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> this beauty of maths was missing from schools and yet amazing things could be shown with even primary school mathematical ability This. Most people think t
by ivan_ah 13y ago
> this beauty of maths was missing from schools and yet amazing things could be shown with even primary school mathematical ability
This.
Most people think that math is about arithmetic and memorization, which couldn't be further from the truth. But can you blame them since the only math teaching they received as kids was about arithmetic and memorization?
It would be interesting how much science will move forward if we had one generation of kids who grow up learning about the more "beautiful" aspects of math and end up interested in it...
- russellsprouts 13y agoThis essay really drove that point home for me: http://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/pdf/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf http://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/pdf/devlin/LockhartsL...
- zecho 13y agoIt's not just the memorization that bothers me, but the belief that there is only one way to do math. I've been in many arguments with parents before that their (and my) kids should learn many algorithms for even the most basic things. Do subtraction by complements sometime, rather than the standard algorithm. Playing with numbers is way more fun than repeating the computations.
- timthorn 13y agoConrad Wolfram is leading a campaign to change that: http://computerbasedmath.org/ http://computerbasedmath.org/