[Koayrbzh]

It just doesn't add up.

[Reatclaplen]

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...

[bubborn]

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.

[Serereids]

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.

[Clolmemaexata]

Calculators
Using Octave and/or Mathematica on your laptop instead

[Prosocorneliay]

I am at a loss for words Liar.

[ppfpooghn]

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).

[ReggieRed]

In High school I was allowed to use a slide rule in physics. Nothing in any mathmatics class. A slide rule would do more than a calculator back then anyway. hehe...yep, I'm old

[bashansasasasa]

Knowing the algorithms is important, but if accuracy is king(such as at a job), just use a machine to do it.

and yea, those other methods are retarded, and won't scale to larger problems.

[Heopretg2006]

The long division method they first showed won't really scale.

[SallythePearl]

Sinbad does a great bit where's he's buying lunch at McDonald's for $4.95 when the power goes out. Without the register, the cashier can't figure out change for a $5. He calls a manager over, who also can't figure it out. Finally, the cashier raises his hands in defeat, backs away from the register and say, "Just reach in and that what you think you have coming."

[derisgun]

I'm sorry for your loss

[Sdinozes]

Originally posted by Whoha
The long division method they first showed won't really scale. No algorithm easily performed by a human scales well. That's why we have computers.

[JackieC]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker


No algorithm easily performed by a human scales well. That's why we have computers. which is why I advocate their use. but that one was just horrible.

[GenrieAB]

Our kids may not know math but they know what Pam was wearing in the red carpet, what Paris did in Monaco last night and the mix of pills Britney uses to make it all ok again.



You have to have priorities!

[socialkiiii]

Well, I'm going to rally to the defense of our horrid math skills.

Certainly the US doesn't have any problem producing students with superb math skills. MIT, Cal Tech, and CMU (take a bow, Kuci!) are our schools, remember? American engineering and scientific innovation still set the standard worldwide. Clearly, we're doing something right.

Part of what we're doing right, in fact, is teaching kids to be flexible in their thinking, and to think for themselves, rather than just engaging in rote learning (the norm for most of the rest of the world, especially India and the rest of Asia). It's no surprise that very little innovation (as opposed to excellent adaptation) comes out of Asia; Asian education produces group-think-bound followers, not innovative leaders.

Now, surely, this tendency can be taken too far; I'm still appalled that my daughter was never compelled to memorize her multiplication tables in the third grade, and am convinced she has suffered from it. But, in the end, she was never going to be a math person; her parents are word people (though I was a strong, if utterly bored, math student in my day), and she'll certainly get by with the everyday math she has. And that's the point; techniques like those in the video are designed to try to give everyone, no matter how math-phobic, some access to math; it's certainly preferable to the alternative, which is boring, alienating, and failing students (even more than education already does).

And, for the record, I think of 36*21 as (36*20)+36. I get the correct answer in my head quickly -- which, once you're out of school, is all that counts.

[Crilosajsamq]

Why? They can just use Indians.

[ElegeExcest]

Originally posted by VetLegion


Are you studying at the IIT? No, I got into my college through my score on the AIEEE.

[Cheaperisdeeper]

I have you all beat. I didn't even get access to slide rulers until I was out of college.

[Michael-jeckson2]

Originally posted by Xorbon
Calculators should be banned from schools until calculus and geometry where you need to do calculations involving sine and cosine, logarithms, and irrational numbers. Until then, kids should be forced to use paper and pencil (and their heads) to solve mathematical problems.

If you introduce calculators too early to children, they become far too dependent on them. I'm curious -- would you make the same argument for a word-processing program? I actually don't know of any schoolchildren, at any age, who are still required to write out their homework by hand; my daughter was required to type on her work on a computer starting in the 6th grade. Arguably, students' mastery of penmanship, grammar, and spelling all suffer from having the word-processing crutch to lean on. Yet, while I see this argument about calculators all the time, nobody seems riled up about word processing.