Two kinds of mathematics
Mathematics, at almost any level, can be either practical or ideal. Problems arise when the two kinds are confused.
Greece vs. Bablylon
Articles Tagged with mathematics
Ideal lies
Why learn something that isn’t true?
As we progress in school, the lessons get more difficult and complicated. Sometimes they’re difficult because we have to unlearn things.
An unlikely number
A surfeit of features
No one uses them all
Digital cameras, like calculators, have an immense menu of features. It’s certainly rare, and possibly unknown, for anyone to use them all. Why have them, then?
Why a forecast discussion?
More than numbers
Weather forecasts are much more reliable than they used to be, mostly thanks to more powerful computers. Input from people is still important, though.
The John Henry moment
Old technology triumphant
A mathematics teacher is not much like a nineteenth-century railroad worker–but there are parallels. Our consultant who tutors High School math and science continues to learn from it; sometimes, his students do also.
Science and social science
Differences among the PhDs
Methods and results differ among the various sciences. This comes from differences in their subject matter and is not always understood, even by scientists.
Classes of classes
What is the aim of school?
A recent comment on one of our posts raises the question of what teachers are trying to achieve in school. The answer varies.
It’s simpler than that
Teachers can know too much
High School chemistry rests on a base of sophisticated quantum mechanics. Fortunately, it’s not necessary to master the advanced subject in order to use its results.
Ways of learning and of avoiding it
Life is not a word problem
Our tutoring consultant continues to gain insights from his students.