Posted on 08/08/2012 4:34:06 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
I took algebra 3 years in high school and once in college. I will never understand it or be able to do it on my own. At least I had a good teacher in high school were who able to “dumb” it down for me and explain things step-by-step (how I learn). When I was on my own, I was lost.
Geometry, on the other hand, piece of cake.
I work in a department that does what would have been called operations research (and was when I graduated from college a long time ago) and now is probably called industrial engineering. We basically try to optimize internal budget allocation in a large corporation. Algebra is one of many math requirements among other things like calculus, differential equations, familiarity with matrix operations, etc. The sad part is that I'm trying to hire someone with those same skills, and the pickings are mighty slim in the US educated applicant pool. Too many degrees in "gender studies," "dramatic arts," etc. and not enough in applied math, engineering, etc. The applicants from India and to a lesser extent China are much better prepared.
I never could grasp it on paper but know I use it in the physical sense.
As a factory foreman I would get an order for 1 skid of parts. I knew that it meant that I needed 270 individual parts or 9 boxes of 30.
As you said as with math or any other subject in school is the teacher , some are and some are not , I was lucky to have Mrs. Rhodes , and yes I use algebra almost every day.
My job even requires trigonometry sometimes.
Thankfully, no calculus.
I did and I did and I have no clue what I did nor why.
Algebra? I think most people use it every day, whether or not they’re aware of it. Not the y=mx+b stuff but word problems with variables. I suppose you can just call it advanced arithmetic, but it’s the kind of thing that’s covered in a first year algebra class.
I regularly use algebra in my work. Trig and linear algebra fairly often, calculus occasionally.
Womyn’s studies, “poli sci”, “Great Moments in LGBTQ History”, etc. — not so much.
No, but my ability to use what I do know to find out what I don't, with mathematical certainty, did.
> Does Your Job Really Require Algebra?
You betcha it does; not only algebra, but calculus, differential equations and matrices. There hasn’t been more than a 2 week period in the past 30 or 35 year period that I haven’t needed to use higher math.
If you go at a speed for the gifted student, the average student gets lost and never finds their way back.
You cannot treat students as a cooky-cutter assembly line, which is what almost all schools try to do nowadays.
Nothing like the smell of pimping for importing more guest workers in the morning.
We produce more STEM grads than we create jobs for; In addition our current STEM grads compete with off shoring, guest workers, and illegals (visa overstays).
I had the same professor for 30 hours of accounting in college.
He never used numbers.
Algebra teaches the valuable skill of abstraction - which the Greeks considered the fundamental element of being an educated person.
Anyone with a knowledge of elementary arithmetic can tell you that 3x3=9, 4x3=12, and 5x3=15. (This is “concrete” thinking.) But being able to detect some principle about “any number multiplied by 3” requires abstract thinking.
Applying this principle to FR: The press reports one story after another, counting on us to see them all as unrelated. The abstract thinker connects the dots and sees the bigger picture of what’s really going on.
And yes, I use algebra nearly every day in one way or another.
If students did their "fair share" by applying themselves in their studies, there wouldn't be any need for importing guest workers.
By the same token, I think we have plenty of qualified people...employers want to pay as little as possible.
The son of a friend of mine just finished a Ph.D in Math. My friend, a math-NUT, audited as many of his son’s classes as he could out of sheer joy. In speaking to one of the several Indian profs, he learned that scholarships in math at every level every year were untouched—millions of dollars’ worth in a relatively small Ohio school. The reason—American kids didn’t seem to feel the need for such grueling subjects. Too many other subjects led to an easier time in college and more money afterwards. And, of course, it’s not just math. Medicine’s suffering, too; and unfortunately the answer’s been limiting the basics and pushing the specialties (especially those dealing with athletes’ problems). The facebook/reality show generations.
I was a victim of New Math. Somehow I labored through Algebra and Geometry and I’m terrible at math. Every kid should get at least an introduction to it. If they never use it at least they can grouse about it for the next 40 years. LOL!!
The HORRORS!!! Next thing you know, consumers will want to pay the lowest price for goods and services too!!! And get the highest return for their investments... where does it all end??!?!?! Aiiigghhhh!
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