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Camrath posted:Literally the only time I’ve used trigonometry is playing submarine sims. Not sure if that's the actual reason for the syllabus or not but it sure sounded true enough at the time for me to give you this second-hand account now 
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Jan 27, 2021 16:57
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I'm reminded of the concept of "shop math" as in, trigonometry when done by a machinist. It's not that I think maths is inherently useless, it clearly isn't as it underpins a huge amount of useful technology and some people enjoy it aesthetically, but it is odd to me that they spent so much time teaching me it without at any point spending time to give me a reason to want to learn it or use it once I had. It feels very much like educational ditch digging.
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Jan 27, 2021 17:00
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TACD posted:I vaguely remember a maths effortpost from long ago asserting that the maths taught in school was decided around the time of WWII and all the trigonometry stuff still gets taught because it was useful for calculating bomb trajectories and such, and arguing that the whole syllabus needs a massive overhaul because it's decades out of date from anything useful for the modern world. There's a fairly reasonable argument that all of physics is ballistics
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Jan 27, 2021 17:01
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OwlFancier posted:I'm reminded of the concept of "shop math" as in, trigonometry when done by a machinist. I think it teaches a different way of thinking, logic and problem-solving that is broadly applicable. That third world debt thing has made my blood boil.
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Jan 27, 2021 17:03
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Perhaps it does at higher levels but gcse level just taught me to get a lot better at exam papers. And also that the secret is just to be slightly less bad than everyone else given that I didn't answer half the paper and still got a B.
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Jan 27, 2021 17:04
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OwlFancier posted:I'm reminded of the concept of "shop math" as in, trigonometry when done by a machinist. That requires an education system that's okay with teaching things out of a sense of intellectual curiosity without a specific 'practical' end goal in mind, like art, music, and creative writing. Tories out in other words. stev posted:Starting every year with 'everything we taught you before is wrong, here's the real chemistry' gets old fast. *as featured in Harry Potter and the Large Immobile Gamete
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Jan 27, 2021 17:06
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OwlFancier posted:I'm reminded of the concept of "shop math" as in, trigonometry when done by a machinist. I had a similar experience with English Lit GCSE, reading Shakespeare and stopping every 7 words to discuss whether that was a simile or a metaphor we just read
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Jan 27, 2021 17:07
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G1mby posted:There's a fairly reasonable argument that all of physics is ballistics All of life is just physics  Was just reading in Physics World about the latest research in Quantum Biology.https://physicsworld.com/a/do-quantum-effects-play-a-role-in-consciousness/
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Jan 27, 2021 17:07
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The only school subject I learned anything practical from was music, because I was shut in a cupboard with a bass guitar and now I can still play most of Metallica's Black Album, which has more practical application than anything I ever learned for a maths exam.
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Jan 27, 2021 17:09
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Guavanaut posted:There's a good case for treating it as a purely creative exercise, rather than endlessly trying to 'apply' it to things. I could also be an argument for that given that while I know people do experience maths creatively, the idea of doing it is kind of unfathomable to me. It is something you suffer through to achieve an end. OwlFancier fucked around with this message at 17:13 on Jan 27, 2021 |
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Jan 27, 2021 17:11
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Gyro Zeppeli posted:The only school subject I learned anything practical from was music, because I was shut in a cupboard with a bass guitar and now I can still play most of Metallica's Black Album, which has more practical application than anything I ever learned for a maths exam. Is your name Darren?
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Jan 27, 2021 17:14
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OwlFancier posted:Perhaps it does at higher levels but gcse level just taught me to get a lot better at exam papers. Then after the GCSE everybody else was complaining how unfair and tough the top-set paper was, while I had a breeze with the intermediate-set paper and still got the same grade as most of my cohort 
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Jan 27, 2021 17:14
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JollyBoyJohn posted:Is your name Darren? It isn't, I'm afraid.
