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If you get any answer, isn't the only way to know whether it is right or wrong to understand it? What is critiqued here isn't that people manage to add numbers

by atoav 2y ago

If you get any answer, isn't the only way to know whether it is right or wrong to understand it? What is critiqued here isn't that people manage to add numbers the right way. What is critiqued here is in a metaphorical sense that students learn the results for any given input by hard, and don't understand what addition does and what happens when you add things. As someone who had mechanical engineering classes if I had to pick someone to build my plane I'd pick someone who understands that the bend on a 5m aluminum rod is not going to be in the order of 2km over a person that accepts that result because they think they applied the rules they learned. You only get the former kind of thinking by making people understand what they are doing. And a good way to avoid developing that understanding is by constantly focus on things being right instead of only doing so in special situations (e.g. a test).

WalterBright 2y ago
> isn't the only way to know whether it is right or wrong to understand it? The other way to know is to test it. Things are tested anyway, just to ensure the math was done correctly. I designed the stabilizer trim jackscrew so it could withstand 151% of the maximum load. (The extra 1% was for tolerances.) The test people grinned and told me they were going to bust my jackscrew. Off I went to Plant 2 where they had the medieval torture rig all set up. It was two I-beams, hinged together at one end. There was a hydraulic ram connected to form a triangle. My poor little jackscrew was fixed to both I-beams. And, with a grin, the testers started cranking up the pressure in the ram. I watched with my safety googles on. They ran it up to 150%, and the I-beam bent like limp noodle, and my jackscrew stood strong and proud! No creaks, no cracks, no spalling, no buckling. The testers were chagrined, and I simply went back to the office. There were two takeaways here: 1. It was too strong. Evidently Saginaw Gear forged a masterpiece. I've always liked Saginaw Gear since. They're some bad mofos. 2. The test people didn't do the math.
- atoav 2y ago
  Believe me I would have loved to forklift a load onto a steel beam during mechanical engineering exams just to test my calculations, but somehow none of us were forklift certified and the school failed to provide steel beams to toy around with. Looking back at that education the important lessons there were to acknowledge that even if multiple people try for hours under high stress to get things right, chances are more than 50% will still be wrong. And to only way around that is to really know your shit inside out. I had many colleagues who I met uears later which wouldn't even be able to explain basic mechanical laws as all they did back then is learn for exams like other people learn poems. That is what I meant when I said understanding is more important than being right in school. If you construct a plane you better check it ten times and then test it a hundred times.
- AnimalMuppet 2y ago
  The test people aren't there to do the math. The test people are there to experimentally check your math. (Shooting their mouths off does nothing, except cost them ego points when they're wrong.)

by atoav 2y ago

WalterBright 2y ago

> isn't the only way to know whether it is right or wrong to understand it? The other way to know is to test it. Things are tested anyway, just to ensure the math was done correctly. I designed the stabilizer trim jackscrew so it could withstand 151% of the maximum load. (The extra 1% was for tolerances.) The test people grinned and told me they were going to bust my jackscrew. Off I went to Plant 2 where they had the medieval torture rig all set up. It was two I-beams, hinged together at one end. There was a hydraulic ram connected to form a triangle. My poor little jackscrew was fixed to both I-beams. And, with a grin, the testers started cranking up the pressure in the ram. I watched with my safety googles on. They ran it up to 150%, and the I-beam bent like limp noodle, and my jackscrew stood strong and proud! No creaks, no cracks, no spalling, no buckling. The testers were chagrined, and I simply went back to the office. There were two takeaways here: 1. It was too strong. Evidently Saginaw Gear forged a masterpiece. I've always liked Saginaw Gear since. They're some bad mofos. 2. The test people didn't do the math.

atoav 2y ago
Believe me I would have loved to forklift a load onto a steel beam during mechanical engineering exams just to test my calculations, but somehow none of us were forklift certified and the school failed to provide steel beams to toy around with. Looking back at that education the important lessons there were to acknowledge that even if multiple people try for hours under high stress to get things right, chances are more than 50% will still be wrong. And to only way around that is to really know your shit inside out. I had many colleagues who I met uears later which wouldn't even be able to explain basic mechanical laws as all they did back then is learn for exams like other people learn poems. That is what I meant when I said understanding is more important than being right in school. If you construct a plane you better check it ten times and then test it a hundred times.
AnimalMuppet 2y ago
The test people aren't there to do the math. The test people are there to experimentally check your math. (Shooting their mouths off does nothing, except cost them ego points when they're wrong.)