5 ms·

Math question 7, what are the sub-units of pounds? Is it something like pence?

• deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
• maccard 12y ago
  Shillings. there were 20 in a pound, and 12 pence in a shilling, for 240 pence/pound. the d signifies pennies.
• gwern 12y ago
  Just another example of things we have mercifully forgotten. See Isaac Asimov's "Forget It" essay http://www.kkbooks.net/ScienceFiction/Asimov37/27283.html http://www.kkbooks.net/ScienceFiction/Asimov37/27283.html (on a similarly antiquated math textbook).
  • ashark 12y ago
    I think it's interesting that one of his major examples of useless, forgettable knowledge is essentially arithmetic with bases other than 10, which is back in style for grades as early as elementary school and often advanced on this very site as an important skill for children to learn (for some reason—I don't really get why).
    • ghaff 12y ago
      For one thing, there's simply the utility of other bases in programming although I imagine this utility is less widespread than when a greater percentage of programmers were working at lower levels. More broadly, I gather we're having another iteration of attempting to teach mathematical principles rather than rote calculation. Or, to put it cynically in the words of Tom Lehrer speaking about New Math: "The important thing is to understand what you're doing, not to get the right answer." Personally, I'm somewhat torn and it definitely depends on the individual.