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“ Losing the ability to do mental math is probably not actually a big deal” I think it’s a huge deal. I see a lot of people do some financing stuff and they ha

“ Losing the ability to do mental math is probably not actually a big deal” I think it’s a huge deal. I see a lot of people do some financing stuff and they have no idea what a 20% interest rate really means. So they just go ahead and do it because taking out a calculator is too tedious. I find it pretty crazy how many can’t figure how much a 20% or even 10% is. A lot of financial offerings take advantage of the fact that people can’t do even basic math.

bluefirebrand 2y ago
If taking out a calculator is too much of a burden when we all have smartphones with built in calculator apps, then the problem is not the lack of mental math skill. Edit: At best, it shows that the person doesn't really know how to calculate that even with a calculator At worst, it shows that the person lacks of any kind of give a fuck at all Either way, they probably would not likely have learned the mental math required to do this regardless of if it were being taught at school or not
- pessimizer 2y ago
  > At best, it shows that the person doesn't really know how to calculate that even with a calculator What it shows is that 10% means nothing to them. It's just another number that a calculator will spit out. It's not "one out of ten" or "shift everything to the right." They have no ability to evaluate what the number means on the fly. They just plug it into the calculator and check if they have that much. They can't have a reasonable discussion about the number without stopping and calculating every interest rate they can think of, writing them down on a piece of people, and writing the budget next to them. A calculator here, of course, leads to more work, not less. I bet the vast majority of the time that somebody too lazy or anxiety-ridden to learn how to calculate 20% in their head is also going to be too lazy and bothered to take out a calculator every time they need to know, rather than just trying to bluff their way through conversations until they can get to a calculator. Calculators are of no benefit to students who have no clear concept of the calculation. Just learn your times tables, they're one of the first things we teach kids. The pragmatic pro-calculator "nobody needs to calculate those numbers in real life" school I think gets most of its support because constructivists often fail entirely to teach things that have been until now best learned by rote, hoping that an instinct for multiplication and division will naturally and precisely arise from children's mathematical souls. The fact that it doesn't is proof that doing arithmetic is bad and a waste of time actually. They love abstractions, but only vague ones that can't be reliably tested. > Either way, they probably would not likely have learned the mental math required to do this regardless of if it were being taught at school or not That's the law of averages. It is not a law.
hoaxminion 2y ago
> no idea what a 20% interest rate really means Compound interest is hard to do with mental math, but what you're actually seeing is a behavioral economics phenomenon called hyperbolic discounting.

bluefirebrand 2y ago

If taking out a calculator is too much of a burden when we all have smartphones with built in calculator apps, then the problem is not the lack of mental math skill. Edit: At best, it shows that the person doesn't really know how to calculate that even with a calculator At worst, it shows that the person lacks of any kind of give a fuck at all Either way, they probably would not likely have learned the mental math required to do this regardless of if it were being taught at school or not

pessimizer 2y ago
> At best, it shows that the person doesn't really know how to calculate that even with a calculator What it shows is that 10% means nothing to them. It's just another number that a calculator will spit out. It's not "one out of ten" or "shift everything to the right." They have no ability to evaluate what the number means on the fly. They just plug it into the calculator and check if they have that much. They can't have a reasonable discussion about the number without stopping and calculating every interest rate they can think of, writing them down on a piece of people, and writing the budget next to them. A calculator here, of course, leads to more work, not less. I bet the vast majority of the time that somebody too lazy or anxiety-ridden to learn how to calculate 20% in their head is also going to be too lazy and bothered to take out a calculator every time they need to know, rather than just trying to bluff their way through conversations until they can get to a calculator. Calculators are of no benefit to students who have no clear concept of the calculation. Just learn your times tables, they're one of the first things we teach kids. The pragmatic pro-calculator "nobody needs to calculate those numbers in real life" school I think gets most of its support because constructivists often fail entirely to teach things that have been until now best learned by rote, hoping that an instinct for multiplication and division will naturally and precisely arise from children's mathematical souls. The fact that it doesn't is proof that doing arithmetic is bad and a waste of time actually. They love abstractions, but only vague ones that can't be reliably tested. > Either way, they probably would not likely have learned the mental math required to do this regardless of if it were being taught at school or not That's the law of averages. It is not a law.

hoaxminion 2y ago

> no idea what a 20% interest rate really means Compound interest is hard to do with mental math, but what you're actually seeing is a behavioral economics phenomenon called hyperbolic discounting.