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Jan 27, 2021 17:15
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Camrath posted:Literally the only time I’ve used trigonometry is playing submarine sims. I used it a few years ago for both rangefinding and figuring out where to put the legs on my spider robot. Luv 2 inverse kinematics  I did get pushed down to the 'Latin for idiots' class at school because I was dossing around too much as a 13 year old (though not quite badly enough to get dumped into the 'classical studies no language learning we promise' class), which was annoying because I came top of the 'idiots' class in our internal exams once I actually put some effort in but they still wouldn't let me do it for GCSE. feedmegin fucked around with this message at 17:21 on Jan 27, 2021 |
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Jan 27, 2021 17:18
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OwlFancier posted:I seem to remember we were introduced to the concept of basic equations in primary school. Yeah typically some form of pre-algebra gets introduced in the form of "4 + [] = 13". In the states this sort of thing was recently reformed to create a more continuous foundation via Common Core maths and parents have been cranky about it.
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Jan 27, 2021 17:19
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TACD posted:At some point during secondary school I'd hosed around in lessons enough that I got moved down a set in maths (but still stayed in the same physical class, which was embarrassing) I asked to sit the intermediate paper because I knew there was no way in hell I was gonna get a high grade, but the teacher said "no you need to sit the higher one" so I guess maybe a lot of people that year had a similar experience.
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Jan 27, 2021 17:20
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Jose posted:Lmao how did I not know he voted for Boris. I just assumed it would be the lib Dems He voted for Boris as Mayor, not PM.
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Jan 27, 2021 17:21
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So only about 15% of the deaths are acceptable.
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Jan 27, 2021 17:22
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OwlFancier posted:I could also be an argument for that given that while I know people do experience maths creatively, the idea of doing it is kind of unfathomable to me. It is something you suffer through to achieve an end. This chap is quite good at entertaining maths - the geometry playlist is quite good for the more straightforward stuff : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ulzbICdw5Q
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Jan 27, 2021 17:23
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Just got an email from Unite. They're doing a survey on Universal Credit: Survey link: https://response.questback.com/unitetheunion/uc20 quote:Are you or do you know someone who is on Universal Credit (UC) or working tax credits? We are conducting a survey regarding the £20 uplift to UC & WTC put in place at the start of the pandemic.
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Jan 27, 2021 17:26
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Lungboy posted:He voted for Boris as Mayor, not PM. Oh, phew, he just voted for the cause, not the effect.
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Jan 27, 2021 17:26
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I call everyone at the temple a slur and then start a war, problem solved.
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Jan 27, 2021 17:34
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OwlFancier posted:I could also be an argument for that given that while I know people do experience maths creatively, the idea of doing it is kind of unfathomable to me. It is something you suffer through to achieve an end. My parents started teaching me maths at the age of 3, I have maths and further maths A-levels and an engineering degree and have tutored maths for close to a decade, and this is still how I feel about maths
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Jan 27, 2021 17:36
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Guavanaut posted:I call everyone at the temple a slur and then start a war, problem solved. 
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Jan 27, 2021 17:40
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stev posted:That's probably why I didn't get on with science. Starting every year with 'everything we taught you before is wrong, here's the real chemistry' gets old fast. This used to annoy me so much. Especially since the system is set up to reward people who take the "truth" on board and regurgitate it at exam time. The giant "last year was all lies" at the start of A level-equivalent chemistry is what screwed me up, and I never recovered. I always thought it would be fun to teach maths the other way up. Start primary school with sets and matrices and elliptic curves, and finish at 18 with "and that's why 1+1=2". But there are probably some downsides I don't see. Jaeluni Asjil posted:I consider that one of the purposes of education is to introduce kids to a whole range of subjects they wouldn't get to see otherwise (and find out - just maybe it's something they enjoy and/or are good at). So for everyone who has never used more than basic arithmetic since school, there are those who have never picked up a musical instrument or piece of music, or get all their history straight from Ancient Aliens or whatever. Agree with this, and also extra-curricular activities. Over the years at secondary school, I dabbled in cricket, karate, film making, orchestra, theatre and misc other things. Most didn't stick, but I fell in love with stage lighting. There's a reason my industry is so white and posh, and it could be massively helped by all schools having the same facilities as the private ones.
