3 ms·
Arithmetic (mental math) is a skill that must be practiced like juggling. I used to be a high school math teacher and spent a few hours a day working problems o
by dwater 5y ago
Arithmetic (mental math) is a skill that must be practiced like juggling. I used to be a high school math teacher and spent a few hours a day working problems on the board. I got to the point where I could work through stats problems with 3 decimal places about as fast as the students could do them with calculators, and I didn't need to write out my work (although I did). Now 5 years after leaving I prefer to reach for a calculator when adding or subtracting 2 numbers, just to make sure I don't make a mistake.
- IncRnd 5y ago> Why Are Mathematicians So Bad at Arithmetic? Why are Programmers So Bad at Programming Bug-Free?
- sumtechguy 5y agoBecause we spend 90% of our time in meetings?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- kragen 5y agoWatching math professors working problems on the blackboard I am constantly amazed at how rapid they are. They have the training advantage that when they make a mistake, which is not uncommon, someone in the class will immediately point it out.
- savingsPossible 5y agoAlso, we do them often. Some problems we use every year (CS teacher here, but I assume the same applies)
- CoastalCoder 5y agoI'm curious how much of that is attributable to aging.
- tarentel 5y agoIt could possibly but when I studied math in college I got incredibly good at mental math. A lot of it is memory or number tricks and a bit of practice. I would say anyone can learn them regardless of age. I am many years out of college but even by the time I was in my mid twenties and a few years out of school my ability to do simple problems in my head went down drastically since I wasn't doing it nearly as often. Age may play a factor but probably not as much as you would think.