phoenix |
Posted on 08/05/2012 21:32:33
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ShawnPeezy
Posts: 2309
Joined: 16.04.11
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After taking Cal and stats, I am done. DPT doesn't require anything higher :)
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| ZA BrickSquad |
Posted on 08/06/2012 04:15:55
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ShawnPeezy
Posts: 5303
Joined: 12.05.11
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Mathematics<3
I always end up being the top 2 or 3 in all my math classes, and I was in Gifted, so these "nerds" would be copying off of me!!! xD Everyone would always ask for help (especially the girls) which I love to help and explain to them until they LEARN how to do it. |
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| ninja |
Posted on 08/06/2012 06:18:54
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Super Admin
Posts: 4174
Joined: 15.11.10
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Mator wrote:
Hotpot wrote:
Here is a slightly trickier math problem:
Mathematically prove that no three positive integers a, b, c can satisfy this equation:
a^n + b^n = c^n
Given that n is an integer greater than 2.
You gave the problem wrong. You have to say that a /neq b /neq c, else we could just introduce a zero and say the other two are equal.
Zero solutions are trivial. It's obvious that they're excluded.
ZA Luna wrote:
ninja wrote: It can also be viewed as an art, or a language so can be interesting or even beautiful.
Like the Fibonacci sequence?
Yes, his sequence is pretty cool. There's also Pascal's triangle, and various fractals such as Sierpinski's triangle, the Koch Snowflake and the Mandelbrot set to name but a few.
My brain is open.
- Paul Erdős |
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| Chilla |
Posted on 08/06/2012 07:19:27
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I got a big blue star for posting. i must be special
Posts: 1634
Joined: 10.04.12
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ZA BrickSquad wrote:
[b][color=#cc0000]Mathematics<3
how can you say that 
So i dont have to repeat it that often: Im from Poland and i live in Germany lol
You can tellem that ive been through hell and back
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| The Hat of Love |
Posted on 08/06/2012 07:45:54
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ShawnPeezy
Posts: 9035
Joined: 31.07.11
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ninja wrote:
The Hat of Love wrote:
i know, can't have missed that over the last five years of maths lessons... what i mean is that there's little that you're going to need outside of basic number crunching. it's good to know, occasionally, the circumference of your bike wheel or something but i expect i will spend less time using stuff like that (much less) than i have learning it. even my maths teachers could never defend a lot of stuff.
Depends what you do in life. I'm probably going to use it quite a lot, whether it's for intellectual amusement or as an occupation.
I don't think they should have to "defend" anything. Just because maths is often and correctly categorised as a science, that doesn't mean everything has to apply immediately to your everyday life. It can also be viewed as an art, or a language so can be interesting or even beautiful.
hm, and yet maths teachers fail time and time again to make it interesting or beautiful. i really don't see the beauty, the interest or, more importantly, the need for algebra. you think we should learn it because it's interesting; to me it really isn't. it's nothing to do with not being able to do it either, i've always been pretty good at maths but in the last few years i stopped trying in lessons anymore because i had a terrible teacher, i didn't understand anything (because of the terrible teacher) and i didn't see the relevance to real life.
my signature broke, here is a fox snek:
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| ninja |
Posted on 08/06/2012 09:42:46
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Super Admin
Posts: 4174
Joined: 15.11.10
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The core concepts, such as that of representation of value or concept as letters in algebra are needed to understand/produce higher-level more interesting maths.
No, there's nothing much interesting about solving "x-3>4" but the idea of being able to represent quantity like that is important. One application of the above is in linear programming which is a highly useful method. It could be used to maximise profits, for example.
I completely agree that maths teachers often fail to make it interesting and beautiful, and that's a great shame because it really is.
My brain is open.
- Paul Erdős |
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| ZA BrickSquad |
Posted on 08/06/2012 09:58:34
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ShawnPeezy
Posts: 5303
Joined: 12.05.11
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I don't know for all of you guys, but every year, my math teacher was awesome lol. |
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