Comment on A fake Facebook event disguised as a math problem has been one of its top posts for 6 months
Cethin@lemmy.zip 1 month agoI hate most math eduction because it’s all about memorizing formulas and rules, and then memorizing exceptions. The user above’s system is easier to learn, because there’s no exceptions or weirdness. You just learn the rule that division is multiplication and subtraction is addition. They’re just written in a different notation. It’s simpler, not more difficult. It just requires being educated on it. Yes, it’s harder if you weren’t obviously, as is everything you weren’t educated on.
Mistic@lemmy.world 1 month ago
That’s because they aren’t teaching math. They’re teaching “tricks” to solve equations easier, which can lead to more confusion.
Like the PEMDAS thing that’s being discussed here. There’s no such thing as “order of operations” in math, but it’s easier to teach that there is.
SmartmanApps@programming.dev 3 weeks ago
Yes we are. Adults forgetting it is another matter altogether.
Yes there is! 😂
No, I know you’re wrong.
If you don’t solve binary operators before unary operators you get wrong answers. 2+3x4=14, not 20. 3x4=3+3+3+3 by definition
Mistic@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Yes and no. You teach how to solve equations, but not the fundamentals. Fundamentals, most of the time, are taught in universities. It’s easier that way, but doesn’t mean it’s right. People call it math, but it’s not really math
Nope.
There’s only commutation, association, distribution, and identity. It doesn’t matter in which order you apply any of these properties, the result will stay correct.
2×2×(2-2)/2 = 2×(4-4)/2 = 1×(4-4) = 4-4 = 0
As you can see, I didn’t follow any particular order and still got the correct result. Because no basic principle was broken.
Or I could also go
2×2×(2-2)/2 = 4×(2-2)/2 = 4×(1-1) = 4×0 = 0
Same result, completely different order, yet still correct.
My response to the rest goes back to the aforementioned.
SmartmanApps@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
Nope. We teach the fundamentals. Adults not remembering them doesn’t mean they weren’t taught. Just pick up a Maths textbook. It’s all in there. Always has been.
No they’re not. They only teach order of operations from a remedial point of view. Most of them forget about The Distributive Law. I’ve seen multiple Professors be told by their students that they were wrong.
The Constructivist learners have no trouble at all understanding it.
Yep!
And many proofs of other rules, which you’ve decided to omit mentioning.
But the order you apply the operations does matter, hence the proven rules to be followed.
Notably you picked an example that has no addition, subtraction, or distribution in it. That’s called cherry-picking.
Yep, because you cherry-picked a simple example where it doesn’t matter. It’s never going to matter when you only pick operations which have the same precedence.
…cherry-picking.