3 ms·
Statistic teaches you application and helps to develop correct intuition. Can's speak for everyone, but my college algebra courses were 100% abstract stuff deta
by romaniv 12y ago
Statistic teaches you application and helps to develop correct intuition. Can's speak for everyone, but my college algebra courses were 100% abstract stuff detached from reality. All professors had the attitude that once you learn the theory you could apply it to anything. Problem is, it's hard to remember theory if you don't map to something tangible, and it's hard to apply it to reality when you're just used to crunching equations.
- tel 12y agoStatistics is, classically, more developed in the realm of "applied math" than "pure math" while linear algebra is, again classically, more a "pure math" discipline. The difference in rhetoric you cite falls out of this exactly. In practice, both have wonderful presence in math both applied and pure. Linear algebra is one form of abstract algebra which is easily one of the most important mathematical disciplines. It's also the characterization and method of manipulating large arrays of numbers in interesting and practical ways. Statistics is the mechanism of interpreting live data under knowledge of uncertainty toward generalization. It's also probably well characterized as a particularly well-behavior substudy of measure theory... the pure mathematical notion of generalized "substance"
- romaniv 12y agomy college algebra courses Sorry, I meant my college calculus courses, although incidentally the statement applies to both. I think colleges would be much better off teaching introductory math as "applied". I got significantly more out of statistics, because that class taught us how to spot problems where that branch of mathematics is applicable. I really liked how Udacity used real-life orbit calculations from various space missions as assignments. It gives the whole thing some context.