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Don't we already teach if/then/while/for statements in in high school math?

by blhack 13y ago

thrush 13y ago
No we definitely don't. (perhaps only in rare cases) The Math Curriculum at my high school was as follows: * 9th Grade - Algebra * 10th Grade - Geometry and Proofs * 11th Grade - Pre-Calculus * 12th Grade - Calculus It would have made sense to teach integrals using for loops, and some proofs using if/else statements, but we did not use either of these methods.
- hfsktr 13y ago
  Mine was algebra for 2 years and then geometry with more algebra (only 3 required, guess how many people elected for more math). I don't remember much but I never saw calculus in HS. I think the advance math classes went to pre-calculus.
  - acchow 13y ago
    > I think the advance math classes went to pre-calculus. Presumably using some ordering where algebra < calculus. I don't know what your high school algebra was like, but mine was certainly much harder than derivatives and integrals :p
    - hfsktr 13y ago
      Mostly it was learning about variables, plotting, some polynomials later. In the end the majority of it was just memorization without a reason for using it. I don't really remember most of the calc stuff I had to learn but I can at least remember why it's useful but after 3 years I barely recall how to get a derivative and would have to look up integrals. Personally whenever someone can give me a percentage quickly (sometimes at all!) I am impressed. I tend to feel math education is lacking (in America/general). I especially like articles that surface on HN with math and even more when they have illustrations/examples [1]. It's amazing how many times I had read about it before it just clicked. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6683866 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6683866
- blhack 13y ago
  I guess my math teacher was just awesome, then. (Shout out to Mr. Tapps in Van Meter, IA). I remember doing "proofs" (although they were very simple) in high school.
- Spooky23 13y ago
  The hard stuff is logic, and that's covered in geometry and pre-calc. Loops and if/then aren't very difficult, I don't remember anybody struggling with that when I was a TA. Logic, on the other hand was a learning curve for the students who dozed through 10th grade math.

Don't we already teach if/then/while/for statements in in high school math?

by blhack 13y ago

Don't we already teach if/then/while/for statements in in high school math?

No we definitely don't. (perhaps only in rare cases) The Math Curriculum at my high school was as follows: * 9th Grade - Algebra * 10th Grade - Geometry and Proofs * 11th Grade - Pre-Calculus * 12th Grade - Calculus It would have made sense to teach integrals using for loops, and some proofs using if/else statements, but we did not use either of these methods.

hfsktr 13y ago
Mine was algebra for 2 years and then geometry with more algebra (only 3 required, guess how many people elected for more math). I don't remember much but I never saw calculus in HS. I think the advance math classes went to pre-calculus.
- acchow 13y ago
  > I think the advance math classes went to pre-calculus. Presumably using some ordering where algebra < calculus. I don't know what your high school algebra was like, but mine was certainly much harder than derivatives and integrals :p
  - hfsktr 13y ago
    Mostly it was learning about variables, plotting, some polynomials later. In the end the majority of it was just memorization without a reason for using it. I don't really remember most of the calc stuff I had to learn but I can at least remember why it's useful but after 3 years I barely recall how to get a derivative and would have to look up integrals. Personally whenever someone can give me a percentage quickly (sometimes at all!) I am impressed. I tend to feel math education is lacking (in America/general). I especially like articles that surface on HN with math and even more when they have illustrations/examples [1]. It's amazing how many times I had read about it before it just clicked. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6683866 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6683866
blhack 13y ago
I guess my math teacher was just awesome, then. (Shout out to Mr. Tapps in Van Meter, IA). I remember doing "proofs" (although they were very simple) in high school.
Spooky23 13y ago
The hard stuff is logic, and that's covered in geometry and pre-calc. Loops and if/then aren't very difficult, I don't remember anybody struggling with that when I was a TA. Logic, on the other hand was a learning curve for the students who dozed through 10th grade math.