If you can make me understand the sort of maths that I need to pass my GCSEs, then I will give you a free car. I bloody well want to understand the crap that they're feeding me, because my higher education is at stake.
Sounds more like you want to
know it, but you want to avoid
learning it as much as humanly possible.
You cannot well learn something you actively don't want to learn or believe you can't learn.
"Abstract" as in "needs actual human subjectivity".
We call that "subjective". Abstract means "not concrete".
You would be surprised.
Calculator. In Home Depot, there's the computer! And it does the calculations for you. So then I don't have to think about the evil math.
I guess if you carry a calculator with you while stocking shelves...
...and it's a TI-92 so it can do geometry too...
...and it can do spacial reasoning...
...and you know enough math to know how to use it effectively in the first place...
I was talking about Geometry and Trig and that stuff.
I would think that learning about
shapes would be fairly useful on a higher level.
Also, I find some of what I'm learning in Geometry to be rather pointless for later in life, but eh, what do I know? I'm just saying that I find both Trig and Geometry pointless to learn, which was why I grouped them together.
Argh.
What the hell do you know about what knowledge you'll need later in life? Do you really think your job will only require you to know things taught in subjects with the same name as your profession? Are you oblivious to how much lines are blurring between fields as technology progresses and meshes information?
I don't understand how you can flat-out say "I only need to know X for the entire rest of my life".
Knowledge is inherently useful. At the very
very least it is exercise for your brain. Beyond that it gives you an increasingly broad base from which to make decisions, solve problems, figure out when and what else to learn, and generally perceive the world. If you're lucky, you'll find ways to apply everything you know to make your life and work far easier and more productive... but you'll never know how to do so if you steadfastly refuse because you think you already know everything you'll "need" for the next 60 years.
What you "need" and what is
useful are painfully different concepts, anyway.
you fucks complain about solving quadratic equations which is kiddy stuff compared to solving differential equations
Differential equations are
fucking awesome. DiffEq was the best math class I'd taken in years.
And for the record, while I can't remember anything about differentials either, I seem to recall screwing those up less often than quadratic equation problems; I always preferred graphing almost any other way if it was at all possible. Although, given that we didn't get to spend too much time on differential equations, it could just be that we never got into the really tough stuff.
Short of cases where you can merely integrate both sides, I somewhat doubt you've brushed over differential equations at 19. o.O
Good maths teaching requires consistent weekly practice. You don't learn maths unless you practice to death. It's really fucking boring to do, but it's the only way.
If your primary method of learning a logically-founded discipline is to beat it into your head, you are Doing It Wrong.
