Common Core math problem with easy solution

[vraiblonde]

Who knows, in the future we may have a generation of kids who can whip off numbers out of their head in mere seconds, and wouldn't that be nice?

Why? How does it benefit someone to be able to whip out equations quickly in their head besides to impress people at a cocktail party? If you work with numbers for a living, chances are good you have a machine that does quick math for you. Kids can use calculators in school, so that's not an issue.

Seriously, why is it important that we be able to do math in our head anymore?

 

[mAlice]

Seriously, why is it important that we be able to do math in our head anymore?

Worse case scenario? Use your imagination. Still, not everyone would need to have those kinds of math skills. Most people go through life not using a fraction (heh, see what I did there) of the math they learned.

 

[SG_Player1974]

I honestly cannot think of a time I ever used Trigonometry or Advanced Calculus. Although... I am aware that there are professions that utilize these maths however, they are a small fraction of the work force.

The only cursive writing I use is when I sign my name too....

 

[GURPS]

I taught myself what amounts to the common core and can do math easier and faster in my head now.

after being out of school for 30 some yrs ..
... I will be 49 this month, I basically do any math more complicated than 2 places and more that 2 numbers, in the common core method. [where a calculator or spreadsheet isn't handy]

13
18
22
55
63
22
49
21
75
97


I pair up all the 'ones' that will make up 10, then add and add again, until the problem is solved .....




----------------------------------------------------------------------




I also use Excel for Algebra, which I swore in 1982 I would never have a use for .....


as a guy into 4 wheel drive vehicle mods, I realized on day I was using algebra to figure how changing from 31 inch mudders to 35 inch Super Swampers will affect your final drive ratio

... and can result in a grossly under powered truck


MPH for a Given RPM

=SUM(RPM*Tire Diameter)/(Diff Ratio*Trans Ratio*Transfer Case*336)

2000*32/3.31*1*1*336 = 53.95

convert metric tires to inches

=SUM(Section Width /25.4)*Aspect Ratio *2+Rim Diameter

 

[mAlice]

The only cursive writing I use is when I sign my name too....

Once the general population can no longer read cursive writing, the powers that be can tell us the older documents say anything they want you to think they say.

 

[somdfunguy]

This makes my head explode and makes absolutely no sense to me. I remember back in 1975/6 timeframe that the next great math thing was to drop our American way of doing math and convert to all metrics instead. Fortunately, that fell to the wayside rather quickly.

In my school years I wasn't a fan of it at all. Now I wish we were on the metric system. It is a lot easier to use and perform calculations.

 

[Monello]

she did state that this is her 4th set of curriculum standards in 21 years.

So it would seem that the educational paradigm changes every 4-5 years. It must be interesting for the inventors of the system being replaced. Their latest-and-greatest method is dumped in favor of an even 'better' method.

 

[Larry Gude]

It seems to me that the methodology on display in the test from the OP (if that's what common core does, I'm not sure it is) is just trying to have children learn by being more consciously aware of the process they're using - the same process that others are using, though subconsciously and without understanding that that's the process they're using. .

See, that's my impression. Heck, if anything, it seems this requires MORE thinking, work by the kids and teachers with a better end product in exchange. I dunno...but, more work, more thought can not be a bad thing.

 

[Gilligan]

stubbornly refusing to adopt the Metric System isn't actually a bragging point for us.

I'll second that! Working with engineered solutions on foreign projects (what we do most of in my business) makes the dysfunctional US system of units a real pain to deal with.

 

[Monello]

I'll second that! Working with engineered solutions on foreign projects (what we do most of in my business) makes the dysfunctional US system of units a real pain to deal with.

Now if only we could get the other 150 or so other countries to change.

 

[Hodr]

I said something to that effect to her. "There were a bunch of guys at NASA that put men on the moon using rote mathematics." (And circular slide rules) To piggyback on Intertidal's comment, she did state that this is her 4th set of curriculum standards in 21 years. #corporateeducation

I remember one of my gradeschool teachers using this as an example of why we couldn't use calculators in class. My argument though was that the slide rule (and the slide rule table) is a tool, just like a calculator is a tool. You may be able to perform the task by hand, but I wouldn't wan't someone to do this professionally.

