Why Math Education Sucks in The US and How We Can Improve It, Hemant Mehta Skepticon 4

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During filming, if a powerpoint slide is just a reiteration of what the speaker is saying, without any new information, I do not cut to it. If you are screaming, "What the fuck it on projector!"... This is the answer.

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• hemant
• mehta
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• productions

[Lightrider4444]

Learn to use math or it will be used against you. Especially in our sick and abusive monetary system driven world.

[Ignorantf00l]

holy crap, we were NEVER allawed to use calculator in math class in Hungary. It was annoying, but now I thank my teachers.

[8291link]

um um um um um but um but um um um but um....? Any questions?

[JogBird]

maff is hard

[zyxek]

Using Parks & Rec is definitely a valid teaching strategy.

[PoliticalHell]

@Ignorantf00l There's more to math than just memorizing the multiplication table though. When you get into the more advanced stuff, doing basic calculations by hand just wastes time. By the time you get the HS, it's assumed you can subtract and divide.

[mdiem]

One of my part time jobs is math tutoring, and this is what I do everyday to repair the poor math instruction the students are learning is school.

[mdiem]

@piprod01

But the screen isn't a square. If it is standard TV, then it will have a 4:3 aspect ratio. Some widescreen formats use 16:9, or whatever. Simple geometry can let you find either how many reflections (bounces) it will take to get to a corner, or calculate the probability of a random bounce making it to a corner.

[piprod01]

If the screen is square, how can the little square hit the corner?

Because the only way it could get in there, is if it was previously in the opposite corner.

And the only it could get in that corner is if it had previously been in the first corner.

D:

[codeythesilent]

I feel like a genius now just because I understand math o_O

[Onetrueginge]

Bloody hell. In Britain, every maths exam that we do has maybe 2-3 multiple choice questions at the start and the rest is extended calculation, often involving some problem solving. Up till A-Level (16-18 years old typically), half of all tests were non-calculator. Hell, I got repeatedly told off for not showing my working as I'd just solve it in my head.

In the past couple of years, I've been sitting maths competition papers that while they are fill in the bubble, multiple choice, you need

[shellysunfish]

I want this guy as my math teacher! : )