Re: down with fractions

[bonnie.blustein@att.net]

Well, yes, advanced calculators (like the TI92) and computers can handle an awful lot of algebraic manipulations.  And I agree that for most people, these are hardly the most important things to learn.  Rational functions do come up, though, in common applications like business problems.

More music is of course really needed.  Many of us feel that the increased difficulty students have with math is due in part to the fact that they're not doing music.  Both math and music involve abstract symbolic systems -- as do, for example, architecture and machine-shop blueprints -- and I do think that more people should become comfortable with this sort of work.  Obviously the math curriculum as it stands isn't doing this very well.

I definitely think that more people need to learn a lot more about how data are collected and analyzed (quantitative reasoning) -- so they are empowered to use such data and not be taken in by those who systematically "lie with statistics."  

Bonnie



-------------- Original message from Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>: -------------- 


> Calculators? Or who cares? I think we do so much math because it was 
> one thing the Greeks had a handle on. I think its time to rethink our 
> obsession with higher level math. Stop at 5th grade or so. Teach violin 
> or sociology instead. 
> Susan 
> 
> On Saturday, February 2, 2008, at 04:30 PM, bonnie.blustein@att.net 
> wrote: 
> 
> > If you scrap long division in arithmetic, what would you do when it 
> > comes to polynomial division (especially the problems that can't be 
> > done with synthetic division)? Scrap that, too? 
> > -------------- Original message from Jen K : 
> > -------------- 
> > 
> > 
> >> In rational expressions, the fraction "bar" can be thought of as 
> >> division. In fact, that's what we want. Sttudent's misconceptions 
> >> about fractions developed in elementary school actually interfere 
> >> with "seeing" the division. 
> >> Still I wouldn't throw out fractions entirely. They are good for 
> >> precision (not lopping off decimal places) and also for estimating 
> >> and visualizing. But should kids spend a week adding fractions like 
> >> 13/17 + 2/5? NOOOOO! 
> >> Long division and square roots, I am with the professor on those. 
> >> Teaching those is sort of like teaching how to add using Roman 
> >> numerals instead of base 10 numbers.. It's a pain and better done 
> >> with a newer "technology". 
> >> 
> >> That's my view on it. Fun to get some math talk on this list! 
> >> Jennifer 
> >> On Feb 1, 2008, at 5:04 PM, bonnie.blustein@att.net wrote: 
> >> 
> >>> Does this also mean no rational expressions, rational functions, 
> >>> etc until "calculus"? That doesn't seem right. 
> >>> 
> >>> -------------- Original message from Susan Harman 
> >>> : -------------- 
> >>> 
> >>> 
> >>>> Ive been arguing this for years! 
> >>>> 
> >>>> Math professor's book will argue against teaching fractions, long 
> >>>> division. 
> >>>> 
> >>>> USA Today (1/24, 11D, Milford) reports, "A few years ago, Dennis 
> >>>> DeTurck, an 
> >>>> award-winning professor of mathematics at the University of 
> >>>> Pennsylvania, 
> >>>> stood at an outdoor podium on campus and proclaimed, 'Down with 
> >>>> fractions!'" 
> >>>> DeTurck, in a contribution to a 60-second lecture series, argued 
> >>>> that 
> >>>> fractions were "useful for by-hand calculation. But in this 
> >>>> digital age, 
> >>>> they're as obsolete as Roman numerals are." The speech was posted 
> >>>> online, 
> >>>> triggering a "firestorm" of discussion among educators. Now, 
> >>>> DeTurck is 
> >>>> scheduled to publish a book that argues for "the teaching of 
> >>>> decimals over 
> >>>> fractions to elementary school students." He also criticizes "long 
> >>>> division, 
> >>>> the calculation of square roots and by-hand multiplication of long 
> >>>> numbers." 
> >>>> DeTurck argues that "the study of fractions should be delayed 
> >>>> until it can be 
> >>>> understood, perhaps after a student learns calculus." 
> >>>> 
> >>>> Vote in the National Cheney Impeachment Poll 
> >>>> 
> >>>> http://www.usalone.com/blogvoices.php?Cheney%20Impeachment%3F 
> >>>> 
> >>>> Add this text to your own email and blog signatures! 
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> >>> -Eric Crump 
> >> 
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