Your opinion on math.

Oh I know, I totally agree with you. Math's shouldn't be the way it is now but you could say that about most of the education system

Thing is though, if you don't know your geography very well then no big deal, no one cares. But if everyone in your office can simplify an equation except you it makes you look and feel like a moron. Or at least it does with me anyway

My 2 cents... Watch the movie "pi" cause math kills!

Math is important, doesnt matter what kind of profession. Also good for everyday life, but yeah I totally get your point Tart

Also, math is not about what you will have use for. You learn it to practice your brains and logics ^^

hageshisa wrote:Also, math is not about what you will have use for. You learn it to practice your brains and logics ^^

^This.

I was a mathlete in high school! I wasn't great at it compared to a lot of the other competitors. Anyway, here's why math is shoved down your throats:

Similar to what Hageshisa said, math isn't for memorizing formulas etc. and then "using" them later. Math is considered a science where I went to school and there's a reason for it. Math is the foundation that almost all science is based off of in some way or another. When taken ALONE, math looks just like numbers and memory. But when learned in conjunction with other studies it helps you to conceptualize the world and make sense of very difficult processes or phenomena that are often taken for granted. Even something as simple as "why is the sky blue?" necessitates a basic understanding of math and science. Basic skills are drastically improved via math too. Take driving skills for instance.....math and physics make it a simple task to realize the effect mass has on braking and acceleration. If I say that a particular car brakes from 60mps-0mph in a given distance your brain needs to visualize that distance (math) to account for it. Then to use that in real driving scenarios you need to extrapolate the data. Ok, I'm going 70mph, about how much more space will I need? Then, that tractor trailer in front of me has "n" amount times more mass than my vehicle. How will that affect the braking distance of that vehicle? Ok, it will stop in a longer distance. I don't need to increase my following distance. Now place that tractor trailer behind me and it's a different story.

Math isn't about using algebra when you're 31 (since I rarely do). It's about putting the world in understandable scenarios.

Knight Alundil wrote:Oh I know, I totally agree with you. Math's shouldn't be the way it is now but you could say that about most of the education system

Thing is though, if you don't know your geography very well then no big deal, no one cares. But if everyone in your office can simplify an equation except you it makes you look and feel like a moron. Or at least it does with me anyway

Are you saying "math's" to bug the **** out of me? :x

<3

my current issue with math is that my college has a new online test for math placement... however its really twitchy and in most cases you lose 5% the second time you take it... even the perliminary exercises will say you did it wrong and then display an answer... thats the exact same as what you put down... i took a class to help with it... lost 2%, now im going to try tutoring, hope it works better...

I don't care for it mainly because I am good at it. But after going through highschool I can say some of what I learned was completely useless for me.

Calc I. NO ME GUSTA!

If no one minds me asking this...why do we learn the hard way to do something...and then the easier way that takes a quarter of the time? What is the point of the hard way then!?

Some people find it easier to do the math the harder way, I don't think it's very common but some people just can't wrap their minds around the simpler way to do things. (I hope that makes sense)

What grim said.

@Skare

You have a point, however, math is not the only subject of which allows for enhancing your basic skills. I would like to go as far as to say that it's simply an individual matter. Math does not necessarily improve your basic skills, i really believe that's an individual matter. Did i just repeat myself? :suspect:

Bcc17 wrote:

Knight Alundil wrote:Oh I know, I totally agree with you. Math's shouldn't be the way it is now but you could say that about most of the education system

Thing is though, if you don't know your geography very well then no big deal, no one cares. But if everyone in your office can simplify an equation except you it makes you look and feel like a moron. Or at least it does with me anyway

Are you saying "math's" to bug the **** out of me? :x

<3

"Maths" is short for "Mathematics". Would you say "Im learning mathematic." Nope.

Edit: No, I haven't thought into it long enough to decide on an apostrophe or not

Basically my point was just that math ties into more areas than it first appears. It's an insidious demon that teaches us things

Tart, if at 17 you're absolutely sure of what you want to do in the future, and you actually end up doing it, then you're one very lucky person! Very few people know what they want to do at your age, and even fewer end up doing what they wanted. So if Math was optional at that age, I guarantee a lot of people would screw themselves over!

Well... it's never too late to take math again, but better (might as well) do it while you're young.

Also, like Skare said, math can give structure to your thinking, and serve as framework for explaining things that would otherwise seem inexplicable. And: everything is mathematical! I don't exactly love math itself, but I love the way I can use it to think sometimes, and especially when I apply it to anything at all in the real-world. Cooking, for example, is very mathematical! But as far as math itself is concerned, and math problems, I like how you can solve them forwards and backwards. Like two sides of an equality, or expanding an algebraic expression and factoring it, for example. And like Rudmed just brought up: the easy way and the hard way. The "hard way" is usually the long way, which is the way the math fundamentally works. The "easy way" is usually a method you learn by heart, and is really just a shortcut of the hard way. I like (and think it's important to) learn the hard way because I need to understand things through and through, forwards and backwards, in order to use them properly. If I'm shown the easy way without being shown the hard way, I can guarantee you I will forget the easy way! But if I'm shown the hard way, I'll understand how the easy way works, then I'll remember it.

Anyways, long story short: do your math homework! And like it.

Edit: oh, I almost forgot... I have my own math homework to do right now! I'm actually re-taking my college math myself, because I didn't care for it the first time around. Now I see things very differently.

BLA1NE wrote:

Anyways, long story short: do your math homework! And like it.

Okay, I must admit: I hate math. But after this lesson I'm sure that I'll try to do the math homework at least before the exams :roll:

2deep4me

I was never very good at maths.... but hell im looking at becoming a teacher, either primary or secondary, if I have to take a few courses here and there I will.

Its a sonnovabitch but you have to put up with it.

.....that depends do I have to put up with it after Calc I?

DoughGuy wrote:Math > English
It has far more uses and is used in more, what you'd call, high level jobs.
Have some fun while I'm with Hoshi's voice Viral

That just made me think of how, here in Ontario, Canada, we only have to do 3 Math courses to graduate high school, while we have to do 4 English courses to graduate. Obviously, someone thought that writing essays on Shakespearean plays is more applicable to the work world than what you could learn from a Data Management course.

Mathematics is the music of the Universe. Unfortunately, I was hopeless at it when I was at school (a very, very long time ago). I know for a fact that my lack of understanding and inability to grasp algebra, geometry, quadrilateral equations etc. was a major reason why I didn't get to University.

However, although I don't understand it, without mathematics you wouldn't be reading this and you wouldn't be able to play 'Dark Souls' or any other video game for that matter because without maths they wouldn't exist. I think this answers your question.

Not necessarily. As i have already mentioned, i understand its use. But everyone ain't planning on using it for the use of creating websites and games. My point was, why enforce it onto everyone when not even everyone plan on working a whole lot with math? I know for one thing, any computer related education is popular, so it will most certainly be used. Besides, it wasn't exactly a question, but rather a topic of discussion. Thanks for your post though.

Unless it was in reply to someone else? You get the point though.

To fully grasp maths,you need to have a certain kind of logic which allows you to interpret everything with your knowledge.
Hence maths develops ,or aim to develops,logic.

Some math subjects should be ganked in the forest

I take your point Mr. T. I hated maths at school too and questioned why I had to do it. It seems a bit daft to me too that it's kind of compulsory if your chosen career doesn't APPEAR to have any use for it. But 'here's the rub', maths seems to infiltrate everything like 'sand in sandwiches' when you take a picnic on the beach.