Showing your work (brought to you by medical cannabis)

[André Toulon]

Its no longer a thing but 💨💨💨 THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO, teachers used to mark off math problems for not showing your work.

This was such a shit concept, especially since basic arithmetic can be solved so many ways...so even if you showed your process, if it wasn't the process the teacher imposed upon you, you would still risk be counted off for it.

It's especially damning since I've always calculated basic numbers in my head... I had no work to show.

FF to now, and I'm not even sure if kids understand how math works...My nephew was trying to buy snacks at the game tonight and i watched a 15 year old add 12 and 7 on his fucking fingers...they can use calculators with no penalty so i get it.  So now I've changed my position...Like I think you can never learn math if you dont understand how numbers correlate.

Do you think forcing kids to write each and every step to get to an answer is necessary for brain growth, or is it fine to just cut out the "why" just to reach the finish line 

Edited yesterday at 05:07 AM by André Toulon

[MasqueradeOverture]

A little after that, they took points off if you didn't do the problem via Common Core methods.

I'm so glad I missed that.

I'm so glad I'm done with anything past the basics literally forever.

[UwPp]

Man I thought I was going to learn something about medical cannabis. 

...

 

I should read better.

Edited yesterday at 11:20 AM by UwPp
I should also learn how to spell too.

[André Toulon]

8 minutes ago, UwPp said:

Man I thought I was going to learn something about medical cannabis. 

...

 

I should read better.

I be apprehensive about what I post at 2am while stoned, so I like to put a disclaimer in case I wake up and be like "huh"

[scoobdog]

I’m not so great at math, so I get where it comes from, but I’m with you.  Showing your work is a prelude to Algebra and the general use of equations and formulas; after that it doesn’t make any real sense.  Most calculations are performed using visualization either wholly or in part:  having to write down every step tends to interfere with that process.

[Doom Metal Alchemist]

I can't remember what grade/subject where we were allowed to use calculators, but it was absolutely no earlier than algebra. Before that using a calculator was cheating.

[scoobdog]

1 hour ago, Doom Metal Alchemist said:

I can't remember what grade/subject where we were allowed to use calculators, but it was absolutely no earlier than algebra. Before that using a calculator was cheating.

When I started Algebra, graphing calculators were brand new, so calculators weren't really a thing.  I would imagine we would have been allowed to use calculators if I was studying Trigonometry in the '80s, since slide rules were antiquated.

[discolé monade]

i do believe it was midway geometry calculators were finally allowed (10th) the next year would be alg. 2, and graphing calculators were needed. 

can i just say...fuck trig. right in it's sin cos asshole. 

but i digress. i think it's important to know HOW to get to an equation/answer up to pre-alg (6th grade), after that, i think it should be promoted to try to calculate as much as possible in the ole noggin'. 

may not need alg and up IRL...but being able to formulate, calculate, et al, other 'problems'...i think go hand in hand. 

also, full disclaimer ; hai : ]

[discolé monade]

8 hours ago, scoobdog said:

When I started Algebra, graphing calculators were brand new, so calculators weren't really a thing.  I would imagine we would have been allowed to use calculators if I was studying Trigonometry in the '80s, since slide rules were antiquated.

learned how to use one in 3rd grade. as it was an antiquated tool. as well as the abacus-i like that. 

[Raptorpat]

I think it def helps to make sure kids know the rules and logic of math before letting them use all the shortcuts.

1 hour ago, discolé monade said:

can i just say...fuck trig. right in it's sin cos asshole. 

also this, 100%

it was the only math I bombed out on. in 10th grade I got a 48% on the trig exam, which was probably my lowest grade (excluding like getting a zero for not doing something) until 11th grade/pre-calc when I got a 36% on that trig test. it just didn't make any sense, like you can multiple and divide, but you can't sin something? like what is that even?

 

it wasn't until scrolling reddit long after finishing school and someone posted an animated gif of like a circle and triangle visually moving around each other and how that generates all the sin/cos/tan values and waves. the logic all clicked in that moment, long after any of it was relevant, just as it clicked for a thousand people in the comments. one of the commenters basically said that the reason no one understands trig is because the math teachers don't understand it either, so they can't elaborate beyond "this is what the rule is" to help it click like with that one gif.

[scoobdog]

2 hours ago, discolé monade said:

learned how to use one in 3rd grade. as it was an antiquated tool. as well as the abacus-i like that. 

Antiquated isn’t the word I wanted to use, but it was the closest.  Slide rules will never go out of fashion like the graphing calculator has; it just takes a lot of practice and it’s never going to be faster than a PC or even a phone with a graphing calculator app on it.  There will always be a better way and there will always be exceptional situations when a slide rule is the only option.

[scoobdog]

1 hour ago, Raptorpat said:

I think it def helps to make sure kids know the rules and logic of math before letting them use all the shortcuts.

also this, 100%

it was the only math I bombed out on. in 10th grade I got a 48% on the trig exam, which was probably my lowest grade (excluding like getting a zero for not doing something) until 11th grade/pre-calc when I got a 36% on that trig test. it just didn't make any sense, like you can multiple and divide, but you can't sin something? like what is that even?

 

it wasn't until scrolling reddit long after finishing school and someone posted an animated gif of like a circle and triangle visually moving around each other and how that generates all the sin/cos/tan values and waves. the logic all clicked in that moment, long after any of it was relevant, just as it clicked for a thousand people in the comments. one of the commenters basically said that the reason no one understands trig is because the math teachers don't understand it either, so they can't elaborate beyond "this is what the rule is" to help it click like with that one gif.

I wasn’t great at Trig either (like I got similar grades as you).

[discolé monade]

i wasn't great at trig either. i dropped it like a bad habit. didn't need any more math anyway, i was just trying to keep up with the jones's. 

if i had to go back and do it all again, i would have gone to the vocational high school and not the college prep. 

[scoobdog]

I got my only D ever on a progress report card in Trig, but I ended pulling it up to a C before the end of the semester.  It’s like Pat said, it doesn’t make sense on its own, and it’s a harder to see the relationships in it than previously taught disciplines.