Virginia Dumbing Down Education

[RoseRed]

You've undoubtedly SEEN it. Binary is the simplest way that all computers speak - in simplest terms, a gate or circuit is a "1" if it is on, and a "0" if it is off. Base a number system on THAT, and you have a machine that can math (instead of using decimal, because we all have ten FINGERS).

You've probably never seen octal unless you're like OLD. Octal was used all the time in older computers.

Hex is the easiest way to represent binary and anytime you've opened a file and saw a bunch of gobbledy-gook, you were probably looking at hexadecimal. Think of it as binary in groups of four.

But back to the point - no algebra? Geometry? (I actually didn't have statistics until college, but it involved some pretty serious math - which I now use at my job). Without that - what IS high school math? You know arithmetic by the fifth grade.

That's all Greek to me.

I was kicked out of pre-algebra back into general math. I've even had a couple of tutors try and help me, but I cannot grasp the concept. I am definitely not a STEM candidate.

 

[SamSpade]

That's all Greek to me.

I was kicked out of pre-algebra back into general math. I've even had a couple of tutors try and help me, but I cannot grasp the concept. I am definitely not a STEM candidate.

Funy story - when I was in grad school, I had a Greek undergrad roommate - I said what do you say instead of "it's Greek to me? do you say anything?".

He said "we usually say 'it's CHINESE to me' ".

 

[DoWhat]

IF they'd taught me base 2 (binary), base 8 (octal) and base 16 (hexadecimal) a LOT of my computer classes would have been much simpler.

IPv4 soon to go to IPv6.

 

[GURPS]

The Internet II Runs on IPV6

 

[Clem72]

The majority of advanced-diploma earners in 2019 were Asian (79%) and White (63%), according to Sale's presentation.

Asians and Whites take 142% of advanced diplomas!? No wonder minorities can't get ahead. I mean other minorities.

 

[Clem72]

They're talking about Algebra I and Geometry as advanced classes? Are they kidding?

I realize I was always good at math - and I placed out of Algebra I in high school for having it in eighth grade - but what the hell IS high school math, then?

When I was in school - if you took math - it went Alg I, II, Geometry, Trig, (sometimes Algebra III) and Calculus (or "pre-calculus"). I was lucky enough to get Propositional Logic and Number Theory in a class designed just for me.

Take those away - and what do you have? Finger Math?

No, this was the same for me. Took Calc1/2 my sophomore year of high school and was not considered "advanced" at the time though I was a year ahead of average because I took summer school when I was younger and knocked out geometry.

 

[PrchJrkr]

I had algebra in middle school, then went as far as intro to trig before I started focusing on girls. They weren't in the advanced math classes, why should I be? I should have stayed enrolled in math classes. I didn't (re)meet my missus until the summer after graduation. Go figure.

 

[BernieP]

So much for preparing people for those new, high paying, tech jobs.
This is more or less socialism, we are now searching for the lowest common denominator.
When equal opportunity fails, then we change the rules to equal outcomes.

 

[BernieP]

You've undoubtedly SEEN it. Binary is the simplest way that all computers speak - in simplest terms, a gate or circuit is a "1" if it is on, and a "0" if it is off. Base a number system on THAT, and you have a machine that can math (instead of using decimal, because we all have ten FINGERS).

You've probably never seen octal unless you're like OLD. Octal was used all the time in older computers.

Hex is the easiest way to represent binary and anytime you've opened a file and saw a bunch of gobbledy-gook, you were probably looking at hexadecimal. Think of it as binary in groups of four.

But back to the point - no algebra? Geometry? (I actually didn't have statistics until college, but it involved some pretty serious math - which I now use at my job). Without that - what IS high school math? You know arithmetic by the fifth grade.

Octal is still very much in use in aviation - the various mode codes (1, 2, 3/A) use 3 bits to represent the digits.
There are many applications where the fields are defined as 3 bits, so they follow the rules of octal numbers, 0 - 7.
There are also some architectures that use 18 bit words, so octal is used frequently to display those
You don't have to be "Old"

 

[BOP]

I don't even know what that means.

I never made it past general math. :maffsishard:

I dunno, but I think it means:

 

[UglyBear]

I had algebra in middle school, then went as far as intro to trig before I started focusing on girls. They weren't in the advanced math classes, why should I be? I should have stayed enrolled in math classes. I didn't (re)meet my missus until the summer after graduation. Go figure.

