It’s also a day without using anything he learned in art, or geography, or chemistry, or English literature, or history, or pretty much anything he studied in school after age 10. Why does math get singled out?
Because hurr durr math hard
Because math is abstract and difficult to relate to. We should be taught practical applications of the abstract concepts, and the exam questions should be more practical.
yeah i think most of us were taught by people who didn’t “understand” math either, so we don’t really get what it is that we’re doing, we just memorize the process to get the numbers to match, which isnt fun at all. I had a very difficult time in school with math.
When i was reintroduced to math functions as an electrician (and an adult) and the numbersoup actually described tactile, real world connections i had a much more fun time learning them.
I demand only the practical parts of art and history be taught in school.
Also - the questions that focus on practical applications are called word problems, and they get complained about more than anything else.
The reason why they’re abstract and difficult to relate to is because we’re all being taught maths backwards.
In science, a phenomenon is observed and then maths is used to create a set of equations describe it’s behaviour. Then using the equations, other experiments can be designed to prove other hypothesises. This is known as the experimentalist approach to science.
Engineering is the same but less research and more application focused. For example, I need to design a wooden shelf that is A inches/meters long and supports B lb/kg of weight. How do I do that? Using trigonometry and Newtonian physics to work out the dimensions.
Finance is often used for basic algebra and calculus.
However, it is not always helpful to work in the material when using mathematics and the abstract is preferred. This is usually only useful for the theoretical approach in science, in theoretical mathematics, or at the cutting edge of engineering disciplines.
If we were taught by being presented with a problem first, I think it would make it easier to make the leap into the abstract when required for other applications. And on top of this, it would make it much easier for the majority who only ever need to use mathematics as a tool.
“If Johnny has 3 apples, and Jane takes 1 apple, how many apples does Johnny have?”
Depends.
Did Jane take an apple from the only source of apples stated in the question; Johnny? If so then 2.
Did Jane take one apple from a source not stated in the question. If so then 3.
Has Jonny eaten any of his apples? If so then |3-n| where n is the number of apples Johnny has eaten.
Lmao you already answered the question in the first 5 words, Johnny has 3 apples
I would have certainly loved it if they showed me the actual problem and then solve it with math, instead of showing how to solve abstract, non-real-world problems in math using a bunch of complicated theorems that you just have to memorize (I know they can be solved, but you still have to memorize them for when you need to use them).
Why do you euros always call it “maths”?
Why do you Americans always call it “math?”
Because there is no need to pluralize the word. Math is short for “mathematics” so writing “maths” just makes you look stupid.
Ultimately it’s the same reason why you don’t say “admins” for administrator or detoxs for detoxification.
Do you say flus? No you say flu because it’s the shortened version of influenza.
Maths is short for mathematics, and neither is plural. Math, maths, and mathematics are all equally correct. I love when Americans tell people they look stupid because they don’t do something the way Americans do it.
Nah just euros doing dumb stuff. I love it when you euros get all upset
The biggest thing I learned from math was training yourself to think and problem solve. To always want to learn the next level of whatever you were learning, whether it’s math English or whatever.
I don’t think I’ve ever used much math knowledge in my life … but it gave me the ability and enthusiasm of wanting to always want to solve a problem no matter how complex it was.
I think it’s because some types of math are kind of all or nothing, either you know it or you don’t. If you recall half of what you learned in history you have some usable knowledge.
Another day of not needing to know that Constantinople was the capitol of the Byzantine Empire.
Of course these days they go by a different name. Not sure why tho
They call it Istanbul, not Constantinople
Istanbul, not Constantinople?
Been a long time gone, Constaninople. But why did Constantinople get the works!?
Something something Turks
I use basic math daily. I use algebra frequently.
I have not use trigonometry since I passed high school trigonometry.
Most people in modern society don’t use it.
3d graphics and video games use a lot of trig
Definitely. Sometimes I wonder how hard those things would’ve been to program in my projects if I was never taught any of it in HS. It certainly made me grateful that I paid attention in those classes!
have you ever played a video game where you’re throwing a grenade and the UI shows you where the grenade will land?
Just trying to think of the most basic uses of trig that would occur.
Without learning about how the trigonometric relationships of a throw relate to the physics of it, I don’t think a person that sees no value in knowing trig, sin and cos would change their mind.
I like to view things with quantum physics in mind. “That’s weird and counter-intuitive…”, “I guess it’s meant to be that way.”