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Jan 27, 2021 17:41
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G1mby posted:This chap is quite good at entertaining maths - the geometry playlist is quite good for the more straightforward stuff : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ulzbICdw5Q I will have a look, cheers.
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Jan 27, 2021 17:41
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i miss being able to do university-level abstract mathematics. one day i will find my notes and remember what exactly all those words in algebraic topology meant. probably won't ever understand category theory though, i have accepted that about myself
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Jan 27, 2021 17:45
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Camrath posted:Literally the only time I’ve used trigonometry is playing submarine sims. Calculating and adjusting artillery fire missions from the observer end is just trigonometry, though they trick soldiers by not mentioning trig and just saying 1 miliradian @ 1km = 1m. (And rounding pi to 3.2)
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Jan 27, 2021 17:48
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Angepain posted:i miss being able to do university-level abstract mathematics. one day i will find my notes and remember what exactly all those words in algebraic topology meant. probably won't ever understand category theory though, i have accepted that about myself "arrows"
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Jan 27, 2021 17:48
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I've finally figured out who Boris reminds me of in PMQ https://twitter.com/Independent/status/1354467622692278272 its uncanny
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Jan 27, 2021 17:49
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The only maths ordinary people need to know is: Basic arithmetic Percentages Probability Cover those 3 and you've covered everything that 95%+ of the population will ever need to know about, or use. Who the gently caress cares about y=mx+c or differentiation or calculating the volume of a cylinder and bollocks like that.
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Jan 27, 2021 17:53
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knox_harrington posted:(And rounding pi to 3.2) ... why? It's 3.141, 3.1 would be more accurate..?
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Jan 27, 2021 17:53
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Jaeluni Asjil posted:All of life is just physics Quantum mechanics absolutely play a role in cellular respiration and it is god drat fascinating (I've been reading a book called the vital question) Might do a little post on it later
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Jan 27, 2021 17:54
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We're now losing significantly more, every day, than the single worst day for deaths during the Blitz.
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Jan 27, 2021 17:56
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The skill I see adults needing and not possessing most these days is basic spreadsheets. Nothing fancy, just being able to do adding, subtraction, multiplication, sums and averages in a spreadsheet. Maybe a lookup table if you wanna show off. Watching people doing sums on a calculator and putting the answers into Excel was painful.
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Jan 27, 2021 18:00
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I remember seeing my friends Higher Maths past papers in High School. That hsit is loving voodoo, people who understand it might as well speak a different language from me. In fairness both friends are now well paid engineers so it seems beneficial to know that poo poo
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Jan 27, 2021 18:02
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Gort posted:The skill I see adults needing and not possessing most these days is basic spreadsheets. Nothing fancy, just being able to do adding, subtraction, multiplication, sums and averages in a spreadsheet. Maybe a lookup table if you wanna show off. The gently caress do you use excel for if not to do maths automatically?
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Jan 27, 2021 18:11
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OwlFancier posted:The gently caress do you use excel for if not to do maths automatically? You'd be amazed mate. Although at the last World Cup someone made an absolutely class mega-tabbed XLSX to keep track of the office pool, including a few superfluous VLOOKUPs
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Jan 27, 2021 18:27
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Gort posted:The skill I see adults needing and not possessing most these days is basic spreadsheets. Nothing fancy, just being able to do adding, subtraction, multiplication, sums and averages in a spreadsheet. Maybe a lookup table if you wanna show off. Oh god yes. Following a reorganisation in one company I worked at, I was sharing an office with someone from the other lot. She was put in charge of budgets. Huge spreadsheets. She used to do exactly that. So if one number changed she had to redo the whole darn lot. We didn't exactly get on. And one day my boss said to me "she works so hard" and I said "have you seen what she does? What takes her 4 hours I could do in less than 30 minutes!" (well actually in 5 minutes but I didn't tell him that).
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Jan 27, 2021 18:29
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OwlFancier posted:The gently caress do you use excel for if not to do maths automatically? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrwBc6PwAcY
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Jan 27, 2021 18:29
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