I wouldn't ask a carpenter to use only hand tools to build my house, and I wouldn't ask NASA to count on their fingers to calculate trajectories for sending spacecraft to Mars.

An abacus, a slide rule, a simple calculator, or even an advanced computer program. They are all tools (or crutches) that provide an advantage, we are now just arguing over how much of an advantage should be allowed.

EDIT BELOW-

Another thing my teacher used to say; what if you were walking down the street and a madman jumped out of the bushes and forced you to solve a math problem, and if you got it wrong he would kill you.

If only my teacher had known that 30 years later nearly every person in the western world would be carrying a calculator at all times.

Imagine another 30 years from today.

 

[vraiblonde]

I wouldn't ask a carpenter to use only hand tools to build my house, and I wouldn't ask NASA to count on their fingers to calculate trajectories for sending spacecraft to Mars.

That's where I was going with my post: people who used advanced math in their profession do not calculate in their head, or even with pencil and paper. So why is it important that normal boring people be able to do it?

 

[Larry Gude]

I remember one of my gradeschool teachers using this as an example of why we couldn't use calculators in class. My argument though was that the slide rule (and the slide rule table) is a tool, just like a calculator is a tool. You may be able to perform the task by hand, but I wouldn't wan't someone to do this professionally.

I wouldn't ask a carpenter to use only hand tools to build my house, and I wouldn't ask NASA to count on their fingers to calculate trajectories for sending spacecraft to Mars.

An abacus, a slide rule, a simple calculator, or even an advanced computer program. They are all tools (or crutches) that provide an advantage, we are now just arguing over how much of an advantage should be allowed.

Good post. I think this gets to the core of what is worth debating about our education system.

I use this example all the time; Colbert King of the Wash Post wrote an article about education a long time ago, when the Post was getting a new e mail system. The vendor did not get paid to teach everyone how to use the new system. They got paid when everyone knew how to use the new system.

Another quote I like to use is the Dean of Hillsdale. In talking about how they 'teach' there, he said, paraphrasing "We don't teach. The students learn. We keep working at teaching until they are ready to learn."

 

[Hodr]

I'll second that! Working with engineered solutions on foreign projects (what we do most of in my business) makes the dysfunctional US system of units a real pain to deal with.

Eh? I don't get it. How does being familiar with imperial units (12 inches in a foot, 8 pints in a gallon) somehow make me unable to do basic base-10 math.

Europeans always acting superior because they can divide and multiply by 10.

The real issue is that they have lost the ability to do slightly more difficult math in their heads and decide that we should change our ways to suit their lesser capabilities.

 

[Radiant1]

Why? How does it benefit someone to be able to whip out equations quickly in their head besides to impress people at a cocktail party? If you work with numbers for a living, chances are good you have a machine that does quick math for you. Kids can use calculators in school, so that's not an issue.

Seriously, why is it important that we be able to do math in our head anymore?

Ya gotta learn how to do math in your head in case the grid shuts down, duh!

 

[Larry Gude]

Eh? I don't get it. How does being familiar with imperial units (12 inches in a foot, 8 pints in a gallon) somehow make me unable to do basic base-10 math.

Europeans always acting superior because they can divide and multiply by 10.

The real issue is that they have lost the ability to do slightly more difficult math in their heads and decide that we should change our ways to suit their lesser capabilities.

That would be one way to look at it. The other would be we lack the ability to simply convert to a MUCH simpler system. We don't do inches and pints and quarts because we're smarter. We do it because we're too lazy to learn even the most simple system.

 

[Larry Gude]

Now if only we could get the other 150 or so other countries to change.

View attachment 104742

THAT is sad.

 

[GURPS]

That's where I was going with my post: people who used advanced math in their profession do not calculate in their head, or even with pencil and paper. So why is it important that normal boring people be able to do it?

because teaching hasn't caught up ...... think about all of the math teachers you will put out of work

 

[SG_Player1974]

Another thing my teacher used to say; what if you were walking down the street and a madman jumped out of the bushes and forced you to solve a math problem, and if you got it wrong he would kill you.

As long as they don't want to take my Jordans or my North Face...... It's all good in the hood!

 

[vraiblonde]

THAT is sad.

But the fact remains that we're (still) a world superpower and the vast majority of those metric countries are not.

So yeah....sad....?