Obviously it doesn’t apply to everything, and often your gut feeling is probably right. But the philosophy helps in keeping an open mind.
With trigonometry, you don’t use it directly, but AC electricity and radio waves (eg WiFi or your phone) extensively rely on it.
I literally, 30 seconds ago, used sin^-1() to calculate the angle for a roof I need to make for my indoor greenhouse, so the asshole cats don’t fall through the cheap plastic
Always a good day when you have to break out arcsine
I make games. I use this shit daily.
I am studying physics. I can’t even imagine a life with sin cos or tan… How do you guys perform a fourier transform without it?
We just prove a solution exists then get a physicist to actually do it for us.
Hey, fellow mathematician
just use the complex exponential /j
You’re also technically using them if you merely play games. Edit: You also use cos when making or viewing a jpg, so the author of the meme did in-fact use at least cos on that day.
I don’t remember where, but I actually had to use some sin func for calculating something to play more efficient.
I use these functions literally everyday.
It’s like having a pocket knife. Once you start carrying sin/cos/tan around everything looks like a trigonometric relationship
What for?
I am a machinist by trade. I have to know these functions in order to do machine setups, calculate points on a tangent radius, etc.
This is dumb. Just because you don’t use logarithms doesn’t mean you never use deduction or process of elimination. Math is not solely about the numbers. The process is far more beneficial in many disciplines.
Also, the smart kids in class sure use them often enough.
The same vain is people arguing that schools should be teaching important things like budgeting, interest rates, taxes etc.
These things a trivial if you have the maths skills. These things are also subject to change, the maths doesn’t.
Worst of all, these things are all taught (in Scotland), the people complaining about school not teaching them weren’t paying attention.
I think carpenters, framers, cabinet makers, etc use more math than I do day to day working as a devops engineer with an aerospace degree.
You use it, but it’s all preprogrammed into the software you use, so you can focus on the bigger problems.
It’s a bit like how microprocessors are designed modularly using programming language. No one physically lays out a transistor on a 7nm die, that’s all dictated by code, where at the higher levels you just see “memory block” and “arithmetic block” or whatever.
Finite Element Analysis is some funky shit, though, and often that’s done using bespoke software. You need to know the maths to build that, and it helps to have an understanding when interpreting the results. At least, it helps the person writing the report make a good report, though it’s not like anyone else will know if they get it wrong.
I use them all the time for game development
My dnd group has pulled it out a time or two when cliffs are involved to figure out if you could get line of sight on someone.
We’re all engineers of some kind.
Haha that’s a great time, love having groups like that
I can’t even remember what they’re used for
Trigonometry, they’re used extensively in 3d programming
Also 2d programming. Fourier transforms for audio and image processing? You fucking bet. Basically, if it has graphics or audio, it uses sinusoids.
True, but definitely more extensively in 3d
Damn near everything.
Bro doesn’t even use the internet, nor the electricity what a madlad
If you ever have to cut a bit of wood to act as a diagonal brace it’s pretty useful to whip out the old tan. So I’ve used this every time I built a gate.
That’s four times in the last decade, so not exactly daily but I’m glad I knew how to do it or my gates would have sucked.
I’ve got a table to build, and I’m doing my best to remember the maths needed to figure out the angles before I start cutting the wood.
Machinist, Drafter, all about that SOHCAHTOA Life 🔫🔫😎
I had a maths teacher who upon being asked, whats the point in maths? Or whenever he heard I’m not going to use this in the rest of my life! Would break into a ten minute speech. You have to study maths because what it is at it’s core is just doing the same thing over and over again with slight variations. -more waffle I can’t remember- and after school you will go off to some job where you do the same thing over and over again where you will spend the next 60 years of your life. And then you die.
It got quite depressing.
“No John, you probably won’t ever have to use trigonometry in your life. But some of the smart kids probably will”
at it’s core is just doing the same thing over and over again with slight variations
Man, that just makes me hate how maths is taught
You’re literally using a device powered by electricity that extensively relies on an understanding, implementation and exploitation of sinusoidal maths.
Ah, the irony of operating a video compression algorithm while claiming you never use trigonometry.
I was trying to figure out a problem the other day and realized that if I still remembered how to implement some sort of mathematical concept I learned back in high school I would’ve been able to do it. Made me want to call up a friend and say something like “it finally happened!”
