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125 Comments
- MSP1, on 05/15/2009, -10/+35Can someone explain why they call it MATH in the U.S.?
- daballs, on 05/15/2009, -0/+21Same reason we don't use the metric system.
- BKred, on 05/15/2009, -0/+21Speaking as a teacher of mathematics at the high school level, I agree wholeheartedly with the spirit of this article. From a young age, children need to be taught that math is about patterns, not rules. It's so much more powerful, for example, for them to generate the rule that x^a * x^b = x^(a+b) on their own using the definition of exponents than for me to just tell them the rule. But by the time they hit high school, that's all they want. "Just tell me how to do it and I'll try to memorize the process." There's no creativity, there's no ability to think through a problem that they haven't seen an *exact* example of (though in many cases having seen an exact example doesn't help either).
But for as many people who advocate this approach, there seem to be just as many advocating a more "traditional" approach of rote memorization and skill practice. And there's something to be said about that, as well. Students who lack basic skills, who are unable to add 96+17 in their head, or see 7 x 8 and instantly know that it's 56, are rarely ever going to able to see patterns later in school life. In a way, it's the same problem that I ran into in my college courses when I didn't understand my theorems well enough to recognize when to apply them. They don't have enough of a foundation of the very simple mathematical rules to be able to build upon them.
And then there are the standards. In New York State, for 9th grade Algebra, there are 89 different content standards (and 51 process standards). Everything from "Perform the four arithmetic operations using like and unlike radical terms and express the result in simplest form" to "Find the complement of a subset of a given set, within a given universe." The line we teachers like to use when describing the state mandated curriculum is "A mile wide and an inch deep." There is such a quantity of material we're required to teach, there is hardly any time for any sort of mastery. We aren't able to spend enough time on a topic for students to see these patterns that this article wishes we could get them to see.
I'm not trying to pass the buck here; I feel that I do the best that I can. I try to keep my classes varied and interesting, and do hands-on or other differentiated activities apart from the classic "get up and talk" lecture style. But it grows frustrating when the kids continually show no enthusiasm. And I know it's not all their fault. By the time I get them, all the fun and beauty and curiosity of math has been sucked out of them and they don't give a ***** about it anymore. Math for most of these students is now not much more than an obstacle to graduation, instead of the path to understanding the world around us.
Anyway, just wanted to put my 2 cents in... - benbrooks101, on 05/15/2009, -2/+21Because it's short for mathematics, You don't call the full thing mathematic do you?
Just logic I guess. - hashaplenty, on 05/15/2009, -1/+15Sexs can be fun too.
- Chrysalii, on 05/15/2009, -1/+14Americans have intelligence. We're just wasting it on unit conversions.
- avaris15, on 05/15/2009, -2/+15Yet again, it's a word that has been adapted by Americans. Everywhere else in the world calls it "maths".
- ayeroxor, on 05/15/2009, -4/+16Ok, TRUCE:
We're allowed to remove a letter that belongs in "Maths."
You're allowed to add a letter that doesn't belong in "Aluminum" - wassamatta, on 05/15/2009, -11/+23Can someone explain why they call it MATHS outside the U.S.?
- FastZ, on 05/15/2009, -2/+14It's not an abbreviation, it's truncated, which should result in the removal of the S as well.
- kourck, on 05/15/2009, -0/+11M_athematical A_nti-T_elharsic H_arfatum S_eptomin
MATHS - Timmmm, on 05/15/2009, -0/+9Mathematic*s*. Just a different way of shortening it I guess. Sounds better if you ask me, but maybe I just more used to it.
- clancyryan, on 05/15/2009, -5/+14because math is short for mathematics, not mathsematics. If people started shortening economics, they would call it 'eco', not 'ecos'.
- maz2331, on 05/15/2009, -1/+9Because the Brits love adding extra letters to words, and Americans like to remove as many as possible. It's really that simple.
- brunoa, on 05/15/2009, -0/+7I'm pretty sure that if you ball your hand into a fist, you have zero fingers showing.
- canvashinder, on 05/15/2009, -3/+10Because you don't have zero fingers.
- inactive, on 05/15/2009, -0/+7Gee, where do I send the smiley face sticker.
- rkthoadan, on 05/15/2009, -0/+6It is faster, but the ability to break problems down and see the short-cuts is a far more valuable skill in the long run. When I try to add those numbers in my head I end up doing it just like I would do it on paper, add 7+6 carry the 1 and so forth. That's really just adding digits, not numbers and is actually more steps for my brain than 96+4+13. I kinda feel that the "short cut" has more respect for the numbers as themselves.
