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Just less so because of how far you have to go back. The math you need as an adult(To actually use it in real world problems) is like, linear algebra and stati

Just less so because of how far you have to go back. The math you need as an adult(To actually use it in real world problems) is like, linear algebra and statistics and fairly advanced geometry, the math a lot of us still remember is prealgebra and before with major gaps in basic arithmetic. Of course most people in technical fields already don't have that issue, but someone picking it up as an adult has an overwhelming amount of catch up.

rahimnathwani 5y ago
This is an interesting point. I think the options for an adult learner with an overwhelming amount of catching up to do are pretty much: 1. Do the catch up (ideal, if you have the time, energy and support). 2. Give up (don't waste your time, you won't get it). 3. Find a reliable source that can teach you to use the stuff within some limited domain, without needing to understand it fully. There are obvious problems with #3: - how do you find a reliable/trustworthy source? - how do you know when you're applying the rules/techniques when they don't apply An example of the last point is: someone teaches you enough about p values so you can calculate the significance of an individual experiment, but not enough that you can determine whether the same technique can be applied to your work as a whole: https://xkcd.com/882/ https://xkcd.com/882/
- eternityforest 5y ago
  Well, for nontechnical people #3 is already the standard practice, since outside of STEM it's common to essentially never do any math, we pay our taxes with apps and many don't "budget" so much as "Spend almost nothing on anything that isn't essential", and even if we did budget, we'd use Excel. #3 also mostly works in programming, where common algorithms are black boxes, but it completely fails the moment you want to get a job that needs true understanding. Seems like we need an approach that actually gives people a sense of trust that the mostly useless times tables and trigonometry problems they learn will someday help them work at Google or read a scientific paper, so people have the motivation to avoid getting behind in the first place.

rahimnathwani 5y ago

This is an interesting point. I think the options for an adult learner with an overwhelming amount of catching up to do are pretty much: 1. Do the catch up (ideal, if you have the time, energy and support). 2. Give up (don't waste your time, you won't get it). 3. Find a reliable source that can teach you to use the stuff within some limited domain, without needing to understand it fully. There are obvious problems with #3: - how do you find a reliable/trustworthy source? - how do you know when you're applying the rules/techniques when they don't apply An example of the last point is: someone teaches you enough about p values so you can calculate the significance of an individual experiment, but not enough that you can determine whether the same technique can be applied to your work as a whole: https://xkcd.com/882/ https://xkcd.com/882/

eternityforest 5y ago
Well, for nontechnical people #3 is already the standard practice, since outside of STEM it's common to essentially never do any math, we pay our taxes with apps and many don't "budget" so much as "Spend almost nothing on anything that isn't essential", and even if we did budget, we'd use Excel. #3 also mostly works in programming, where common algorithms are black boxes, but it completely fails the moment you want to get a job that needs true understanding. Seems like we need an approach that actually gives people a sense of trust that the mostly useless times tables and trigonometry problems they learn will someday help them work at Google or read a scientific paper, so people have the motivation to avoid getting behind in the first place.