> actually mastering those skills may be wasted time? this question is, i’m pretty sure it is safe to assume, the absolute bane of every maths teacher’s existe

> actually mastering those skills may be wasted time? this question is, i’m pretty sure it is safe to assume, the absolute bane of every maths teacher’s existence. if i don’t learn and master the fundamentals, i cannot learn and master more advanced concepts. which means no fluid dynamics for me when i get to university because “what’s the point of learning algebra, i’m never gonna use it in real life” (i mean, i flunked fluid dynamics but it was because i was out drinking all the time). i still remember how to calculate compound interest. do i need to know how to calculate compound interest today? no. did i need to learn and master it as an application of accumulation functions? absolutely. just because i don’t need to apply something i learned to master before doesn’t mean i didn’t need to learn and master it in order to learn and master something else later. mastery is a cumulative process in my experience. skipping out on it with early stuff makes it much harder to master later stuff. > Do you worry about calculators preventing people to master big number multiplication? yes.