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Also the number of people who need advanced math is so small in USA, so it’s more of a hobby than education. And people who need advanced math need more probabi

Also the number of people who need advanced math is so small in USA, so it’s more of a hobby than education. And people who need advanced math need more probability theory and statistics than calculus. In China, on the other hand… I might be extrapolating.

flavius29663 5y ago
In my view math is not so much about you needing it. It's about developing abstract thinking, reasoning, logic. It's in the same boat as sports. You will never need to run 100 yards with a ball in your hand, except for the sport itself. Yet we still do sports to train and stay in shape.
- failuser 5y ago
  It does, but again, those skills are not valued that much in USA. I don’t like it, this is reality. Sports classes provide nowhere enough physical activity to stay in shape though. Ideally a country ruled by citizens require a high level of knowledge and reasoning ability. In reality people vote for aristocratic cliques in a way often determined by their birth.
  - flavius29663 5y ago
    So what are you suggesting? Because math is not the perfect answer, do less critical thinking? I think it's very good for the brain, necessary even. Math is not sufficient, but it's necessary. It's a pity the US schools put less and less into math, nowadays they dumb down math for equity reasons even.
    - failuser 5y ago
      I’d suggest more math as a personal advise, but I have no power outside of relatives and friends. So I can only observe what’s happening on the national level. And that observation is that math is taught in a way that does little to promote reasoning skills and most people won’t use it. And smart people will find a way to learn, it’s easier than ever.
handrous 5y ago
I'd be very curious to see what a primary and secondary school math program that aggressively focused on the "what will I ever use this for?" question, for most people, not just future physicists and math majors, and tailored its curriculum to that with mostly applications-based problem sets, looked like. I suspect it'd provide a lot more value to ~99% of students while never providing more than a "here's what these other branches of math you probably won't need are for, so you know what to look up or when to go learn them, on the off chance you ever do need them" survey for much of what's covered from ~8th-12th grade now, but maybe I'm wrong. I also doubt it would discourage many future math majors.
pedrosorio 5y ago
> people who need advanced math need more probability theory and statistics than calculus Isn't calculus a pre-requisite for probability theory and statistics though?

flavius29663 5y ago

In my view math is not so much about you needing it. It's about developing abstract thinking, reasoning, logic. It's in the same boat as sports. You will never need to run 100 yards with a ball in your hand, except for the sport itself. Yet we still do sports to train and stay in shape.

failuser 5y ago
It does, but again, those skills are not valued that much in USA. I don’t like it, this is reality. Sports classes provide nowhere enough physical activity to stay in shape though. Ideally a country ruled by citizens require a high level of knowledge and reasoning ability. In reality people vote for aristocratic cliques in a way often determined by their birth.
- flavius29663 5y ago
  So what are you suggesting? Because math is not the perfect answer, do less critical thinking? I think it's very good for the brain, necessary even. Math is not sufficient, but it's necessary. It's a pity the US schools put less and less into math, nowadays they dumb down math for equity reasons even.
  - failuser 5y ago
    I’d suggest more math as a personal advise, but I have no power outside of relatives and friends. So I can only observe what’s happening on the national level. And that observation is that math is taught in a way that does little to promote reasoning skills and most people won’t use it. And smart people will find a way to learn, it’s easier than ever.

handrous 5y ago

I'd be very curious to see what a primary and secondary school math program that aggressively focused on the "what will I ever use this for?" question, for most people, not just future physicists and math majors, and tailored its curriculum to that with mostly applications-based problem sets, looked like. I suspect it'd provide a lot more value to ~99% of students while never providing more than a "here's what these other branches of math you probably won't need are for, so you know what to look up or when to go learn them, on the off chance you ever do need them" survey for much of what's covered from ~8th-12th grade now, but maybe I'm wrong. I also doubt it would discourage many future math majors.

pedrosorio 5y ago

> people who need advanced math need more probability theory and statistics than calculus Isn't calculus a pre-requisite for probability theory and statistics though?