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> Because most people are completely illiterate with respect to mathematics. Maybe, but... >>The student then told me that some of the other students eventual
by HumblyTossed 3y ago
> Because most people are completely illiterate with respect to mathematics.
Maybe, but...
>>The student then told me that some of the other students eventually understood that z takes the value of 11 but their question was "how a machine can do that"
... it's possible their block wasn't math, but they were hung up on the fact that they didn't think a *computer" could do math like that.
> They have trouble learning anything, q.e.d.
I doubt that. There are probably a dozen other more plausible reasons.
- hnlmorg 3y agoI would be very very surprised (and very very disappointed) if anyone is confused and/or surprised that a computer can do basic addition. If those sorts of people exist then they’d be totally blown away at the capabilities of a pocket calculator.
- HumblyTossed 3y agoI said: "... they didn't think a *computer" could do math like that." Emphasis on "like that" meaning laid out like that. Context can affect people's reasoning. Maybe they've never seen code.
- hnlmorg 3y agoI’m not really sure I get the distinction but I guess this is just one of those occasions that I’m just going to struggle to relate to. Thanks for sharing the anecdote though. :)
- creer 3y agoThat still leaves questions that ideally the class should explain: - How does the computer understand that it needs to add - How can the computer go from these 3 lines of text to "sure, let's add" - Why does text even mean anything to the computer - For that matter, sure it can add, but HOW? It's not like it has a pencil and paper. Because indeed the infrastructure between these 3 lines of text and the addition is not trivial. These are legitimate questions.