- Jon211, on 05/15/2009, -0/+6http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drE5cHe6c3s
- KeillRandor, on 05/15/2009, -5/+11Quite a few years ago now, I used to babysit a couple of friends kids for a while, a couple of evenings a week - (it was one of the few ways I earned my own money while at college so I wasn't complaining). The youngest child, a girl, also used to do some of her homework at the time. (I never recall having homework at that age when I was at school! (Primary school in the UK btw)).
She was having a lot of problems with maths, so I asked her parents if the minded me helping out - (they didn't). It took me a short while to figure out what her problem was.
It was actually very simple - she hadn't learned how to count properly.
Our number system is a base-10 system which we call decimal. This means we use ten basic symbols: 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9.
The reason why she was having problems was that she was trying to count form 1 to 10, and was getting a bit confused. So I helped her learn to count properly from 0 to 9, and after that she found addition and subtraction much easier.
Since then I've been keeping an eye out for things, and I've noticed that all the kids wall charts and stuff about numbers, never count from 0 to 9 - it's always from 1 to 10. Why??? - rkthoadan, on 05/15/2009, -0/+5I'm not sure why you're getting buried. I find that fascinating. It implies that our brains, or at least her brain, comprehends 0 and wants to use it. It's surely worth investigating how our brains comprehend numbers.
In any case it's the type of thing that any good math(s) teacher should be aware of in case they come across other kids who think the same way. - jezsik, on 05/15/2009, -2/+7Shall we discuss science education in Texas?
- Severys, on 05/15/2009, -0/+5The article tends to over criticise the teaching of solution methods to students. The most important tool that Maths gives us is the ability to solve problems by abstraction which requires mastering these methods. Whilst I agree that the school curriculum (in the UK) can benefit from a rethink in the way that it is taught with perhaps more emphasis on real world problems (I give lectures to 16 - 18 year old school students on the use of mathematics in computer games development and find that the students engage with the material), if we remove abstraction then we lose the ability to synthesise.
- kurkpeterman, on 05/15/2009, -1/+6Goofy to take it off to 'be different'? Why leave it on? You're already abbreviating the word, but choosing to only leave the last letter on:
Math-ematic-s vs. Math-ematics
To me, it makes more sense to chop the whole second part of the word off. Also, let's be clear, this is an abbreviation, both ways are correct as they are substitutes for the full word. - b1ffr43p, on 05/15/2009, -0/+5cool story bro
- inactive, on 05/15/2009, -0/+5Encourage children to develop a flexible view of numbers. For example, think about adding two numbers such as 96 and 17 in your head. This MAY SEEM TRICKY, but if you break the 17 into 4 and 13 then the sum becomes 96 + 4 + 13, which for most people is much easier.
Wow, people must be even stupider than I thought if that's considered on average tricky.. - Neiby, on 05/15/2009, -0/+5My girlfriend has a 12-year-old daughter who I've been helping with her math class. I'm stunned at how poorly that class is taught. It seriously makes me want to slap the teacher silly. They don't have a textbook. All they have is a workbook with problems. You have to show up for class and take notes. If you miss class, you just hope the teacher has copies of the notes for that day. And I can tell that the math is not being taught in a way that makes sense. She is always so surprised after I explain things to her. She wishes that her teacher made as much sense as I do. But that makes me wonder...if you can't ***** teach math, why the ***** are you teaching a math class?? It really pisses me off.
- inactive, on 05/15/2009, -0/+4The British have lost it - just look at the educational programming they run:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj2NOTanzWI - rkthoadan, on 05/15/2009, -0/+4There is a big difference between being good at calculation and being good at math. Part of me has always wanted to teach Algebra 1 just to be able to tell the kids on the first day of school that I don't care how good a calculator they are. I can carry a better calculator in my pocket. I'd also tell them that if they haven't been good at route memorization based math in the past it doesn't really matter from here on out.
- mohsenxp, on 05/15/2009, -0/+4I understand kurkpeterman's reasoning.
Shortening a word means you shouldn't suddenly include the last letter of the word also.
Math-ematics if shortened should be Math- not Math-s
But hey, it's what we call it here and it's just more natural to say it like that.
Unlike many other things that americans adopt which I disagree with, I actually think 'Math' makes more sense! - kelmaster1, on 05/15/2009, -0/+4Breaking things down is essential in math, such as factoring... what's 123*57? (120+3)*(50+7) = 6000 + 150 + 840 +21 = 7011
It's all about working with simpler numbers then putting it back together... The way you added 96+17 is exactly how I would do it.
lol FastZ - emptyo, on 05/15/2009, -2/+6I much prefer Englishes.
