2 ms·

Is this honestly a joke. How on earth could you expect a student to come up with an answer to a question with no information even slightly relevant to the answe

by C1D 13y ago

Is this honestly a joke. How on earth could you expect a student to come up with an answer to a question with no information even slightly relevant to the answer; that is not a basis to judge math skills. Also your above calculation is no better than the ones the grade eights had made. If you had any knowledge of farms you would know that the Shepard probably bought a lot of sheep too and maybe some of them belonged to his father. How can you assume that he started at 18. In Arabia some kids become Shepards at the age of 13. Your example was just plain stupid and so is your assumption that they have bad math skills.

recuter 13y ago
His assumptions may be faulty but that isn't the point, he constructed at least a somewhat reasonable model and extrapolated some number crunching. The OP link claims a few students tried (for no reason) to divide 125 by 5 and failed to do even that. There is no right answer obviously, it is how you play and tinker with it - the more mathematical tools you have in your toolbox the more you could improvise, see also Credit Default Swaps. Nerds like to conflate basic competence at technical skills with intelligence. :) However, while being able to muck about like this doesn't necessarily prove one is smart it at least demonstrates some capacity for learning and exploration. I think that is the gist of the lament - that schools don't play with math, they drill - and agree with its spirit.
- chr1 13y ago
  His solution isn't much different from solutions most of the kids were giving. That is when faced with problem you don't understand -throw away the problem -solve something you are comfortable with -try to convince others it is the solution of the original problem We don't need people who fabricate data and make unfounded guesses.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

2 ms·

Is this honestly a joke. How on earth could you expect a student to come up with an answer to a question with no information even slightly relevant to the answe

by C1D 13y ago

recuter 13y ago
His assumptions may be faulty but that isn't the point, he constructed at least a somewhat reasonable model and extrapolated some number crunching. The OP link claims a few students tried (for no reason) to divide 125 by 5 and failed to do even that. There is no right answer obviously, it is how you play and tinker with it - the more mathematical tools you have in your toolbox the more you could improvise, see also Credit Default Swaps. Nerds like to conflate basic competence at technical skills with intelligence. :) However, while being able to muck about like this doesn't necessarily prove one is smart it at least demonstrates some capacity for learning and exploration. I think that is the gist of the lament - that schools don't play with math, they drill - and agree with its spirit.
- chr1 13y ago
  His solution isn't much different from solutions most of the kids were giving. That is when faced with problem you don't understand -throw away the problem -solve something you are comfortable with -try to convince others it is the solution of the original problem We don't need people who fabricate data and make unfounded guesses.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]