3 ms·

Also are you kidding about Monoids? No way category is part of any General Education curriculum.

• MichaelBurge 9y ago
  There's a story about a carpenter who walked into a library, picked up a copy of Serge Lang's book "Algebra", skimmed through the first page where he proves uniqueness of the identity in a monoid, was surprised at how ironclad the argument was, and became a mathematician to study it more. I forget his name, or where I heard it.
• icebraining 9y ago
  Why is it so unbelievable to you that some countries have more extensive high school math curricula? I don't know this particular case, but it's well known that countries from the ex-USSR teach math at much more intensive level. I personally know multiple parents who have immigrated to my Western European country and who complain that their child is being taught concepts they've learned years ago, so much that the parents end up having to home teach them after school.
• golergka 9y ago
  Went to math-oriented high school in Russia, curriculum had some of category theory in it. Also, I'm constantly amazed at how basic high school math education in states seems to be.
• nostromo123 9y ago
  Sure is, I can confirm for Romania. We studied it as part of 12th grade algebra (last year of highschool, in Romania). If you don't believe my personal anecdote, here: http://www.meditatiionline.ro/44100-122-411-0-0-Formule_Matematica_Grupuri_Structuri_algebrice_Monoizi.html http://www.meditatiionline.ro/44100-122-411-0-0-Formule_Mate... (site is -- obviously :-) -- in Romanian, but it's pretty clear) It's material specifically targeted at 12th grade students, in normal highschools.