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The New Coffee Room

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  3. Geek humor

Geek humor

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  • H Horace
    22 Apr 2022, 14:26

    Math is taught as a collection of short-hand tricks that the students don't understand as anything more than black boxes that happen to work for some strange reason. Learning how to do long-hand multiplication or division is not more educational of math than learning where the Calculator app is in the app store and learning how to push the right buttons.

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    Doctor Phibes
    wrote on 22 Apr 2022, 16:20 last edited by Doctor Phibes
    #85

    @Horace said in Geek humor:

    Math is taught as a collection of short-hand tricks that the students don't understand as anything more than black boxes that happen to work for some strange reason. Learning how to do long-hand multiplication or division is not more educational of math than learning where the Calculator app is in the app store and learning how to push the right buttons.

    That depends on how it's taught. I seem to think when I learned long multiplication, the teacher used it to explain how decimal numbers worked. Admittedly, that might have had no impact on the kids who were less interested, but I remember it making me think quite a bit about it.

    What I really disliked was having to memorise multiplication tables. That and the freaking Nicene Creed. They don't do that so much over here.

    I was only joking

    1 Reply Last reply
    • J Offline
      J Offline
      jon-nyc
      wrote on 22 Apr 2022, 16:45 last edited by
      #86

      Horace - that was true in your day. Common core math and the Singapore method it’s based on really does a good job with creating deeper understanding. That’s why parents complain so much about it.

      Only non-witches get due process.

      • Cotton Mather, Salem Massachusetts, 1692
      D 1 Reply Last reply 22 Apr 2022, 17:18
      • J jon-nyc
        22 Apr 2022, 16:45

        Horace - that was true in your day. Common core math and the Singapore method it’s based on really does a good job with creating deeper understanding. That’s why parents complain so much about it.

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        Doctor Phibes
        wrote on 22 Apr 2022, 17:18 last edited by
        #87

        @jon-nyc said in Geek humor:

        That’s why parents complain so much about it.

        Lolz

        I was only joking

        1 Reply Last reply
        • H Offline
          H Offline
          Horace
          wrote on 22 Apr 2022, 18:03 last edited by
          #88

          The utility of the rote mechanics was that anybody could memorize them, and then everybody "knew math". I wonder if you run up against intellectual ability barriers in attempts to teach the ideas.

          Education is extremely important.

          D J 2 Replies Last reply 22 Apr 2022, 18:17
          • H Horace
            22 Apr 2022, 18:03

            The utility of the rote mechanics was that anybody could memorize them, and then everybody "knew math". I wonder if you run up against intellectual ability barriers in attempts to teach the ideas.

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            Doctor Phibes
            wrote on 22 Apr 2022, 18:17 last edited by
            #89

            @Horace said in Geek humor:

            The utility of the rote mechanics was that anybody could memorize them, and then everybody "knew math".

            I once taught a set-7 math class. Forget long-division, half of them could barely use a ruler.

            I was only joking

            1 Reply Last reply
            • H Horace
              22 Apr 2022, 18:03

              The utility of the rote mechanics was that anybody could memorize them, and then everybody "knew math". I wonder if you run up against intellectual ability barriers in attempts to teach the ideas.

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              J Offline
              jon-nyc
              wrote on 22 Apr 2022, 18:26 last edited by
              #90

              @Horace said in Geek humor:

              The utility of the rote mechanics was that anybody could memorize them, and then everybody "knew math". I wonder if you run up against intellectual ability barriers in attempts to teach the ideas.

              I think they very much do. They teach multiple methods to arrive at solutions really admiring the problem in many ways. My son has flourished with it, I’ve always thought it was a special kind of torture for the mathphobic.

              Only non-witches get due process.

              • Cotton Mather, Salem Massachusetts, 1692
              1 Reply Last reply
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                Copper
                wrote on 22 Apr 2022, 21:22 last edited by
                #91

                My rote learning of multiplication tables has served me well over the last 60 years.

                D 1 Reply Last reply 22 Apr 2022, 21:31
                • C Copper
                  22 Apr 2022, 21:22

                  My rote learning of multiplication tables has served me well over the last 60 years.

                  D Offline
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                  Doctor Phibes
                  wrote on 22 Apr 2022, 21:31 last edited by
                  #92

                  @Copper said in Geek humor:

                  My rote learning of multiplication tables has served me well over the last 60 years.

