memes

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[–] SmartmanApps@programming.dev 0 points 10 months ago (2 children)

knowledge on this subject without qualification

I'm a Maths teacher with a Masters - thanks for asking - how about you?

while ignoring my larger point

You mean your invalid point, that I debunked?

what are conventions if not agreed upon rules?

Conventions are optional, rules aren't.

here is a history of how we actually came to agree upon the aforementioned rules which you may find interesting

He's well-known to be wrong about his "history", and if you read through the comments you'll find plenty of people telling him that, including references. Cajori wrote the definitive books about the history of Maths (notation). They're available for free on the Internet Archive - no need to believe some random crank and his blog.

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[–] Septimaeus@infosec.pub 0 points 10 months ago (1 child)

Dear colleague,

By qualification I meant explanation. My doctorate is irrelevant to the truth.

Since you asked, my larger point was about the unhelpful nature of this content, which makes students of math feel inordinately inferior or superior hinged entirely on a single point of familiarity. I don’t handle early math education, but many of my students arrive with baggage from it that hinders their progress, leading me to suspect that early math education sometimes discourages students unnecessarily. In particular, these gotcha-style math memes IMO deepen students’ belief that they’re just bad at math. Hence my dislike of them.

Re: Dave Peterson, I’ll need to read more about this debate regarding the history of notation and I’ll search for the “proven rules” you mentioned (proofs mean something very specific to me and I can’t yet imagine what that looks like WRT order of operations).

If what riled you up was my use of the word “conventions” I can use another, but note that conventions aren’t necessarily “optional” when being understood is essential. Where one places a comma in writing can radically change the meaning of a sentence, for example. My greater point however has nothing to do with that. Here I am only concerned about the next generation of maths student and how viral content like this can discourage them unnecessarily.

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[–] SmartmanApps@programming.dev 1 point 10 months ago

My doctorate is irrelevant to the truth

It sure is. I've seen a PhD who didn't read the only textbook he had referenced in his thesis, which proved his idea that teachers were doing it wrong and he wasn't, was wrong. 😂 Should've listened to the people who teach it (or actually read the textbook he referenced 🙄 ).

which makes students of math feel inordinately inferior

They don't. All students get this correct. It's only adults who have forgotten the rules that get it wrong.

these gotcha-style math memes IMO deepen students’ belief that they’re just bad at math

Nope. Students never get these wrong.

proofs mean something very specific to me and I can’t yet imagine what that looks like WRT order of operations

All you have to do is see which way gives wrong answers for 2+3x4 and you've proven which ways don't work 😂

note that conventions aren’t necessarily “optional”

Yes they are.

when being understood is essential

You don't understand how to do 2+3x4-5 without knowing which conventions people use for the order of the plus and minus?

Here I am only concerned about the next generation of maths student and how viral content like this can discourage them unnecessarily

It doesn't. None of them get it wrong. 🙄