Help with Mathematical Concepts, Not Arithmetic

by Band on the Run 101 Replies latest jw friends

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  Farkel

  : Basically, I want to understood what the equation means beyond doing a calculaton.

  I saw a lot of pontification and puffery in your replies and some good pointers to publications to learn more about math, but unless I missed something, I didn't see a simple answer to your question. I'll give it a shot.

  Equations have bullshit on the left and bullshit on the right, separated by an equals sign. This means, of course, that all the bullshit on the left comes out to the same number as all the bullshit on the right. So, if you change all the bullshit on the left in any way and then change all the bullshit on the right in exactly the same way, left and right will still be equal. If you add say, 10 to the left side and 10 to the right side, left and right will still be equal.

  Equations always have an unknown value that needs to be found in all that bullshit and the way to solve them is to separate that unknown value from the other bullshit so that only that unknown value is either on the left or the right, i.e. ALL the bullshit on one side equals that unknown value.

  Without going into more detail, solving equations usually involves one or more steps increasing or decreasing the values on each side equally until that unknown value stands by itself on one side.

  Studying either physics or more simply, storybook problems will make math come alive for you and help you to see just how useful it can be in your life.

  So get crackin'!

  Farkel
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  Joe Grundy

  My school days (here in the UK) are long behind me, but I can't help feeling that a lot of the blame can be ascribed to teaching methods. In 'the old days' it was often by rote, nowadays it's more often teaching to pass exams. I was lucky that my Dad loved maths (he used to do algebra problems as a hobby).

  Where I think it could be improved is in relating maths to real life. Just as a very basic example, off the top of my head, 'how much paint do I need to buy to paint this room?'. Given that the tin will show 'average coverage' and calculating the area of the walls and ceiling is simple, it 's not hard. But I bet that a random poll would reveal that more people than you might think couldn't manage it.

  (ETA): Farkel: enjoyed your succinct explanation of equations. I suspect that teachers may have more success if they employed your method!
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  Joe Grundy

  This is just an observation, but when I put up my last post I had forgotten (I never was a dub) that by definition on an ex-dub site we don't count many current teachers or lecturers amongst our number, do we? Unless, of course, they were lucky enough to get out in time. Sad.
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  cliff

  As a retired engineer I have always been exasperated at the waste of human endeavours that bad maths teaching has engendered.

  My daughter struggled with maths (What's the point?") until we starting doing practical projects together:

  How much wallpaper to decorate her bedroom? (which we then pasted up together - great fun!)

  Graphed a profile of how quickly the oven warms up against time using an industrial thermometer. Then seeing what happens to the temperature after inserting a fresh chicken.

  Stuff like that ....

  Now (at c. 37) she is a junior professor in computational microbiology, soon to take up a position at NIH in DC.

  I am (a bit!) proud, and still a fierce feminist!

  Maths allows one to satisfy one's curiosity about how the world works.

  Cliff
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  Joe Grundy

  Good post, Cliff, and reinforces what I was saying.
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  cantleave

  Billy - That Khan academy site is rather brilliant!
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  Justitia Themis

  BOTR, you might be in for a pleasant surprise. Like you, I had a public school education during a time when girls were not encouraged even to do math.

  However, in undergrad, I took math classes up to and through Intermediate Alegbra, and I started shining when everyone else started struggling. Alegbra and law are similar in that both manipulate complex theories. Once I'm out of school, I want to take more math classes.

  When concrete numbers were removed and replaced with symbols that stood for a complex theories, I totally "got it." I suspect you will too!
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  Justitia Themis

  ...not sure why it double-posted.
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  james_woods

  ...not sure why it double-posted.

  Maybe you pushed the button twice.
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  panhandlegirl

  Quendi, I love math and algebra but an not too good at algebra. I'm glad to know there is an expert here on this site just in case I need help. I can never figure out word problems, i.e. if a certain train leaves at a certain time and another train leaves at a certain time to meet it, when will they meet at a certain place. My answer is usually, who cares! I don't know anyone on either train. Just kidding. Those problems are hard for me.