We stopped looking for challenges the day we left the workforce.
moamajohn said
06:59 PM Jul 10, 2018
As long as I haved lived I have never needed algebra .I learnt by the seat of my pants yet unless I had a good math pass I couldn,t become a plumber ! What a load of crap !! The folks I employed over the years that couldn,t get a job because of a lack of qualifications but I gave them a shot and we both were very happy .Cheers.
Mike Harding said
09:10 PM Jul 10, 2018
moamajohn wrote:
As long as I haved lived I have never needed algebra .I learnt by the seat of my pants yet unless I had a good math pass I couldn,t become a plumber ! What a load of crap !! The folks I employed over the years that couldn,t get a job because of a lack of qualifications but I gave them a shot and we both were very happy .Cheers.
Well... for plumbing you may be right - water flows downhill and that's about it.
But: the next time you use your GPS consider the amazing mathematics which have gone into that....
Grandad5 said
10:38 AM Jul 11, 2018
That was most interesting.
Jim
Stretch60 said
08:25 PM Jul 11, 2018
I'm with desert dweller, no need for it, the calculator on my phone comes in handy and Mike, yes the GPS is great and tells me where to go without having to resort to paper maps, compass and working out mag North and other map variants. Actually glad I'm not at school now, seeing what the 9 year old granddaughter has to do is mind boggling.
dorian said
06:31 AM Jul 12, 2018
When I was a little boy, I aspired to be a plumber. But then I was seduced by algebra and became an engineer instead.
Associate Diploma in Structural/Civil Engineering Design, lots of mathematics involved.
brickies said
08:09 AM Jul 13, 2018
Which involed thinking outside the Square
Dave1952 said
11:59 AM Jul 13, 2018
Most young people today can't add up unless they have a calculator or cash register. If the power goes down, I can add up the list of groceries jotted down quicker than they can (upside down too!) so there is something to be said for mathematics. Like many of us, my calculator when going to school was a slide rule.
brickies said
12:14 PM Jul 13, 2018
Dave a slide rule we we to poor to have a slide , We had to slate and slate pencil , We had to know how to add up so we didn't get caught by the shopkeeper .
Mike Harding said
01:17 PM Jul 13, 2018
Dave1952 wrote:
Most young people today can't add up unless they have a calculator or cash register.
Like most children in 1950/60s UK I learned the "Tables" by rote, we all disliked the 15 minutes we spent *every* morning of junior school chanting and responding to questions on the 2 to 12 times tables.
However: I don't think there has been a single day of my life since when I have not used those tables and I can still tell you what 8x7 or 6x9 or 5x12 or... is before any current 16 year old can find his calculator. And we won't even ask him to long division with a pencil and paper....
The lack of basic numeracy of many children in the Anglo Saxon countries today is a disgrace - and that is what the original link is about, helping people identify their maths weak areas and rectify them. Whilst many 70 year olds may not care 40 year olds should.
Being unable to do basic sums is like being unable to read - it should not happen in this day and age.
Desert Dweller said
04:28 PM Jul 13, 2018
Australia is quite low on a world scale as far as student maths & science ability, particularly boys.
Dave1952 said
07:21 PM Jul 13, 2018
When I was in primary school, we had a teacher who loved mathematics so we learned right up to the 18 times table. No stopping at the 12 times table. I can still recite it right up to 18 times 18, but the old memory does get a bit foggy at times I must admit. Brickies, my mother was a widow, but when I went to high school, I had to have a slide rule, so a slide rule I got! I still have it too, and my grandkids are fascinated by it. Mike, I still use the tables almost daily, but must say that those between the 12 times and the 18 times are not used as frequently. It is very sad to see how low we have descended on the world scale for literacy and numeracy.
Grandad5 said
09:08 AM Jul 14, 2018
I started learning my times tables in Primary school in Canada. Got as far as the 6x tables and then moved to Australia where the kids had already finished up to 9X.
So, I never learnt 7, 8 or 9x rote. (Early 1960's)
That has plagued me ever since. I get by by reversing most. 8x6? No good, but turn it around to 6x8 and the answer just pops into my head like it should.
If the absence of just 3 times tables slows me down, how will the current crop cope with knowing none of them?
I recently asked my 14 yr old grandaughter what 5 x 6 was. She counted on her fingers.
I don't know who thought that was a good idea.
Jim
JA2340 said
05:41 PM Jul 15, 2018
As a youngster, I went to school where Dad was the Principal (and only teacher!). Took me quite a while to overcome the "sir" instead of "dad".
Anyway, when I went through, the fashion in schools was to avoid the rote learning of tables, so I manage as best I can (and still manage to beat youngsters with calculators!) with some remembered and others works from there.
My sister - who's 3 years younger than I - was taught the tables by rote, as the fashion had changed by then. She still runs rings around me in multiplication. Of course, the fact that she was a Primary teacher might have some bearing on that!
The UK National Numeracy Challenge
https://www.nnchallenge.org.uk/home/index.html
It takes about 20 minutes to complete.
We stopped looking for challenges the day we left the workforce.
Well... for plumbing you may be right - water flows downhill and that's about it.
But: the next time you use your GPS consider the amazing mathematics which have gone into that....
Jim
My first three weren't.
Associate Diploma in Structural/Civil Engineering Design, lots of mathematics involved.
Like most children in 1950/60s UK I learned the "Tables" by rote, we all disliked the 15 minutes we spent *every* morning of junior school chanting and responding to questions on the 2 to 12 times tables.
However: I don't think there has been a single day of my life since when I have not used those tables and I can still tell you what 8x7 or 6x9 or 5x12 or... is before any current 16 year old can find his calculator. And we won't even ask him to long division with a pencil and paper....
The lack of basic numeracy of many children in the Anglo Saxon countries today is a disgrace - and that is what the original link is about, helping people identify their maths weak areas and rectify them. Whilst many 70 year olds may not care 40 year olds should.
Being unable to do basic sums is like being unable to read - it should not happen in this day and age.
So, I never learnt 7, 8 or 9x rote. (Early 1960's)
That has plagued me ever since. I get by by reversing most. 8x6? No good, but turn it around to 6x8 and the answer just pops into my head like it should.
If the absence of just 3 times tables slows me down, how will the current crop cope with knowing none of them?
I recently asked my 14 yr old grandaughter what 5 x 6 was. She counted on her fingers.
I don't know who thought that was a good idea.
Jim
Anyway, when I went through, the fashion in schools was to avoid the rote learning of tables, so I manage as best I can (and still manage to beat youngsters with calculators!) with some remembered and others works from there.
My sister - who's 3 years younger than I - was taught the tables by rote, as the fashion had changed by then. She still runs rings around me in multiplication. Of course, the fact that she was a Primary teacher might have some bearing on that!