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So instead of Reading, 'Riting and 'Rithmetic, we have mass confusion.
I know this is going to sound really really old school, but when I was in high school we had seven periods a day. There weren't any fancy names for classes - every day we had HISTORY, MATH, GEOGRAPHY, ENGLISH, GYM, SCIENCE, MUSIC. One day we'd do them in that order, and the next day we'd do them in reverse order.
This was in Canada in the 70's. There were no fancy names for classes, the school didn't provide any meals for kids because that was the parents responsibility, and if you found out the first name of any of your teachers it was a really big deal.
Providing a solid foundation of general knowledge for a child should not be as difficult as it is now made out to be.
Make me glad I live in Minnesota which hasnt adopted the common core for math. Our son is in third grade....and he actually does regular subtraction/addition they way I was taught as well.
That way of solving the math problem looks similar to the way that they tried to teach us math when I was in grade school, in the early sixties. New Math, they called it at the time. Only it was only on long division at the time. Then my mom showed me the old way, and I never went back to the New Math. Old way much easier. Hard to believe they're still trying this junk.
We had school lunch, but you had to pay for it. It sucked then too, so I took mine in a sack, and was always glad I did, all the way through HS. We had a hour for noon lunch, with a 15 minute recess morning and afternoon to give the boys and girls time to burn off some energy, so fewer ADHD problems. In HS, we all had gym 3 days a week and everyone participated, and everyone took a shower whether you wanted to or not. I'm sure the same reason, young people need a way to burn off all the youthful energy and vigor. Then they wouldn't have to drug them. I feel sorry for kids today.
Natile469 - Your daughter could have use an old school framing square. All the calculations are already done if you know how to read the thing. It will also let you create the Jack Rafters for a hip roof. Try doing that with Trig.
I was going through some old notebooks and found my Calculus notebook. There, in my own printing, was a coherent understanding of Derivatives and Integrals. Therefore I must have understood the subject. Yeah, right. I always wondered why I had to do Algebraic Identities to develop my own Integral Equations. If I want an equation to solve an integral I find the book of Integrals and look it up. When I was calculating open channel (river) flow depths I used the equations other people had developed for ideal curves that never quite matched what a flooding river was doing.
I agree that arithmetic provides an exact answer. Using arithmetic to solve algebraic equations also provides exact answers. Exact answers are expected when you have exact values to use in the equation. In real engineering the exact forces, directions and masses have to be estimated (educated guessing) before the structure can be designed and built. An engineer can either build the thing and measure the deflections and use these values to redesign the thing or they can use a "factor of safety" to have reasonable assurance that the wings or wheels don't fall off. (Management rarely lets them take the time to do either. Apparently it is cheaper to use a faulty ignition switch than properly designing one that works in the first place and replacing the defective device even though the failure can kill people. Management must have learned using CORE math.)
Arithmetic, as I learned it, is an instruction book. Do this to that and the result will be the correct. It is based on the equation that x + y=z. X and Y always have discrete values and correct addition, subtraction, multiplication and division done in the correct order will always have the correct answer. The rest of mathematics is directed to producing equations that allow arithmetic to be used to produce an exact answer.
Unfortunately most of the rest of the world is not held to exactness. There is no one exact answer to eliminating poverty, war or sickness. There is no exact history. There is no exact path to business success. Maybe the CORE folks are trying to say that but applying it to an area where there are exact answers. This may be applying a good technique to the wrong problem.
"Natile469 - Your daughter could have use an old school framing square. All the calculations are already done if you know how to read the thing. It will also let you create the Jack Rafters for a hip roof. Try doing that with Trig. "
Exactly. I have had a framing square for years. I still don't know how to use all the functions the thing is capable of doing, even though I once had an instruction book that was nearly an inch thick!
If you want to challenge a kid, give him a slip-stick and teach him to use IT instead of a calculator!
Then again, it has been so long since I used a slide rule I don't remember how!
Simple math isn't enough. My daughter made a chicken coop using trigonometry --- she decided the roof should have a 35 degree slope --- so how else could you find how much wood would be needed for the roof since it wasn't going to be flat? You need angles and vectors and the logic rules.
My grandfather was a carpenter ... could build anything. If you mentioned trigonometry to him he would have asked Trigo-What?
Unless you are going to major in math or go into the medical or science field why do we need to learn algebra and so on. Just learn to add, subtract, multiple and divide. How many of us in day to day life use math without a calculator.
Because if you do go into field that requires it they don't want to be teaching it to you from scratch. Algebra is important for a lot of things like geometry etc. You need geometry for architect, engineer etc. Even for something like programming understanding how to write equations is important.
That way of solving the math problem looks similar to the way that they tried to teach us math when I was in grade school, in the early sixties. New Math, they called it at the time. Only it was only on long division at the time. Then my mom showed me the old way, and I never went back to the New Math. Old way much easier. Hard to believe they're still trying this junk.
I think the problem is what works for you may not work for other people. What works for me may not work for you.
7*5? half of 8*10 was 40, -5 is 35. Again this may seem crazy but I was able to do 5 and 6 digit multiplication in my head at one point. Now I'm lucky if I can do the basic table.
Seems I was waaaaaaaaaaaaaay ahead of the curve in school because the example given appears to be how I did a lot of math. I had a whole bunch of ways I used to figure out problems that made sense to me. It started with memorizing multiplication tables. It didn't memorize many of them because I could do the math on the fly. For example (9*10)-9 was how I figured 9*9. I'm sure that sounds crazy to some people but later on I was able to do huge numbers with the same method.
Worked for me but I'm sure it could be confusing for others.
Solving math that way not only means you can do basic math; you also have a very good understanding of how numbers work. A lot of people can do math problems if they write them out, but the backlash against a "new" way of doing math seems to prove that many people stumble if they have to critically think about numbers in any way other than how they are used to solving problems.
My dad (an engineer) actually showed me how to do multiplication like that when I was about 7 or 8, in addition to making me memorize the times tables.
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Again this may seem crazy but I was able to do 5 and 6 digit multiplication in my head at one point. Now I'm lucky if I can do the basic table.
