Re: Why is math important???
Dave L. Renfro
> Most people think that math is some kind of joke
> example "2+2=4" But math is no joke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It
> is used in everyday living. Even if you are in a store
> so that is why math is important. Why do think math
> is important?
Are you talking about math in general, or just grade
school arithmetic and high school algebra?
Dave L. Renfro
Cork Soaker
Who said math was a joke?
Dave L. Renfro
>>> Most people think that math is some kind of joke
>>> example "2+2=4" But math is no joke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It
>>> is used in everyday living. Even if you are in a store
>>> so that is why math is important. Why do think math
>>> is important?
Dave L. Renfro wrote:
>> Are you talking about math in general, or just grade
>> school arithmetic and high school algebra?
Cork Soaker wrote:
> Who said math was a joke?
Well, actually he didn't say that anyone said
(or thought) this, he just made the statement
that it isn't a joke.
But what he said did get me wondering some. It was
very apparent to me even when I was in middle school
that an overwhelming majority of the uses of math
are not all that apparent in everyday living. For
example, physics and engineering and chemistry
books in the public library (no internet back in
1971-73) were full of complicated (to me, then)
mathematics, especially books on aeronautics and
orbital dynamics (the Apollo missions and the
space race dominated the news when I was in
elementary and middle school). Whenever I wanted
to learn about something exciting in the news
or I was mentioned in SF movies (details about
space flight, Einstein's relativity, lasers,
nuclear power, etc.), I would always be confronted
with a lot of mathematics once I got beyond the
newspaper accounts. Even books about how optical
and electron microscopes worked often had all kinds
of algebraic equations that meant nothing to me
at the time. Robert Heinlein's SF novels often
had space pilots who "could solve differential
equations in their head like ordinary people can
breath" (perhaps not an exact quote, but his novels
often had comments like this).
Even though I grew up in a fairly rural area
and didn't really know anyone who had even studied
calculus (an uncle of mine, who I saw once every
year or two, is an exception), it was quite obvious
to me that math -- advanced math, in fact -- was
used all throughout anything having to do with
space flight, nuclear power, transistors, the
building of skyscrapers, the design of car engines,
and just about anything I could think of that
seemed like it was important in modern society.
Thus, when I was growing up, I don't think I ever
questioned the usefulness of math, nor do I remember
any of my friends doing so. That's not to say
everyone I knew was interested in math, but its
usefulness was totally obvious, especially if
you wanted to do something besides work in the
mills after high school, which was about the only
employment available at that time in the area
I grew up.
Dave L. Renfro
Dave L. Renfro
> Dave how old are you please tell me I am wondering
> bcause all the words you use makes me think you
> are an adult.?!
I am 49.5 years old. I also lived in Raleigh between
August 1989 and July 1993, although I grew up (1960s
to 1970s) a little over 100 miles from there. The
following URL will take you to a post that I described
a little about how I got interested in math and it's
about when I was in the 7'th, 8'th, and 9'th grades:
http://groups.google.com/group/k12.chat.teacher/msg/83eee94b0c1bef15
Dave L. Renfro
Herman Rubin
>Dave L. Renfro
There are many decisions which have to be made which
use mathematics, not arithmetic. Probability, and I
do not mean games of chance, is one. What is needed
is not computation but the ability to formulate problems,
which requires understanding the basic concepts.
--
This address is for information only. I do not claim that these views
are those of the Statistics Department or of Purdue University.
Herman Rubin, Department of Statistics, Purdue University
hru...@stat.purdue.edu Phone: (765)494-6054 FAX: (765)494-0558