so I used to like algebra

[Tonichelle]

and then we started synthetic division. I sucked at it in high school, and now I'm stuck with it in college again... BLAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I am boycotting homework until the 'morrow

 

[Mathman]

I agree with you on synthetic division. This is merely a calculation algorithm that does nothing to advance the students' knowledge of the topic. Long division of polynomials is a perfectly adequate alternative and has the virtue that it reinforces the idea that the arithmetic of functions and algebraic expressions is just the same as ordinary arithmetic of numbers.

Did you know that the term "algebra" comes from the title of a treatise written in the ninth century by the famous Arabian-Persian mathematician Al'Kwarizmi? (It is from the name Al'Kwarizmi that we get the word "algorithm" -- it originally meant simply, "reasoning in the fashion of Al'Kwarizmi.")

Anyway, the title of this book was "Al-jabr and Muqabala," which means literally "restoring and balancing."

When you solve an equation like

x - 3 = 5,

you must first "restore" x to its original value by giving back the 3 that was taken away. They you must "balance the books" by adding 3 to the other side as well:

x = 5 + 3 = 8.

So when you do that, you are doing "al-jabr and muqabala."

 

[Tonichelle]

now my head hurts more

I hate division of polynomials period. I mean Synthetic seems easier, but then I forget how to write the answer down... especially with the remainder and then the function of x stuff???? AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH

 

[SeaniBu]

Anyway, the title of this book was "Al-jabr and Muqabala," which means literally "restoring and balancing."

Gee, that makes it seem kind of nice. How did you make math sound nice MM??? Is that really possible

 

[heyang]

I was good in Math classes during high school - even in advanced classes.

I had a much harder time in college. 4 quarters worth of Calculus. The 1st teacher was not very good - plus I only got a B on the 1st test because I didn't show enough of my work (thus the disadvantage of having taken Calculus in high school). Did ok with the 2nd quarter. However, the 3rd and 4th quarters - I just scraped by. That's when we got into 3 dimensional stuff that I was not getting excited about. I'm not the kinda gal that enjoys how all those theories are derived - as a result, I was usually so bored by the end that I missed the point.

If only I had majored in Information Technology in the Business School instead of Computer Science. Then all that Calculus and Physics that were required as a CS major would have been replaced by Algebra and Science electives. I don't even use Calculas or Physics in my work life. Really pulled down my GPA.

 

[dutchherder]

Sure glad I chose Secondary Education, English....

 

[Tonichelle]

yeah but this is just college math... everyone has to take college math lol

 

[Mathman]

I don't even use Calculus or Physics in my work life

I think that's the wrong way to look at it. I don't use the class I took in Shakespeare in my work life either, or the class I took in Art History.

But I'm glad I took them.

 

[SeaniBu]

I think that's the wrong way to look at it. I don't use the class I took in Shakespeare in my work life either, or the class I took in Art History.

Really, the ability to look within ones self and see something different than the obvious? Open the mind to possibilities? IMO

Calculus???

Art imitates life, art is in FS. Art is a reflection of the way you feel about yourself, what you see is a refection of you feeling of your life IMO

Calculus???

Physics, everyday of life. IMO

Calculus???

I'm with heyang on 1/2 of that.

But I'm glad I took them.

Great attitude I must say! Love that PMA!!!!

 

[Mathman]

Calculus???

Mathematics is the jewel in the crown of human intellectual achievement. Before Calculus came along, we were trudging along in the dark, struggling in vain to make some sense out of the baffling and incomprehensible world that we found ourselves in.

We were blind...but now we can see!

 

[STL_Blues_fan]

i minored in Math and majored in chemistry. I had a 4.0GPA in math - a lot higher than my chem! (which was not too shabby either). My fondest memory of a final is my 100% score in Diffirential Equations!!!

I ended up doing a MS thesis in inorganic chemistry (reactions as opposed to theoretical) - so technically, for my graduate work I didn't need calculaus. However, it is the foundation of science and makes you think. MM put it so eloquantly!!

Do you know that without calculus, we wouldn't enjoy all the advancement in intrumentation that allows to solve crimes? All those "fancy" instruments that folks at CSI shows and the Bones like to spell out (trust me, nobody calls IR as infrared spectroscopy in a real lab) are nothing w/o first and second derivatives.

 

[SeaniBu]

Mathematics is the jewel in the crown of human intellectual achievement. Before Calculus came along, we were trudging along in the dark, struggling in vain to make some sense out of the baffling and incomprehensible world that we found ourselves in.

It helped make sense of that which is already to many:agree:

We were blind...but now we can see!

"We once had a hard time seeing, and got some glasses." Helped seeing in a way others saw and communicate, that which is.