- Regulator980, on 05/15/2009, -0/+4I believe it's because of this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj2NOTanzWI - sv650touring, on 05/15/2009, -0/+4Would you be willing to negotiate the movie rights to your autobiography?
- kurkpeterman, on 05/15/2009, -2/+5Thank you FastZ! My point exactly, it sounds like a pluralization because you leaving an s on the end of the word instead of cutting off the whole second part.
- inactive, on 05/15/2009, -0/+3Ours stole our smokes and hit us with a meter long wooden blackboard ruler.
We didn't learn much because we hated him.. - FastZ, on 05/15/2009, -0/+3I wish my teachers in school would have given me good, solid reasons why I needed to learn Algebra. I know I asked several different teachers and never got a decent answer from them. That's why I didn't try very hard to learn the stuff. Kind of wish I had kept asking until someone told me it was important to know the stuff.
- BKred, on 05/15/2009, -0/+3You do realize there's a 5 minute window where you can edit your posts...
- kurkpeterman, on 05/15/2009, -1/+4I realize that it is a discipline like physics/kinetics and not an actual pluralization. It's not like there is a thing called a mathematic that is running around with a bunch of his friends. That being said, why abbreviate the word and leave the s on the end? Because math is also an abbreviation of the word, it makes it *sound* like a pluralization.
- kelmaster1, on 05/15/2009, -0/+3I took 3 years of Calculus, enough for a math minor, with an Eng. degree. I rarely use anything past the basic integral, although I do work with matrices... thank god for Maple.
I can honestly say the most important skill i attained after 3 years of Calculus was expert algebra skills. If you truly want to learn math it takes a doctorate degree (I'm not talking about math skills, I'm talking about understanding.)
It's a good think the majority is bad with math, better job security for me :) Sucks though when you get these parents that want their kid to get a SAT score higher than 1400. My math was 760, but my English sure as hell wasn't... It takes a pretty rare mind to be good at both. - mohsenxp, on 05/15/2009, -0/+3I wonder if accents and local dialect have been of any influence.
I feel for an English accent it is harder to say 'Math' than it is to say 'Maths'. Just the way we pronounce the 'a' makes it more natural to end with an s.
I cannot say 'Math' without sounding American. I find it a strain to miss out the s. I wonder if Americans find it a strain to add the s?
Just a thought for a possible cause of such differences. - sodade, on 05/15/2009, -1/+4"MATHEMATICS should be one of the most useful subjects children learn in school"
I'm sorry, but I haven't found it useful at all. I'm 40, with a 22 year career in tech (not a programmer) and the most math I have ever needed in my life was the simplest algebra equation. All those years of math in school were totally wasted time for me. Yes, I understand that there are jobs out there that do actually need higher math skills, but it seems that they are way out of proportion to the amount of mandatory math that we teach kids. I would have been much better served with consumer finance classes.
That said, math is interesting as hell and I wish I had more reasons to learn it. - pacdude, on 05/15/2009, -0/+3We have started to shorten in. We call it "Econ."
- inactive, on 05/15/2009, -0/+3If you tried to require that all of the humanities people would bitch and moan. This would, of course, be in spite of the fact that all scientists, engineers, and mathematicians have to take at least as much humanities as you've just suggested everyone take in math/science.
***** babies, all of them. - DulcetTone, on 05/15/2009, -1/+4Yes, it's shortened from mathematics by removing the end (you know, the "ematicS"). How many words do you abbreviate by removing all the letters and then restoring the last one?
- wassamatta, on 05/15/2009, -1/+4but I can't say Maths... I have a lisp :-). Mathematics is easier to say than maths.
- bdbr, on 05/15/2009, -1/+4Do they shorten Economics to Econs?
- mohsenxp, on 05/15/2009, -5/+7ayroxor - Aluminium is pronounced: A-loo-mee-nee-yum in our part of the world.
Again it is an American word that is: A-loo-mee-num.
We are not adding extra letters, you are changing complete words ;) - scuzzmonkey69, on 05/15/2009, -0/+21-10 is taught because generally people count exclusive of 0, rather than inclusive.
i.e. you don't think that 1 = 0+1, but rather just 1, and that 2 is 1+1, rather than 0+2.
until you start doing Comp Sci and find out about 0 based pointers vs 1 based pointers, and spend 4 hours trying to work out why the hell you're getting exceptions when "the pointer isn't going above the last value......oh wait" -
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