                  So has my memorization of the Nicene Creed.

                  I was only joking

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  • C Offline
                    C Offline
                    Copper
                    wrote on 22 Apr 2022, 21:57 last edited by
                    #93

                    And the Pater Noster

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    • AxtremusA Offline
                      AxtremusA Offline
                      Axtremus
                      wrote on 23 Apr 2022, 02:38 last edited by
                      #94

                      Re: “rote learning of multiplication tables”

                      It’s really just caching for some frequently used information. Some information is more frequently needed than others, so it’s worthwhile to commit them to memory for quick access rather than to recompute or re-lookup every time the information is needed.

                      1 Reply Last reply
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                        J Offline
                        jon-nyc
                        wrote on 27 Apr 2022, 17:41 last edited by
                        #95

                        71BB7729-D37E-4790-BE52-DBCD67312BA9.jpeg

                        Only non-witches get due process.

                        • Cotton Mather, Salem Massachusetts, 1692
                        H 1 Reply Last reply 27 Apr 2022, 18:17
                        • J jon-nyc
                          27 Apr 2022, 17:41

                          71BB7729-D37E-4790-BE52-DBCD67312BA9.jpeg

                          H Offline
                          H Offline
                          Horace
                          wrote on 27 Apr 2022, 18:17 last edited by
                          #96

                          @jon-nyc said in Geek humor:

                          71BB7729-D37E-4790-BE52-DBCD67312BA9.jpeg

                          Would be cool to live in a time when caricaturists were indistinguishable from portraitists.

                          Education is extremely important.

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          • J Offline
                            J Offline
                            jon-nyc
                            wrote on 9 May 2022, 15:19 last edited by
                            #97

                            Not one, but two Sisyphus jokes.

                            280532668_10226752329655192_4543956926843851882_n.jpg

                            280565336_10226752330655217_7969022920088400371_n.jpg

                            Only non-witches get due process.

                            • Cotton Mather, Salem Massachusetts, 1692
                            1 Reply Last reply
                            • J Offline
                              J Offline
                              jon-nyc
                              wrote on 10 May 2022, 01:53 last edited by
                              #98

                              I wanted to add a third but it was an uphill climb.

                              Only non-witches get due process.

                              • Cotton Mather, Salem Massachusetts, 1692
                              Aqua LetiferA LuFins DadL 2 Replies Last reply 10 May 2022, 04:10
                              • J jon-nyc
                                10 May 2022, 01:53

                                I wanted to add a third but it was an uphill climb.

                                Aqua LetiferA Offline
                                Aqua LetiferA Offline
                                Aqua Letifer
                                wrote on 10 May 2022, 04:10 last edited by
                                #99

                                @jon-nyc said in Geek humor:

                                I wanted to add a third but it was an uphill climb.

                                Please. I can't bear the burden of another bad pun.

                                Please love yourself.

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                • J jon-nyc
                                  10 May 2022, 01:53

                                  I wanted to add a third but it was an uphill climb.

                                  LuFins DadL Offline
                                  LuFins DadL Offline
                                  LuFins Dad
                                  wrote on 10 May 2022, 05:18 last edited by
                                  #100

                                  @jon-nyc said in Geek humor:

                                  I wanted to add a third but it was an uphill climb.

                                  You just need to be boulder,

                                  The Brad

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  • NunataxN Offline
                                    NunataxN Offline
                                    Nunatax
                                    wrote on 10 May 2022, 08:14 last edited by
                                    #101

                                    This thread is going downhill fast…

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    • J Offline
                                      J Offline
                                      jon-nyc
                                      wrote on 11 May 2022, 03:10 last edited by
                                      #102

                                      Only non-witches get due process.

                                      • Cotton Mather, Salem Massachusetts, 1692
                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      • markM Offline
                                        markM Offline
                                        mark
                                        wrote on 13 May 2022, 15:23 last edited by
                                        #103

                                        alt text

                                        J Catseye3C 2 Replies Last reply 13 May 2022, 15:43
                                        • markM mark
                                          13 May 2022, 15:23

                                          alt text

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                                          jon-nyc
                                          wrote on 13 May 2022, 15:43 last edited by
                                          #104

                                          @mark lol

                                          Only non-witches get due process.

                                          • Cotton Mather, Salem Massachusetts, 1692
                                          1 Reply Last reply
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