I must say I LOVE the attitude, but I don't think we can see crap still except what we feel, dream and cherish. Math IMO defines nothing that "could be," only that which can be defined - be that any of the above. A way of explaining with logic something that is already there. If you want to do a process correctly math is the answer in most cases - even Kama sutra has some substance of math - but is a language it simply explains that which is. Not enlightening, just creates the ability to understand.

Do you know that without calculus, we wouldn't enjoy all the advancement in intrumentation that allows to solve crimes? All those "fancy" instruments that folks at CSI shows and the Bones like to spell out (trust me, nobody calls IR as infrared spectroscopy in a real lab) are nothing w/o first and second derivatives.

not something most use, but yes, most definitively a necessity of communication - particularly in proving something.:agree:

I am not trying to discredit math at all. I praise those with the understanding and ESPECIALLY the ability to teach and make a fun topic (as you have many times MM). It is incredibly useful, like the music in front of an orcastra, but days can go by and it is not used at all, particularly calculus. And a single musician can make music that communicates the essence of life. No manuscript required. ANd yet music can be mathematically explained and communicated.

Toni might use math to take a picture, but I bet it is her "artistic soul" that makes the call. Explainable by math, but not created by it.

Unless we are going to start talking about Eastman and chemistry, art is why it was made. Toni doesn't need math IMO, an agent and a light meter is as close as Annie Leibowitz ever needed to mathematics. Toni could with out it, but you are essentially bringing up the best point of all...

But I'm glad I took them.

That comment in itself is artistic and beautiful in purity of life and experience. Without a doubt veracious!

 

[Tonichelle]

I dunno, with teh dawning of the mathmatic and science age I think we became a little more blind to certain aspects of life...

but that's for another class entirely

 

[dutchherder]

yeah but this is just college math... everyone has to take college math lol

Yes, but I was only required to take one class-- a blessing for someone with severe math anxiety. Even reading the terms in your post gave me heart palpitations.

Mathman: your students are so lucky. I can honestly say that in all my educational endeavors, I only had one really good math teacher. Maybe if I'd had better ones, I wouldn't have dreaded math so. :sheesh:

 

[Mathman]

To me, it's not a question of whether an individual "needs" mathematics (or any other academic subject) to be a better plumber or a better insurance salesman. We are talking about a college education, not a vocational training program.

There is a famous story about Euclid. He was teaching geometry and one of the students asked, "yes, but what is all this good for?"

So Euclid told his servant to give the student three pennies, "since he must profit from what he learns." (Actually, it was three obols.)

I must passionately disagree with SeaniBu if he believes that mathematics lacks speculative creativity and is divorced from what we "feel, dream and cherish." In 1906 a clerk in the Swiss patent office (Albert Einstein) saw an imaginative vision the grandeur of which continues to astonish, to delight, and basically to blow our freakin' minds. :yes:

 

[Tonichelle]

Michelle Kwan's not that old, MM (E=mk2[I don't know how to make the square sign on here])

 

[SeaniBu]

So be the "disagree," it is understood. I hope that made sense though, don't see how you could "disagree," but so be it.:agree:

I said, "I don't think we can see crap still except what we feel, dream and cherish." This is misleading, even to me now that I read it after a nights sleep, and don't feel I could try and explain what I was trying to say. Maybe I could try and use Math?

I agree About Albert's "imaginative vision the grandeur it gave us," but see I it as more a "new language" but he didn't "create speaking." That "sums" - pun intended - it up for me

To me, it's not a question of whether an individual "needs" mathematics (or any other academic subject) to be a better plumber or a better insurance salesman. We are talking about a college education, not a vocational training program.

You truly are a wonderful educator MM I hope this helped others, it did me.

 

[dorispulaski]

I categorically reject the notion that art and mathematics are incompatible. As proof I cite the following sonnet:

Euclid Alone Has Looked On Beauty Bare

Euclid alone has looked on Beauty bare.
Let all who prate of Beauty hold their peace,
And lay them prone upon the earth and cease
To ponder on themselves, the while they stare

At nothing, intricately drawn nowhere
In shapes of shifting lineage; let geese
Gabble and hiss, but heroes seek release
From dusty bondage into luminous air.

O blinding hour, O holy, terrible day,
When first the shaft into his vision shone
Of light anatomized! Euclid alone
Has looked on Beauty bare. Fortunate they

Who, though once only and then but far away,
Have heard her massive sandal set on stone.

-- Edna St. Vincent Millay

 

[dutchherder]

I sure do like that Edna. I like this one better, though :

"When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer"

When I heard the learn'd astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I was sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause
in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.

---Walt Whitman

 

[dorispulaski]

Yup, looks like Walt never looked on beauty bare. He did however, get to hear her massive sandal set in stone.

This is one case where whether Walt or Edna is the better poet, Edna was better equipped on the subject of mathematics, evidentally. Walt refused to listen long enough to 'get it'.