I am at a loss for words

[aneeshm]

Is this for real?





Is this really how some kids are taught mathematical tools? In the USA, of all places?

And telling these children to use a calculator!? I didn't use a calculator until the first year of college, not even for arithmetic calculation (it was strictly forbidden), and I still try to avoid it as much as possible, out of sheer habit. It is a habit which has served me well. Not using a machine even when doing complex calculations gives you an intuitive "feel" for the numbers and for the problem you're solving.

If the situation is really this bad, then this is nothing short of a horrifying atrocity, committed on unsuspecting and innocent young minds, just to push the agenda of some intellectually inbred idiot.

[Richelieu]

It just doesn't add up.

[LordShiva]

Re: I am at a loss for words

Originally posted by aneeshm
I didn't use a calculator until the first year of college, not even for arithmetic calculation (it was strictly forbidden)

Srsly? Were you CBSE?

ISC math/chem/physics would have been impossible without a calculator.

[Arrian]

We got calculators in high school, for stuff like Geometry and Calc. You know, the fancy ones that plot graphs and stuff.

-Arrian, whose best math days were in basic algebra...

[Ninot]

What does Preston Productions have against calculators

That's kinda sad though. How do school boards agree to such books?

[VetLegion]

I think I use similar approximation methods to those that are taught to kids in that video. 21x36 is for me 20 x 36 + 1 x 36. Or 30 x 21 + 6 x 21.

[snoopy369]

The TERC method is not a bad one at all, actually... I'd not teach it quite that way, and I'd teach the 'standard' method in addition, but learning
26x31 = (20*31) + (6*31)

is quite helpful for future math skills, and is much faster in your head. That's how I do math in my head, and I'm extremely fast and accurate at doing basic math.

The 'everyday math' method is sort of dumb, and doesn't teach the groundwork; so I'd ignore it (particularly the 'lattice' method which is quite useless).

The division method I'd teach both ways again; you should know how to actually solve the problem, but you should also learn the cluster method, as it can help solve problems you don't know how to solve yourself.

Her incessant whining about "parents won't understand what a cluster is" is moronic. Are you supposed to only teach the way your parents learned? No, that's just anti-progress. Anyone learning in a school that's using this method will have had this explained to them, probably in the front of the book... I'd rather not assume that all people are idiots.

Learning problem solving skills is very important, and much equally important as learning how to do multiplication/division itself. Certainly you need to learn how to do it, but the number of kids who make it to high school without learning how to solve problems analytically rather than by rote is far too high. I can't tell you how many kids I've known that were flabbergasted by algebra when they reached that point, because they hadn't been taught how to solve problems but just to do rote math.

[DirtyMartini]

I watched up until she started talking about division. I can see some value in that first alternative method of multiplication-- intuitive or whatever. I don't think I was specifically taught that method, but that's essentially how I do quick math "in my head". That lattice thing looks ridiculous. To not be taught the standard algorithm at all seems crazy.

Calculator-wise: used it for physics/chemistry/advanced math, but not until 8th grade or so.

[SlowwHand]

Most American youths need a calculator to count their blessings.

[BlackCat]

Yeah, as snoopy369 says, the std is best for paper and that TERC is excellent for head calc - the third, well

[Kuciwalker]

Calculators
Using Octave and/or Mathematica on your laptop instead

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by VetLegion
I think I use similar approximation methods to those that are taught to kids in that video. 21x36 is for me 20 x 36 + 1 x 36. Or 30 x 21 + 6 x 21.

That's not an approximation. That's a divide-and-conquer algorithm, well-suited to the small amount of working memory in the human brain.

[DinoDoc]

I am at a loss for words

Liar.

[BlackCat]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker

That's a divide-and-conquer algorithm.

No reason to bring Klingon math into the discussion

[aneeshm]

Re: Re: I am at a loss for words

Originally posted by LordShiva

Srsly? Were you CBSE?

Yes.

And damn proud of it!

Originally posted by LordShiva

ISC math/chem/physics would have been impossible without a calculator.

Hah!

We learnt how to do all that impossible stuff in our heads, because we had to (the IIT-JEE and the AIEEE demand it - you aren't given enough space on the paper to even write out the logarithms).