The hottest chicks in my school were a year ahead of me in math... I was the dumb one for taking Calc B/C my senior year. I went to a weird school.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

Octal is still very much in use in aviation - the various mode codes (1, 2, 3/A) use 3 bits to represent the digits.
There are many applications where the fields are defined as 3 bits, so they follow the rules of octal numbers, 0 - 7.
There are also some architectures that use 18 bit words, so octal is used frequently to display those
You don't have to be "Old"

That's because all those standards were developed in the 70s.

 

[SamSpade]

Octal is still very much in use in aviation - the various mode codes (1, 2, 3/A) use 3 bits to represent the digits.
There are many applications where the fields are defined as 3 bits, so they follow the rules of octal numbers, 0 - 7.
There are also some architectures that use 18 bit words, so octal is used frequently to display those
You don't have to be "Old"

I didn't know that - last time I used octal for anything was either Digital or UNIVAC.
Still - the idea of teaching kids to do things like convert a useless base from one to another served no purpose.
Ditto the many ways they taught kids to do conversions to metric and back again. I mean, I KNOW an inch is 2.54 centimeters (actually redefined to be EXACTLY that) or there's 28 grams in an ounce or a pound is 454 grams or a kilogram is 2.2 pounds - or as we all know by now, a liter is pretty close to a quart - but so the hell what?

Honestly, there was a lot of useless stuff they taught us in school. Now I'd be hard pressed to say that algebra was useless. From the simple word problems my daughter shows me - there's very simple algebra we do all the time - something as simple as scaling up a recipe or figuring out how many more hits you need to reach .300 . Most of the math I've seen for my wife was applying shortcuts for practical use - like for example, the Rule of 72. It's a quick and dirty way to avoid actually using logarithms to do the same thing over and over again.

 

[BernieP]

That's because all those standards were developed in the 70s.

if a field represents 8 options, it's octal.



I've seen some really good explanations of how trig is used in building.
We use trig and geometry when we navigate.

Machines calculate, they don't know the equation to use to solve the "problem".
Programmers write code, they don't know what an equation is, they aren't being asked to control the flight of an aircraft or a nuclear reactor with multiple variables.

You need to know what equation to apply. We were allowed to write down notes for our physics exams, all the equations we wanted.
Because memorizing the equation wasn't the lesson, it was knowing which one was appropriate to the situation, to resolving the problem.

The simplified strata is Scientists deal in the theory, Engineers apply the theory to real world problems and programmers (today's draftsmen) implement the solution as laid out by the engineer.

We need the first two, much more than the third. Dumbing down the curriculum means all you have left is the draftsmen.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

if a field represents 8 options, it's octal.



I've seen some really good explanations of how trig is used in building.
We use trig and geometry when we navigate.

Machines calculate, they don't know the equation to use to solve the "problem".
Programmers write code, they don't know what an equation is, they aren't being asked to control the flight of an aircraft or a nuclear reactor with multiple variables.

You need to know what equation to apply. We were allowed to write down notes for our physics exams, all the equations we wanted.
Because memorizing the equation wasn't the lesson, it was knowing which one was appropriate to the situation, to resolving the problem.

The simplified strata is Scientists deal in the theory, Engineers apply the theory to real world problems and programmers (today's draftsmen) implement the solution as laid out by the engineer.

We need the first two, much more than the third. Dumbing down the curriculum means all you have left is the draftsmen.

To be accurate the aircraft don't actually use octal, they use binary ant it is just represented as octal or hex to make it take up less room and easier to read for the programers. Most avionic buses I am familiar with use 16 or 32 bit data words.

My first college physics test was supposed to have an equation sheet with every equation we would need, attached to the front of the test was a page with one equation. In the biggest font that would fit, it read F=ma. There was a huge sigh from all the premed students that thought if they took the physics class for scientists and engineers instead of the general one that it would look better on their transcripts. The next day there were quite a few less in the class

 

[vraiblonde]

 

[Hijinx]

I am terrible at math. So bad at it that I cannot understand how we don't have inflation under Joe Biedn by a 2X4 now costs $8.50
Lumber is up 80% whatever a percent is gas is more expensive. Copper, Steel, plastic all priced higher, and yet it isn't inflation.

I heard there is a shortage of toilet paper again. It seems the Government is using it all to print our money on.