I wish I was taught about the usefulness of maths growing up. When I did A-level with differentition and integration I quickly forgot as I didn’t see a point in it.
At about 35 someone mentioned diff and int are useful for loan repayment calculations, savings and mortgages.
Ehh I wouldn’t say variables in programming are all that similar to variables in algebra.
In a programming language, variables typically are just a name for some data. Whereas in algebra, they are placeholders for unknown values.
In the US it’s common to give students “word problems” that describe a scenario and ask them to answer a question that requires applying whatever math they’re studying at the time. Students hate them and criticize the problems for being unrealistic, but I think they really just hate word problems because because they find them difficult. To me that means they need more word problems so they can actually get used to thinking about how math relates to the real world.
I wish I was taught about the usefulness of maths growing up. When I did A-level with differentition and integration I quickly forgot as I didn’t see a point in it.
At about 35 someone mentioned diff and int are useful for loan repayment calculations, savings and mortgages.
Blew my fucking mind cos those are useful!
Hated Algebra in high school. Then years later got into programming. It’s all algebra. Variables, variables everywhere.
Ehh I wouldn’t say variables in programming are all that similar to variables in algebra. In a programming language, variables typically are just a name for some data. Whereas in algebra, they are placeholders for unknown values.
That’s one of the big problems with maths teaching in the UK, it’s almost actively hostile to giving any sort of context.
When a subject is reduced to a chore done for its own sake it’s no wonder most students don’t develop a passion or interest in it.
In the US it’s common to give students “word problems” that describe a scenario and ask them to answer a question that requires applying whatever math they’re studying at the time. Students hate them and criticize the problems for being unrealistic, but I think they really just hate word problems because because they find them difficult. To me that means they need more word problems so they can actually get used to thinking about how math relates to the real world.